Georgians in the Union Army to be remembered

UNDATED - The Georgia Historical Society (GHS) and the Georgia Department of Economic Development plan two historical marker dedications in northeast Georgia Wednesday for Georgians in the Union Army.

The first will be at 10:00 at 1 Courthouse Square in Dawsonville.

The keynote address will be given by Dr. John Inscoe, Albert B. Saye Professor of History at the University of Georgia, Editor of the New Georgia Encyclopedia and author of works on the Civil War in Southern Appalachia.

The second will commemorate the Madden Branch Massacre and will be at 3:00 at 44 Blue Ridge Drive in McCaysville.

The keynote address there will be given by Dr. W. Todd Groce, President and CEO of the Georgia Historical Society and author of Mountain Rebels: East Tennessee Confederates and the Civil War, 1860-1870.

The text of the markers that will be dedicated is as follows:

*Georgians in the Union Army

The First Georgia Volunteer Infantry Battalion (U.S.), also known as the First Georgia State Troops Volunteers (U.S.), was a United States Army unit raised in North Georgia during the Civil War, after federal troops entered the state in 1864. The First Georgia guarded the U.S. supply line along the Western & Atlantic Railroad, fought skirmishes with Confederate forces including state militia and guerillas, and participated in the unsuccessful Federal defense of Dalton in October 1864.

Throughout the war, North Georgia was a focal point of Unionist sentiment and resistance to Confederate conscription and taxation policies that resulted in a brutal inner civil war with atrocities on both sides. More than 5,000 Georgians, black and white, fought for the United States against the Confederacy during the Civil War, mostly in units raised in East Tennessee and northern Alabama.

Erected for the Civil War 150 commemoration by the Georgia Historical Society and the Georgia Department of Economic Development

*Madden Branch Massacre

North of here on Madden Branch in Polk County, Tennessee, on November 29, 1864, during the American Civil War, six Georgians trying to enlist in the U.S. Army -Thomas Bell, Harvey Brewster, James T. Hughes, James B. Nelson, Elijah Robinson, Peter Parris, and Wyatt J. Parton - were executed by the notorious Confederate guerilla John P. Gatewood, "the long-haired, red-bearded beast from Georgia."

The Madden Branch Massacre was one of several atrocities that occurred as the mountain counties divided into pro and anti-Confederate factions. Many Georgians resented the Confederacy's strong central government measures such as conscription, impressment, and taxation and resisted by enlisting in the 5th Tennessee Mounted Infantry (U.S.) and the 1st Georgia State Troops Volunteers (U.S.) or forming their own guerilla units.

Erected for the Civil War 150 commemoration by the Georgia Historical Society and the Georgia Department of Economic Development

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In partnership with the Georgia Department of Economic Development, these events are part of a statewide commemoration of the Civil War 150th anniversary. GHS is conducting a program across the state to unveil new and recently replaced historical markers that explore the stories of Georgia's Civil War history as lived and experienced by all of its people during those tumultuous and transformative years. For more information on the Civil War 150 marker project, please click here.

Georgia Historical Society (GHS) is an independent statewide institution responsible for collecting, examining and teaching Georgia history. GHS houses the oldest and most distinguished collection of materials related exclusively to Georgia history in the nation.