The northwest Georgia city of Dalton played a conspicuous part in the state’s Civil War history following the Chickamauga/Chattanooga Campaign of 1863. Dalton was located along the Western and Atlantic Railroad as a hospital center and supply base. Furthermore, the surrounding mountainous terrain provided natural defensive barriers, making it an opportune location to begin Georgia’s defense.
Following the Confederate Army of Tennessee’s disastrous defeat at Missionary Ridge and subsequent retreat into Georgia in late November 1863, Dalton became the Confederate Army’s winter quarters. From this position, it could rebuild and prepare for the difficult task of defending Georgia from the inevitable Federal offensive that would begin with the coming campaign season. Soon after arriving, General Braxton Bragg, the controversial and long-standing commander of the Army of Tennessee, resigned his commission and was replaced by General Joseph E. Johnston on December 16, 1863. The choice of Johnston over the possible candidate had long been debated due to the antagonistic relationship between Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Johnston. Possibly due to a feud going back to their days at the United States Military Academy at West Point, their relationship was strained at best and always seemed to be based on mutual mistrust. This dynamic was a key factor in setting the tenor of the Atlanta Campaign and ultimately affected its outcome.
Once apprised of the situation in Dalton, Johnston began the task at hand by initiating a rebuilding process for the Army of Tennessee. He aimed to return the arm to its former stature as a cohesive and effective fighting force devoted to its commander and mission. He furloughed the entire army in rotation, granted a generalized amnesty to deserters, and obtained new clothing, equipment, and improved rations. Discipline and training were also stressed. Johnston was well aware that in the coming campaign season, he would be facing a worthy adversary in Major General William T. Sherman and his enormous and determined Federal army.
The Atlanta Campaign officially began (according to the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion) with a skirmish at the Old Stone Presbyterian Church near Ringgold on May 1, 1864. However, the first significant fighting occurred near Dalton. Major combat was underway at Tunnel Hill on May 7, 1864, and Rocky Face Ridge’s Dug Gap and Mill Creek Gap on May 8-11, 1864.
Following Atlanta’s fall in September 1864, the area around Dalton again played a role in Georg’s Civil War history. The Western and Atlantic Railroad became a Confederate target as it was used to supply Sherman’s armies from the North.
On October 13, 1864, during General John B. Hood’s march north through Georgia preceding the Campaign for Tennessee, the Confederate army of approximately 35,000 surrounded and forced the capitulation of the Federal garrison of 751 officers and men of the 44th U.S. Colored Infantry at Fort Hill near Dalton. The garrison’s white commander, Colonel Lewis Johnson, feared for his soldiers’ safety but received no promise of good treatment and was forced to submit to an unconditional surrender.
The garrison’s more than 600 African-American soldiers were turned over to Major General William B. Bate’s division. Their shoes and personal belongings were taken, and they were ordered to tear up the railroad tracks. Any soldier that refused to work was threatened to be shot on the spot. Although such treatment was not unusual for prisoners of war during the Civil War, these men faced the national hardship of a return to slavery. The Federal garrisons manning the blockhouse at Tilton and Mill Creek Gap were also forced to surrender.
Many earthen fortifications from the Atlant Campaign still exist in the Dalton, Mill Creek Gap, Rocky Face Ride, and Tunnel Hill areas of Whitfield County. Most of these remaining historic resources are located along high ridges and in precarious, out-of-the-way locations unsuitable for development. If earthworks are on private property, they should only be visited with the landowner’s permission.