DALTON

city, seat (1851) of Whitfield county, northwestern Georgia, U.S., encircled by the Cohutta Mountains. Although founded in 1837 as Cross Plains, it was renamed either for John Dalton, the engineer who laid out the town, or for the wife of Edward White (head of the syndicate that bought the townsite), whose maiden name was Dalton. It developed as a shipping point for copper mined nearby. During the Civil War several battles were fought in the area, and Dalton served as the headquarters of Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston. The tufted-textile industry (carpets, bedspreads, and robes), which began in 1900 as a home handicraft, became mechanized in the 1930s; Dalton now produces much of the national output. Dalton Junior College opened in 1967. The Cohutta National Fish Hatchery and Fort Mountain State Park are nearby. Inc. 1847. Pop. (1990) 21,761.