Dug Gap - 5/8/1864 - Dalton, GA - Battlefields on Waymarking.com

Looking up toward the Confederates position.

May 7, 1864. Colonel Warren Grigsby´s brigade (Wheeler´s Cav.), retreated from its position west of Tunnel Hill to Mill Creek Gap and camped on the road at foot of the ridge below Dug Gap. Dortch´s battalion ascended to the gap to join the infantry post of Colonel James A. Williamson´s 1st and 2nd Arkansans Mounted Rifles. When Dortch arrived at Dug Gap he reported to headquarters at Dalton that there where troops in Dogwood Valley below the gap. Grigsby was ordered to send cavalry scouts across the ridge.

At 1:00 a.m. on May 8th, Col. William Campbell Preston Breckinridge´s 9th Ky., Grigsby´s brigade, descended from Dug Gap & patrolled the roads north and west to ascertain if any Federals were there. By 1:30 P. M. Breckinridge found Dogwood Valley swarming with Federals, a brigade of which, in support of Kilpatrick´s cavalry, was enroute south of Villanow. Later, the 9th Ky., was confronted by General John W. Geary, with Buschbeck´s & Candy´s brigades of the 2d Div, 20th A. C., moving east from near Gordon´s Springs. The Confederate troops were forced to retreat to Dug Gap.

At 3:00 p.m., Geary deployed his 2 brigades, Buschbeck´s brigade on the right, Candy´s on the left, to storm Dug Gap. The Pennsylvania Battery (3 inch Rodman guns) commanded by Capt. James D. McGill, was sited near Joel Babb´s house to support the assault. The Confederates were well entrenched behind a stone wall they had constructed to defend the gap. They had also placed large boulders to roll down the steep incline on the attackers. The attacking Federal Forces suffered more than three hundred casualties in this battle fought over extremely rugged terrain. The Congressional Medal of Honor was awarded to two members of the 154th New York regiment, 2d Div, 20th A. C.

Source: Civil War Historic Markers Across Georgia - Dug Gap

This action occurred near the beginning of Sherman’s advance on Atlanta. The bulk of the Union and Confederated forces were at Rocky Face ridge, north of here. The Army of the Tennessee (USA), commanded by General James B. McPherson , was moving down the Snake Creek Gap to try and out flank the confederates. The two side clash at Resaca, GA, on May 13, the resulting Battle of Resaca will be the first major struggle of the Atlanta Campaign.

Name of Battle: Battle at Dug Gap Name of War: American Civil War Entrance Fee: 0.00 (listed in local currency) Date(s) of Battle (Beginning): 05/08/1864 Date of Battle (End): 05/08/1864 Parking: Not Listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   08/17/2011 Lat34North visited it