Georgia Battlefields Association meets at 'Great Locomotive Chase' depot in Dalton. Nonprofit based there will showcase its importance to commerce, culture and history

Iconic Western & Atlantic Railroad depot in downtown Dalton (Picket photo) and locomotive General in town in early 1960s for the Civil War centennial (Courtesy Bandy Heritage Center for Northwest Georgia)

Three dozen members of the Georgia Battlefields Association recently enjoyed dinner in Dalton, Ga., and received an update on the group’s preservation efforts, which began in March 1995.

Fittingly, the gathering occurred at the old Western & Atlantic train depot, itself the beneficiary of a commitment to honoring the past while looking to the future. The recently restored depot was one stop along the legendary “Great Locomotive Chase” of April 1862.

The Community Foundation Northwest Georgia hosted the event during the GBA’s annual tour of sites, which this year focused on Union army preparations for the spring 1864 Atlanta Campaign and actions through the Battle of Resaca on May 15, 1864.

GBA president Joe Trahan said the nonprofit gave $150,000 last year toward Civil War battlefield preservation efforts. Joe Gaskin, who leads fundraising efforts, said several people have increased their membership levels and donations to the GBA’s “Limber Chest” fund.

Members of the Georgia Battlefields Association at the Dalton Depot (Courtesy CFNWG)

The foundation last year moved into the depot. One half of the restored building is leased by the philanthropic group; the other side currently is being converted into an English pub.

The foundation’s community gathering space features 25-foot ceilings, charming brick and Civil War-era architectural features. But it is a very up-to-date environment -- from modern furniture to TV monitors that are designed to prompt collaboration in today’s world.

The foundation is working with the Bandy Heritage Center for Northwest Georgia, part of Dalton State College, to develop a presentation or two in the building to provide context to visitors about the role of the depot in the city’s history and economy.

Andrews Raiders and pursuers rushed by in 1862

The Western and Atlantic Railroad line from Atlanta to Chattanooga, Tenn., was completed in the early 1850s and the Dalton depot opened in 1852 to provide passenger and freight service.

Union raiders on the General set fire to a river crossing in North Georgia (Wikipedia)

The depot was the hub for commercial growth in the Dalton area and the point of origin for surveys and maps.

The 12,100-square-foot brick building is “a pretty high-style example of Georgia depot architecture” and has Greek Revival features, with stone lintels, brick pilasters and door entablatures. (Picket photo, below)

The building had its moment of fame on April 12, 1862, when Northern raiders (the South labeled them spies) commandeered the locomotive General in Big Shanty. They chugged toward Chattanooga, intent on destroying parts of the railroad.

The pursuing locomotive Texas picked up a 17-year-old telegraph operator who rushed to the Dalton depot and wired Confederate troops to the north.

Although not all his message got through, Edward Henderson’s alarm sent troops toward the track. The Andrews Raiders were captured near Ringgold when the General ran out of steam. They had accomplished little. Many were hanged while others escaped. Several were the first to receive the Medal of Honor.

The depot remained in use as a rail stop for more than a century.

Center will help depot showcase area history

Foundation president David Aft (At left, with one of his painting, Picket photo) has communicated with Bandy Heritage Center director Matthew Gramling about ways to convey the depot’s vital role in the development of Dalton.

The focus will be on the cultural and economic networks the Western & Atlantic Railroad facilitated for Northwest Georgia.

Depot and other downtown buildings in 1932 (Courtesy of Bandy Heritage Center for Northwest Georgia)

“I am still in discussion with David regarding the exact display medium he wishes to use in different areas within the depot,” Gramling said in an email. “We will be providing him with local historical images on a jump drive for slide displays on a flat screen television in the main meeting area within the foundation.”

Among those images are a bank note issued during the Civil War, an old aerial shot and another of the locomotive General as it visited Dalton during the Civil War centennial. It is now housed at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Ga., while its pursuer Texas is featured at the Atlanta History Center.

Bob Jenkins, a local attorney active in Civil War land preservation and head of Save the Dalton Battlefields, said he is impressed with the renovation work on the long building in the heart of downtown on Depot Street. (Picket photo of depot interior, right)

“For the first 100 years of Dalton‘s existence, the depot was the entry point for those traveling here as they would have disembarked a passenger train at the depot and gone through it prior to entering the streets into Dalton for the first time. Today, most travelers enter Dalton via one of the interstate exits from I-75 and are graded by a multilane road with multiple fast-food restaurants, gas stations and strip malls,” he wrote in an email.

Local bank note issued during the Civil War (Courtesy of Bandy Heritage Center for Northwest Georgia)

Between the 1840s and 1940s, the Dalton Depot was a gathering place as well as a place of exchanging of information, goods and services, Jenkins said. “(The foundation) recaptures that opportunity for the exchanging of information, goods and services for the greater good for our community and her people,” he added.

Choo-choos add character to meeting spaces

The building’s future was very uncertain just a few years ago.

Locals remember Dalton Depot, a longtime restaurant and club which operated in the brick building until about 10 years ago. 

The depot fell into hard times after the restaurant closed. The city contracted with the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation to market the vacant and deteriorated building. Officials wanted $500,000, but eventually sold it to local Barrett Properties in 2018 for $300,000. It took another seven years before the renovation and reopening occurred.

The foundation’s five employees work in an office nearly twice as big as its longtime more traditional offices across town. They facilitate meetings in a glass-lined board room and smaller “collaboration zones.” (At left David Aft with one of his paintings, Picket photo)

Working with charitable givers, the nonprofit provides grants and funding for organizations in the area. Some of the endeavors involve mental health programs, historic preservation, neighborhood revitalization and other civic projects. It also provides space for outside groups to hold meetings.

Affordable housing is a problem in Dalton and Whitfield County. That has an impact on charitable giving. “People give where they live,” said Aft.

Northern half of depot is being developed as an English-style pub (Picket photo)

Last month, I stopped by the depot. People marvel at the renovated space, Aft said. A large weight scale in the lobby area is a reminder of the depot’s role in commerce, he said.

I asked him whether the building has some particular characteristics because of its history and proximity to busy CSX and Norfolk Southern rail lines.

Heating the building on cold days is a challenge, he said.

Employees have gotten used to the train traffic and say it is not distracting. Aft noted empty trains are louder because they bounce on the tracks and send out a clickety clack signal.

“It adds novelty to the space,” said Aft.

Central meeting area in the refurbished Dalton Depot (Picket photo)

Legacy of the USS Montauk: Student at the Savannah College of Art and Design believes she has the blueprints for success to produce 3D model of ironclad for park

Blueprints are matched with 3D model; illustration of Montauk shelling Nashville

Like the Montauk itself, a 3D model of the noted Civil War ironclad must be watertight, with no problematic gaps or holes.

That’s one of many goals for Grace Stelmaszyk, a senior at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), who is working to produce and print a model of the Montauk for Fort McAllister State Park in Richmond Hill, Ga. The Montauk bombarded the Confederate fort and sank the raider Nashville (Rattlesnake) in February 1863.

The college previously produced interpretive panels about the Montauk and other Union ironclads for the park. Greg Johnson, interactive design and game development professor, has worked with students to make a 30-inch version of the Montauk, so it can be placed next to a model of the Nashville in the park’s museum.

Stelmaszyk (right) has picked up the project from another student, and she hopes to get it across the finish line in the next couple months. Johnson said she is doing “an amazing job” on the model, making sure it conforms with blueprints of the Montauk.

Key to the effort is a discovery made by park staffers several years ago: A matted long tube contained a precious copy of the USS Montauk’s blueprints, manufactured in dozens of sheets.

Johnson, after learning about the blueprints, used a custom-built rig to slide dozens sheets under a camera to obtain high resolution.

“Because I had to photograph the blueprints, since they were way too big to scan, there is a certain amount of distortion. Grace had to fix the distortion in the blueprints and then adjust the model to match,” Johnson said in an email.

Stelmaszyk, who is graduating with an interactive design and game development degree in May, hopes to have the model ready for printing by early summer.

“My current list of items to complete for a print-ready model are adding adequate thickness to all components of the model, combining all components so the model is ‘watertight,’ deciding how many pieces need to be printed separately and assembled (small things like the thin poles need to be separate since the printer may not print them right if they're part of a larger piece), and then sizing the model to the correct in-person length.”

Persistent Union ironclad finally got its prey

Working 3D Montauk model being produced for printing (SCAD photo)

The Montauk was one of 10 Passaic ironclads built relatively early in the Civil War.

Andy Hall, A Civil War naval expert and author, told the Picket the Passaic monitors were the first large-class of monitors and many of them served together, such as the campaign against the earthen Fort McAllister in 1863 and 1864.

The Union navy, as it continued its chokehold on Southern ports and readied for offensive operations, sent the Montauk and sisters Passaic, Patapsco and Nahant, supported by gunboats Seneca, Dawn and Wissahickon to bombard and capture Fort McAllister in January 1863.

The skipper of the Montauk was John Worden (left), famous for being the USS Monitor’s captain when it clashed with the CSS Virginia in 1862.

Capable Confederate gunners at Fort McAllister hit the ironclad 13 times in its first action, but caused little damage. A second attack on Feb. 1, 1863, found the vessel, according to histories, pounded by 48 shells. The Montauk's sister ships also took part in the action.

Its big day came on February 28. The sidewheeler Nashville, which was bottled up and hiding under the guns of Fort McAllister for protection, tried to get away from the Federal ironclads via Seven-Mile Bend on the Ogeechee River, but apparently ran aground.

The 215-foot blockade runner commanded by Lt. Thomas Harrison Baker became a sitting duck because of its lack of maneuverability and deep draft in a tight area, and the Montauk pounced.

“All the monitors were designed for littoral or riverine operations, and so drew as little water as possible,” says Hall. “Nashville was built as an ocean-going steamship, so had a fuller, deeper hull.” That proved to be a disadvantage at McAllister.

Montauk’s XV- and 11-inch Dahlgrens were able to destroy the former commerce raider.

Worden was pleased with his destruction of ‘this troublesome pest’” wrote John V. Quarstein, director emeritus of the USS Monitor Center in a blog. “However, Montauk suffered a huge jolt when it struck a Confederate torpedo en route down the Ogeechee River. Worden’s quick thinking saved his ironclad.” (Quarstein wrote a recent biography of Worden.).

The Union naval attacks on Fort McAllister itself were less successful. The low-profile earthen fort could withstand the shelling and repairs could be readily made. It eventually fell to land forces in December 1864.

The Montauk was scrapped in the early 1900s; the park grounds and museum have a large number of CSS Nashville artifacts.

USS Montauk (left) and USS Lehigh in Philadelphia in 1902 (Wikipedia)

While the monitors were mass-produced, they did undergo changes during the service, and SCAD students wanted to be sure the appearance of the Montauk matched the time it prowled off Fort McAllister.

SCAD is working from a Montauk paint scheme described in the work “Modeling Civil War Ironclad Ships” by Steven Lund and William Hathaway. 

The deck is lead gray, the turret and pilot house black with a narrow white ring, and the smokestack black with the upper one third in dark green.

Lots of tasks and challenges during project

SCAD and the park last year took measurements of the Nashville model and studied vital stats of both vessels, so the Montauk will be to scale. (Site manager Jason Carter below, Picket photo)

“This makes the USS Montauk model 30 11/16th inches or 780mm in length,” said Johnson. The ironclad, he says was slightly asymmetrical.

I asked the professor about the challenges of such a project.

“To build a complex 3D model like the USS Montauk and then 3D print it, you first need a solid understanding of 3D modeling fundamentals, know how to create clean geometry and also accurately match real-world measurements,” he responded.

“Software like Autodesk's Maya or 3dsMax is generally used -- so a very thorough understanding of that software is required. You must build the model specifically for printing by ensuring it is fully closed (watertight, with no holes in the geometry), has appropriate wall thickness, and accounts for overhangs or tolerances so that parts can be fit together after printing. Once the ship is modeled, it will need to be exported to a file readable by the 3D printer and then loaded into a slicer, where things such as layer height, infill, supports, and other print settings will need to be determined.”

After that is completed, the model must be assembled and painted.

Stelmaszyk said she is using Maya and ZBrush software.

The student said she joined the effort to help create something for the park and increase her knowledge on different types of projects that aren't only game-industry focused. “While maybe my knowledge on this ship isn't as vast as some, I enjoy the research that I get to do for the project to create for the public's enjoyment,” she wrote in an email.

“I'd say the most gratifying part of the experience is always working towards that end goal of printing and being able to hold it in my hands and see it in the world. All the little steps that are completed along the way also bring me a lot of satisfaction as I keep going forward. The most challenging part of this project would be predicting the final print. For example, predicting the thickness and what that will look like when printed or planning how you want to assemble the smaller, fragile pieces back onto the main body. But I've always loved solving puzzles.”

SCAD will be working from this paint scheme (Courtesy Steven Lund)

As fundraising intensifies to fix up Dawkins House in Union, S.C., a university prepares to identify, learn and teach about those enslaved at Civil War landmark

Dawkins House awaiting next phase of work (Picket photo), Mary Poulton Dawkins and part of slave schedule

Mary Poulton Dawkins was many things in her 86 years, the majority of which were ensconced in a Union, S.C., home that was dubbed “The Shrubs” in honor of a family estate by the same name in her native England.

Dawkins, who in 1845 married a prominent South Carolina judge 14 years her senior, was described by relatives as headstrong and proud of her imported furniture and Queen Victoria. She was determined to see the Poultons restored to their former position of wealth and prominence, whether in the United States or England.

There was another side of the Englishwoman, however, that doesn’t project well these days.

While of the “highest culture,” Mary had a tendency toward bigotry, an observer wrote, and a paternalistic view of slavery. The 1850 federal slave schedule indicates husband Thomas Dawkins enslaved about 30 persons.

One of several fireplaces on the main floor of the dwelling; the library is nearby (Picket photo)

Following the South’s loss in the Civil War, and the Dawkins’ fortune largely gone, Mary lamented Reconstruction and the brief political power accorded to Black people.

“The negroes on the plantation had really no ill feeling, but poor ignorant creatures, they were intoxicated with the idea of power and always fond of idleness; began to steal and destroy property, scarcely a night without a burning,” Mary wrote in a memoir penned late in life. “There was no redress, no law, and the ‘Ku Klux’ was formed to frighten the negroes, so sensational, supersti­tious.”

Some 120 years after Mary’s death, the nonprofit Preservation South Carolina is raising money for the next phase of the restoration of the dilapidated Dawkins House. The dwelling is destined to become an alumni and corporate center for the University of South Carolina Union, a small campus in the heart of the Piedmont city. (Picket video below of Bill Comer of PSC)

At the same time, USC-Union is establishing a genealogical and archives course that will focus on the history of the house and its occupants and visitors, including the identification of the enslaved, who – with a few exceptions -- currently are known only by their age and gender. The goal is to offer the class this fall.

It is anticipated that the course will be open to students and Union County residents who have an interest in ancestry research and history.

Backers of the Dawkins House project have said it is important the whole history of the home – warts and all – be told. That's the aim of other sites in Union County, including Rose Hill, former home of the Gist family.

Andrew Kettler, an assistant professor of history, told the Picket the aim of the course is less about assigning blame than moving toward acknowledgement and reconciliation. He describes it as a public history course; the syllabus is still being finalized.

“We are going to run … grants this summer that focus on finding sources related to the Dawkins House,” Kettler said (left, Picket photo). “We are currently recruiting two students and will apply for that funding at the end of April. The grant students will assist with identifying materials that focus on the Dawkins House held in local archives.”

Annie Smith, director of development on the campus, said the course also will seek to identify those individuals who lived in the original structure between 1765 and the early 1800s, before Thomas Dawkins bought and expanded the residence.

Bill Comer, a Union native who is heading up the Dawkins House rehab project for Preservation South Carolina, previously said the refurbished site will provide lessons from the past once it reopens.

“Those who were slaves should be identified and recognized, just as much as the Dawkins family and their prominent guests. Going forward, people of all races and religions should pass through the Dawkins House's doors and occupy its spaces, to do good without discrimination and to learn.”

Thomas Dawkins' property is listed on two pages of the 1850 schedule (click to enlarge)

Fireplaces apparently burned more than wood

The Dawkins House is a terminus residence situated on the campus at the end of Church Street. The property is best known for several weeks in spring 1865.

Union, which is south of Spartanburg, briefly served as the capital of the state after Columbia fell to Union forces in 1865 and Gov. Andrew Magrath fled to Union.

Gov. Magrath, before leaving Columbia, got in touch with college chum Thomas Dawkins (right) about using the home and others nearby to conduct business amid the chaos.

From about Feb. 15, 1865, until early April, Magrath ran the state from the Dawkins House. He apparently worked in an informal library near the drawing room, which survives today. Chaos ruled across South Carolina.

According to histories and local legend, Magrath and his subordinates burned possibly incriminating documents and correspondence in the fireplaces. (The home served as South Carolina's capitol while the city was briefly its capital.)

Amid the panic, Mary P. Dawkins later wrote, folks in Union tried to stay upbeat.

“The young people were hopeful to the last, so when soldiers were with us music, dancing, charades, etc. made such enjoyable eve­nings, never to be forgotten. There was bon amie, a comradeship born of the situation, very fascinating and rare.”

Recollecting the great silver tea set caper

The house has had several additions and changes over the centuries (Picket photo)

Upon learning of Rebel Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Magrath and his staff raced away from Union as Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's Federal troops moved in. He was eventually captured on May 25 and imprisoned at Fort Pulaski near Savannah, Ga., until release that December. 

Magrath apparently hid a silver tea set at the Dawkins' home while he was based there. Mary Dawkins wrote the couple took the set to Mills House in Charleston after Magrath was released and they gave it to him.

The silver tea set story is covered in the book "South Carolina's English Lady," compiled and edited by the late Sarah Porter Carroll in the 1980s. You can read the text on Family Search.

Mary wrote that a few months after hostilities ended, "our servants (were) free and sought for by (Union) soldiers.” One book says she presented a paternalistic view of slavery.

Enslaved people had become a majority in Union County during the 1840s, and the area became a hotbed of Ku Klux Klan activity during Reconstruction.

Letters and accounts written by relatives of Mary Dawkins -- and included in Carroll's book -- suggest slaves at “The Shrubs” and any other land owned by Thomas were treated more kindly than at other plantations. But that view belies the fact the institution was inherently cruel and violent.

Widow stayed proud of her English roots

During most of their 25-year marriage, Thomas and Mary Dawkins lived the good life. They were well-known in society, had amassed a fortune and were active in local civil and social affairs. They were key supporters of the Church of the Nativity, about a half mile from their home. Mary enjoyed traveling to Charleston and Edisto Island on the Atlantic Ocean.

Things went south after 1861.

 The left rear of the house dates back to the 1760s or so (Picket photo)

“When the war closed every servant Judge and Mrs. Dawkins owned left them, with the exception of ‘Aunt Sophia,’ who showed she appreciated their many kindnesses to her by remaining loyally with them for years as their cook, then, after a long period, going out and doing private nursing,” wrote one relative, as related in Carroll’s collection.

Mary Dawkins wrote that, actually, a few other servants, as she called the enslaved, stayed faithful to the household.

She said that a few months after hostilities ended, "our servants (were) free and sought for by (Union) soldiers.” 

Thomas Dawkins died in 1870. Mary wrote of experiencing sadness after the war while she allowed several relatives to live at The Shrubs. She said she occasionally helped her former servants. Most of her extended family had remained in England, rather than move to New York as she had in the 1830s.

While left with some money when Thomas died, Mary went through it and was almost penniless when she died at 86 in November 1906. Relatives remained in the house for years.

“Mrs. Dawkins was a woman of broad and rare culture, and not so long ago compiled some very interesting reminiscences of her life,” her obituary read. “She was a charming conversationalist, and she numbered many young friends as well as older ones, who considered it a great pleasure to spend an hour in her society. In her death Union loses a gentlewoman, whose presence and quiet influence will be greatly missed.”

In the end, Mary Poulton Dawkins’ story is well-known.

Those of the enslaved in the household she managed are not. (Above, Picket photo of Bill Comer and Robert Schmitt on front porch of The Shrubs)

'The integrity will stand on its own merit'

Curtiss Hunter, tourism director for the county and a member of the Union County Community Remembrance Project (UCCRP), which documents racial violence and lynching and promotes healing through preservation, previously told the Picket restoration of the Dawkins House will boost tourism and community engagement.

Hunter (left) said its full history should be part of its interpretation. “I believe … the story of the Dawkins House should be told as authentic as there is history to prove the content. The integrity will stand on its own merit.”

Hunter’s group in 2021 put up three marker detailing racial injustices in the county. Among them was Sax(e) Joiner, who was hanged by white men just before Union fell during the Civil War. He allegedly wrote an insulting letter to a white woman and was taken from the jail by a mob.

Kettler, the professor at USC-Union, said faculty and students will turn to the census, the Union Country Museum, Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site, diaries and other papers.

“We are also accessing the University Archives, which have been in storage for a time. As well, part of the PURE grant work over the summer will be to try to find other archives in the state that might have reference to the Dawkins House and its inhabitants.”

Tour of home took me way back in time

The Picket attended a January meeting at USC-Union at which Comer and Joanna Rothell, director of outreach and preservation for Preservation South Carolina, made a pitch to area corporations and businesses to donate money for work on the Dawkins House.

I later saw the inside of the house, which has some wonderful architectural elements, timbers dating to the 1700s and windows undergoing conservation.

Comer reiterated the project will attempt to identify those who lived in or worked at the home in the 1700s and 1800s. Hopefully, he said, the team will be able to contact descendants. “We are going to do the right thing,” he told the audience.

The $300,000 state-funded Phase 1 shored up the building. (At right, Robert Schmitt, who was worked on the home's windows, shows where the spiral staircase once rose. Picket photo)

Phase 2 of the ambitious project will be much more extensive and expensive. The aim is for PSC to eventually hand over the house to the university for finishing and customization.

Rothell said Phase 2 will include:

-- Installation of new piers on concrete footings in the crawlspace;

-- Strengthening of porch, first and second floor framings, the roof system and all walls;

Rendering of the finished house, complete with landscaping (Preservation SC-USC Union)

-- Installation of the required framing for a new interior staircase where the original historic, spiral staircase was located in the central hall. This will entail strengthening the floors and walls in this area, including any necessary new footings in the crawlspace.

Name of house will honor famed black coach

PSC said they need at least $845,000 for the next phase of work. About $206,000 has been raised or been committed. Donations to the project can be made here.

“Fundraising is through personal outreach to corporations, organizations and individuals and participation in local meetings,” Comer told the Picket.

Construction could start in September or October, if enough money or promises come in.

PSC put out a fundraising brochure that includes “premier naming opportunities” for portions of the house, including the library, front porch, main hallway and the original 1700s home that was incorporated into later additions. Organizers hope one day to rebuild a spiral staircase that once joined the first and second floors.

The restored residence will be known as the Willie and Mary Jeffries’ Commons at Dawkins House. (PSC photo, right)

Willie Jeffries  played for the all-black Sims High School in Union and is the legendary former football coach of South Carolina State University. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010 and is a member of the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame.

In 2023, the South Carolina High School League recognized the Sims football squad’s 96-game unbeaten streak from 1946-1954 as the longest in state history. 

According to PSC: 

"The 'Commons' represents a shared and vibrant space—one designed to bring people together. Located on the USC Union campus, it will serve as a hub for connection and collaboration, where students, faculty, and corporate partners can gather for networking, professional development, meetings, and special events. It will a place where ideas are exchanged, partnerships are formed, and innovation is fostered."

The library remains where Gov. Magrath worked in spring 1865 (Picket photo)