The First Battle of Dalton was a series of American Civil War skirmishes that took place between February 22 and February 27, 1864, in Whitfield County, Georgia.
At the suggestion of Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant, Major General George H. Thomas, decided to probe General Joseph E. Johnston's strength to determine if the loss of two full divisions to reinforce Confederate forces elsewhere had made the Confederate Army of Tennessee vulnerable to Union attack. On February 22, Thomas began the reconnaissance movement, which consisted of three columns of Union troops. After several days of intense skirmishing, Thomas's army retreated, since it was obvious that Johnston was still capable of repelling a major Union assault. Thomas's force had lost 300 officers and men killed or wounded, against 140 men for the Confederates.
Much of the battlefield landscape has been compromised by Interstate 75, development along US Route 41, the growth of the City of Dalton, and subdivision of the Crow Valley and Tunnel Hill areas.
CWSAC Report Update and Resurvey: Individual Battlefield Profiles
Jenkins, Robert, "Civil War anniversary: The Battles for Dalton Feb. 24-26 and May 7-12, 1864," 150th Civil War Commission, The Daily Citizen.
The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, v.32, pt.1 (Reports)
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
This page covers Skirmish at Dalton (August 1864). A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside historic sites, land records, and everything else the record holds within a few miles:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
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