Historical markers commemorate important events and people, but they often are ignored even by those pass them on a regular basis. It is easy, given the rush of every day life, to ignore the plaques that are an integral part of state and community efforts to recognize the past. That is often a mistake. While some markers are quite pedestrian in content, others recall people or events of importance that otherwise might go unremembered. That’s certainly the case with a marker dedicated in Dalton, Ga., last week.
The marker, located near Fort Hill School, commemorates the 600-800 black Union soldiers of the 14th and 44th United States Colored Troops who twice engaged Confederate troops in Dalton in 1864. Those Civil War skirmishes were not major battles. They are rarely mentioned in history texts or other accounts of the war. Nonetheless, they are important. The large crowd that turned out for the dedication understood that.
The two skirmishes are believed to be the only two confrontations between black troops and Confederates in Georgia during the Civil War. Moreover, according to an official of the Georgia Historical Society, the Dalton marker is the first in the state to recall the role that blacks played in the Civil War. As such, the placing of the marker rights a wrong that should have been corrected long ago.
For years, in the South and elsewhere, books, like historical markers, generally overlooked the role of blacks in the Civil War. Black troops ultimately played a vital role in the conflict, but succeeding generations of schoolchildren rarely learned of it. The same neglect was true in the study of all U.S. history.
Aside from a few notable black historical figures – Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, George Washington Carver, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King, for example – the subject was glossed over if not ignored. Only in the last few decades have scholars, textbooks and, now, historical markers begun to correct the omissions of the past by bringing the contributions of blacks in every sphere of the nation’s life to public attention.
Andrew Young, former Atlanta mayor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told those at the dedication last week that the marker not only commemorated those who fought and died in an attempt to maintain unification of this nation, but that “After many years, we have finally realized that we are stronger together than we are separate.”
Most Americans, but not all, understand the truth of his statement. The Dalton historical marker is a reminder of how far we have come in truly understanding and accepting our nation’s tumultuous history – and of how far we have yet to travel.