March 26, 2021 - Chattanooga, Tennessee
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I've long wanted to visit Chattanooga. I don't know why; something about the name I guess. We arrived in the late afternoon and splurged a little bit by staying at the very nice Read House Hotel in downtown Chattanooga. The next morning we headed up to Lookout Mountain.
Here we are passing by the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway just before heading up the mountain on a very narrow, winding road. The Incline Railway, opened in 1895, is known as “America's Most Amazing Mile.” Starting at St. Elmos station stop, the world's steepest passenger railway travels on a 72.7% grade for a mile on a single-track system to Lookout Mountain.
We also passed by Ruby Falls -- a 145-foot underground waterfall and cave tour -- but didn't have time to check it out.
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At the northern tip of Lookout Mountain was Point Park.
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Downtown Chattanooga at center. Chattanooga was key to the South — it had roads through the mountain passes, four railroad lines linked to crucial Southern cities like Memphis and Richmond, and water transport via the Tennessee River.
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| Here is an excellent map of the Battle of Chattanooga by Hal Jespersen who is a professional cartographer of Civil War topics. Check out his web page: Link |
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| Here is a better picture of Moccasin Point at center. |
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| Hiking through Point Park. |
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| The east side of the Point was sheer rock cliffs. |
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The Battle of Lookout Mountain -- the "Battle Above the Clouds" -- was fought November 24, 1863, as part of the Chattanooga Campaign of the American Civil War. Union forces under Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker assaulted Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and defeated Confederate forces commanded by Maj. Gen. Carter L. Stevenson. Lookout Mountain was one engagement in the Chattanooga battles between Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Military Division of the Mississippi and the Confederate Army of Tennessee, commanded by Gen. Braxton Bragg. It drove in the Confederate left flank and allowed Hooker's men to assist in the Battle of Missionary Ridge the following day, which routed Bragg's army, lifting the siege of Union forces in Chattanooga, and opening the gateway into the Deep South. |
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Union soldiers after the Battle of Lookout Mountain, enjoying the view.
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Looking over the west side of Lookout Mountain.
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| Now looking southwest. |
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| Looking almost south. I was trying to figure how General Hooker's troops got up here. Somehow they were able to find a way up in this direction. |
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| The New York Peace Memorial in Point Park. The memorial was erected by the state of New York to honor those soldiers who fought and died on this Civil War Battlefield. On top of the memorial column, a Union and a Confederate soldier shake hands under one flag, representing conciliation with one thought in mind - the government being united under one flag. |
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There were a couple of small museums both inside and outside of Point Park. In one of them was this painting of General Hooker on the west side of Lookout Mountain.
And with that, our Florida trip ended. We drove to Johnson City, and then the next day back home.
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