The last days of 1863 found the men from Hawkins County regrouping in Dalton, Georgia. They begin building huts on the side of a ridge west of the town for winter quarters. The men needed this seasonal break to heal and rebuild their numbers. The battles of Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge had taken their toll. The 19th Tennessee only had roughly 100 men who were fit for duty. In fact, Gen. Otho Stralhâs entire brigade, which included the Hawkins Boys, was in bad shape. To put it in more personal terms, Gen. Stralh put in a request for shoes for his brigade. At the start of the war, that would have been 5,500 pairs of shoes. In January of 1864, the general requested only 325.