The Civil War Round Table of the Mid-Ohio Valley will honor the lifetime achievements of Brig. Gen. Rufus R. and Mary Gates Dawes with an historical marker dedication ceremony at 10:30 a.m. Aug. 3 at the First Congregational Church, 318 Front St.

The event will include period music, the presentation of colors by representatives from Iron Brigade states and remarks by Marietta Mayor Joshua Schlicher and Dawes family historians Scott Britton and Steve Magnusen.

MrBritton is executive director of The Castle Historic House Museum in Marietta. Magnusen resides in Indianapolis, Ind., and is the author of “To My Best Girl: Courage, Honor, and Love in the Civil War: The Inspiring Life Stories of Rufus and Mary Gates.”

The dedication ceremony is free and residents are invited to attend. For more information, go to www.cwrtmov.org or email cwrtmov@gmail.com.

Rufus led the 6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, a regiment in the famed Iron Brigade, as a field officer in more than 20 major battles in the Civil War, including Second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House and Petersburg, among others.

Brig. Gen. Rufus R. Dawes

Notwithstanding the military service record, the Dawes family legacy is notable for its resolve and cohesion in a period that frequently divided families.

Rufus was born in Malta, Ohio, on July 4, 1838, and Mary was born in Marietta on Aug. 24, 1842. They fell in love while Rufus attended Marietta College.

Rufus was in Wisconsin working for the family’s lumber business at the outbreak of the Civil War and it was there that he helped to recruit and organize the 6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry.

A remarkable wartime romance followed and Rufus and Mary wed on Jan. 18, 1864, at her family’s home, now the Betsey Mills Club in Marietta.

Throughout his life, Rufus expressed his foremost thoughts and feelings in written letters and journals. His public accomplishments, besides being a successful businessman, was election to the U.S. House of Representatives and a Marietta College Trustee, but it is in the personal expressions that we observe his unfailing devotion to Mary, their six children and to the home they made together.

Mary Gates Dawes

The letters reveal the warmth, integrity and humor of an American hero whose life was devoted to family and community.

Their six children became prominent business, political and community leaders on local, national and international levels, ever mindful of the values nurtured in their childhood home.