My first thought is that it's not that early to be going dormant. By November 1 peaches are going dormant even in CA where they may not get frost until Dec. Usually the leaves don't turn black so that's a bit disconcerting but not necessarily deadly. I think you will need to wait until spring and see what they do.

It just concerned me because I went to the nursery where I bought the trees and their trees, of the same variety that I bought, were totally fine. Is there a possibility that moving them just caused them to go dormant earlier?

I'm new to this! Thanks so much for your input!!

golden:

Being too dry could be the problem. But even there the leaves would more likely turn brown than black. Keep them moist and plant them asap. When you plant be wary of roots growing in a cicle around the rootball inside the pot. If there are circling roots, try to pull them loose and spread them out in the planting hole. If you can't spread them out, at least cut them at several places. This will help them grow out into the soil rather than growing in a cicle and strangling themselves.

Yes, I agree, that is what a drought stressed tree does.

Grayish black leaves at this time of the year would be freeze damage in my area. Probably not in Alabama, though.

This time of year, you are limited to dormant sprays, but they tend to be the best treatments for several problems so that's not a bad thing. I suggest that you plan on doing some dormant spraying.

I would expect drought damaged leaves to be brown and very crispy. Is there any fuzziness to the leaves? The color sounds like mildew.

Did you haul 'em down the highway, uncovered, in the back of your pickup?
I've seen some pretty awesome cases of 'windburn' on trees transported that way.

Any chance of posting pictures? That would likely help us help you.

lucky_p, we did just that as we are new to fruit trees and didn’t cover them.

how do we fix this? Or can we?

You can't fix windburn. But if the trees are properly cared for otherwise, they should generally releaf pretty easily.

Trees transported in full leaf in the back of a pick up or otherwise exposed to road wind can be badly damaged due to a combination of the strong air movement and dessication Some (like Japanese maples) to the point of death but other, tougher species, like most fruits, will survive although off to a less than auspicious start. The canopy/branch system should always be loosely tied and then covered.