Editing Calhoun, Georgia (section)

==History==
In December 1827, Georgia had already claimed the Cherokee lands that became Gordon County and other counties. A small town called "Dawsonville" was created and founded in Gordon County, named for the owner of an early general store.<ref>{{cite book | url=http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/c.pdf | title=Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins | publisher=Winship Press | author=Krakow, Kenneth K. | year=1975 | location=Macon, GA | pages=31 | isbn=0-915430-00-2}}</ref> Dawsonville was later renamed "Calhoun" to honor [[U.S. Senator]] [[John C. Calhoun]],<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IP4vAAAAIBAJ&pg=3207%2C519015 | title=Gordon County| work=Calhoun Times | date=1 September 2004 | access-date=26 April 2015 | pages=87}}</ref> following his death in 1850.

Gordon County's inferior court called an election for the selection of the county seat, offering voters a choice between a site on the [[Western & Atlantic Railroad]] (near [[Adairsville, Georgia|Adairsville]]) or a site more centrally located within the county. Voters chose a site along the railroad, so the inferior court designated Calhoun as county seat in 1851. The legislature incorporated Calhoun in an act approved on January 12, 1852.<ref>Ga. Laws 1851-52, page 419</ref>

On January 5, 1861, Georgia seceded from the Union as a prelude to the [[American Civil War]]. Calhounians joined the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]. Most warfare took place elsewhere, but on May 16, 1864, Calhoun was near where the [[Union Army|Union]] General [[William Tecumseh Sherman]] and Confederate General [[Joseph E. Johnston]] postured before the [[Battle of Adairsville]] during Sherman's [[Atlanta Campaign]]. Oakleigh, the home of Dr. Wall, was used by Sherman as his headquarters at that time.

A tornado on March 20, 1888, leveled much of Calhoun. A devastating fire on October 23 of that year destroyed most of what remained.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=REtEXQNWq6MC&pg=PA222 | title=Historical Gazetteer of the United States | publisher=Routledge | date=May 13, 2013 | access-date=30 November 2013 | author=Hellmann, Paul T. | pages=222| isbn=978-1135948597 }}</ref>