Year Erected: 1958
Marker Text: After the fall of Atlanta in 1864, when refugees were searching for food and safe havens removed from the war, Governor Joseph E. Brown and Georgia Quartermaster General Ira Foster arranged for the transportation of about 300 civilian refugees to Dawson. Mainly women and children, these refugees received supplies and housing at the exile camp, which would later come to be known as Fosterville. During Reconstruction, a detachment of 50 US soldiers, led by Sergent Barker, were quartered at the Fosterville camp to preserve order and protect the polls from interference. It is said that the soldiers behaved with "such prudence and fairness," that the soldiers formed lasting friendships with the citizens of Dawson. Sergeant Barker’s detachment left the site on April 30, 1868, and were replaced by a second detachment of US troops, who remained until the closure of the camp.
Re-erected by the Georgia Historical Society in 2025
Tips for Finding This Marker: On Martin Luther King Street, north of 12th Avenue in Dawson.
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