History of Dalton Georgia
In the Ridge and Valley section of the state, Dalton spreads across the valley to rugged Rocky Face Ridge. 1847 is a pivotal year for the citizens of Cross Plains. In honor of founder Edward Dalton White the city changes the name to Dalton. That same year the Western and Atlantic Railroad is completed to the small town. Its location near the railroad would greatly affect the destiny of this north Georgia town.
The growth of Dalton is astonishing. Completion of the W&ARR to Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1850 creates the first rail system to the area west of the Appalachians. In 1851 Dalton is named the seat of government for newly created Whitfield County and a railroad depot is completed the following year. Built in the center of town the depot still stands, one of the few antebellum structures in Northwest Georgia.

The Civil War
During The Great Locomotive Chase (April12, 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 until1864 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.

Dalton, Carpet Center

Catherine Evans Whitener
Dalton's First Lady of Carpet is shown holding one of the bedspreads that led to the development of the Carpet Industry in Dalton.
Shortly after the start of the 20th century a cottage industry starts in Dalton. Catherine Evans Whitener, using an American tufting technique known as "candlewick embroidery" begins making bedspreads. The number of bedspreads ordered quickly surpasses the quantity she can make and she teaches others the skill of hand-tufting.

In 1917 she, along with other family members, forms the Evans Manufacturing Company. From the Tennessee state line to Adairsville the homes along U.S Highway 41 were decorated with the creations of her company. The road becomes known as "Chenille" or "Bedspread" Alley. Some people even call it Peacock Alley for the most popular bedspread design. Once again the railroad lines would play a key role, allowing the industry to develop because of available transportation.

The technology used by the company is transferred to the manufacture of carpet. Introduction of wall-to-wall carpet gives fuels additional expansion. Today Dalton is unrivaled in its production of carpet. Almost 90% of the functional carpet produced world-wide is made within a 25-mile radius of this north

Georgia city.
Today Dalton is a growing, vibrant reminder of Georgia's past and its future. Started in 1956 and only recently completed, Interstate 75 runs through Mill Creek Gap, over the site of much of the Battle of Rocky Face. The depot that witnessed almost of Dalton's growth has been reborn as a restaurant, fittingly called The Dalton Depot. Downtown Dalton features a wide array of businesses, including upscale shopping and food. The western side of the city includes three exits packed with just about every kind of fast food. In the late 1980's Tanger Outlet Mall opened its doors as a major regional attraction.

In the city are The Crown Archives, the largest private archives in the state. In addition to many original documents about the city and county, the archives house information on the carpet industry and The Civil War. The Blunt House, home of the first mayor, can be rented for special occasions. It is furnished with historic period pieces donated to the historical society by the Blunt family.
West Hill Cemetery is home to 4 known and 421 unknown Confederate soldiers. Four graves of unknown Union soldiers can also be found. A monument in the cemetery honors the Confederate troops who were engaged in the area.

The Carpet Capital

Shortly after the start of the 20th century a cottage industry starts in Dalton. Catherine Evans Whitener, using an American tufting technique known as "candlewick embroidery" begins making bedspreads. The number of bedspreads ordered quickly surpasses the quantity she can make and she teaches others the skill of hand-tufting.

In 1917 she, along with other family members, form the Evans Manufacturing Company. From the Tennessee state line to Adairsville the homes along U.S Highway 41 were decorated with the creations of her company. The road become known as "Chenille" or "Bedspread" Alley. Some people even call it Peacock Alley for the most popular bedspread design. Once again the railroad lines would play a key role, allowing the industry to develop because of available transportation.

The technology used by the company is transferred to the manufacture of carpet. Introduction of wall-to-wall carpet fuels additional expansion. Today Dalton is unrivaled in its production of carpet. Almost 90% of the functional carpet produced world-wide is made within a 25-mile radius of this north Georgia city.

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).

Early Dalton
The Cherokee Indians called the Dalton-Whitfield County area home long before the Civil War. Dalton is the gateway to the 150-mile Chieftain’s Trail, which traces the path of Cherokee Indian sites located throughout Northwest Georgia.
As the colonial population spread westward, efforts were being made by the United States government to prepare for the white settlers who would soon settle in this area. In 1831, the government entered into a treaty with the Cherokees whereby they would trade with the Indians, lands that would eventually become a bound federal Indian reservation in exchange for their homes in Georgia.

The final council meeting of the Georgia's native Cherokee was held in Whitfield County, and it marked the starting point of Andrew Jackson's well known "Trail of Tears."

Visitors to the area today can explore the historic home of Chief Joseph Vann, the Echota Cherokee Capital, and the Red Clay Council Grounds, lasting remains of a strong and proud Cherokee Indian nation.

Whitfield County was formed in 1851, and named for Reverend George Whitefield who had come to Georgia from Britain as a missionary. Dalton was originally called Cross Plains.
The county seat was placed in Dalton which earned a place in Civil War history as a Confederate hospital and manufacturing town.
One of the Civil War's bloodiest and most decisive battles was fought just twenty miles away in Chickamauga, after which the Confederates retreated from the area and made their first "strategic withdrawal" of troops. In May of 1864, the Atlanta campaign began when General Sherman's troops met Johnson's Confederates at Tunnel Hill, Dug Gap and along Rocky Face Ridge. Thirty-two Civil War markers stand today commemorating important activities in the area. Locations like Dug Gap Battle Park, where breastworks used by Confederate soldiers are preserved, bring a sense of immediacy to the past century.

Also the site of several bouts during the War Between the States was the town Tunnel Hill, named for the Western and Atlantic railroad tunnel which is cut right thru a mountain. In its day, the tunnel was considered an astounding feat of engineering.
A virtual industrial revolution came to the area when a young farm girl named Catherine Evans Whitener revived the colonial art of tufting in the early 1900s. Whitener made a tufted bedspread which she was able to sell for two dollars and fifty cents. That first bedspread represents the birth of a significant cottage industry in Dalton. Other women began to sew for extra income, and by the early 1920s, the success of these business women had created quite a stir. Bedspreads led to scatter rugs and other products by the 1930s, and these new exports saved Dalton and Whitfield County from the pangs of depression felt by other parts of the nation.

By the 1950s, advances in machinery, technology and dyeing methods opened the doors to the modern carpet industry. The entrepreneurial spirit of the people of this Northwest Georgia Community turned a cottage bedspread industry into a multi-billion dollar carpet industry.
The people of Dalton Whitfield County share a rich and colorful past. You can share in it too. Learn more about the people and area by visiting the Crown Gardens and Archives Museum, which has a collection of permanent historical displays and interesting records.