Dalton I

General Sherman (US) launched a campaign, from Vicksburg, Mississippi, to take the railroad center at Meridian, and to push on to Selma, AL and threaten Mobile. The intent of the campaign was to prevent the shipment of Confederate men and supplies. Major General Ulysses S. Grant (US) ordered Major General George H. Thomas (US) to move his Army of Cumberland to southeast from Chattanooga along the Western & Atlantic Railroad to Dalton, Georgia to evaluate the possibility of success of an attack there on General Joseph E. Johnston (CS) and his Army of Tennessee to stall the departure of reinforcements to Alabama. As a counter-measure, Confederate President Jefferson Davis ordered troops into the area. While these operations unfolded, Thomas was determined to probe Gen. Johnston's army in the hope that Johnston's loss of two divisions,sent to reinforce Lt. Gen. Leonidas Polk as he withdrew from Meridian, would make him vulnerable. The skirmishes, that began on February 24th, determined that Rocky Face Ridge and Mill Creek Gap were Well defended. On the 25th, the 39th Indiana Mounted Infantry attacked Dug Gap, just a few miles south of Mill Creek Gap. Also on the 25th at Crow Valley, Union troops almost turned the Rebel right flank, but ultimately it held. On the 26th, Brigadier General Hiram B. Granbury (CS) and his brigade drove the 39th Indiana out. On the 27th, Thomas's army withdrew, after realizing that Johnston had established a stronghold at Snake Creek Gap and was ready and able to counter any assault. This discovery by Thomas was to be significant in the upcoming Atlanta Campaign the following May