The Civil War
During The Great Locomotive Chase (April 12, 1862) the General quickly passes through Dalton. A few moments later the Texas slows as it approaches the depot and drops Edward Henderson off. The 18-year-old Dalton telegraph operator then sends a message to General Ledbetter in Chattanooga informing him of the approaching spies.
While Dalton was pro-Union prior to the outbreak of The Civil War, after Georgia votes to secede in January 1861 only a few Unionists could be found. One suspected northern sympathizer was Ansley Blunt, postmaster and first mayor of the city whose home, the Blunt House, stands south of the downtown area.
A Quiet Lake Near Dalton
Many of the men who would fight at Chickamauga (September 1863) arrived in Dalton by train, passing through the depot. From 1862 until 1864 Dalton serves as a front-line hospital town, sending more critically wounded men to hospitals in Marietta and Atlanta.
Following the disaster at Missionary Ridge (Chattanooga, November 1863), Army of Tennessee Commander Braxton Bragg establishes his headquarters here. Bragg would leave Dalton shortly after being relieved of the command that Joseph E. Johnston would assume. For the next five months the Confederate Army uses the town as a base camp, building a nearly impenetrable line at Rocky Face, a ridge to the west. In February 1864, the Army of the Cumberland attacks the entrenchments, attempting to prevent Johnston from re-enforcing Leonidas Polk in Meridian. Generally referred to as First Dalton, this attack forewarned the Union Army of the difficulty of breaking the Confederate line. In May 1864, Thomas once again tried to launch attacks at both Buzzard's Roost (Mill Creek Gap) and Dug Gap to no avail (called the Battle of Rocky Face). Unable to successfully breach the Rebel line he joins John McPherson in an attack on Resaca. Threatened with the Union Army to his rear, the Confederate commander withdraws to the south, once again passing through the Dalton depot.
After the Fall of Atlanta (September 1864), the city of Dalton is unsuccessfully targeted by John Bell Hood at the beginning of the Nashville Campaign (Second Dalton). Solidly in Union hands for the remainder of the conflict, Dalton began to rebuild. One key to the post war expansion in Dalton was the addition of a rail line to Rome, making Dalton a hub of rail activity.
Confederate General, Joseph E. Johnston
One of the first challenges Johnston faced when he relieved Braxton Bragg of the command of the Army of Tennessee was a high rate of desertion. On the other hand, upon arriving he gave all solders a week leave to see their family, gave all of them their back pay, and reinstated all solders who abandoned their ranks to their former position without penalty. To combat further problems Johnston took deserters out to Crow Valley, north of Dalton and had them shot.
Born in 1807, Johnston attended West Point (Class of '29). In 1861 he resigned his commission to join the Confederate forces. He was a Brig by May of that year and placed in charge of the Army of Northern Virginia. After command was passed to Robert E. Lee he moved to the western front and took command of the Army of the Tennessee.
His inability to get along with his commanding officer, Jefferson Davis, led to his removal during the Siege of Atlanta. Faced with an opponent of overwhelming strength he performed remarkably, retreating across half the state and losing about as many men as his opponent, William Tecumseh Sherman. After his removal, John Bell Hood lost as many men in less than 6 weeks.
At the end of the war Johnston was tapped to fight a defensive action against Sherman after the March to the Sea.
After the war Johnston served as congressman and as commissioner of railroads. The analysis of the war in his memoirs was highly regarded. Catching a cold as a pallbearer at Sherman's funeral, the former general died on March 21, 1891
This statue was erected in his honor in October of 1912 by the Bryan M. Thomas Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. 15 feet high, the bronze statue is on a base of Georgia marble and cost $6,000 to erect. It is the only known statue of the general who commanded Confederate forces in Georgia for more than 6 months. Johnston is seen holding his hat and sword (point down).
