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Chattanooga, Tennessee is at the junction of several major interstates (I-24, I-59, and I-75) and was an important crossroads long before the city existed. Some of the Native American trails are thousands of years old; people have lived in the area for over 10,000 years. The Cherokee were the last Native Americans in the area and it was along their trails, originally established as trading and hunting routes, that the first Europeans arrived. Fur trappers and explorers followed the well-defined trails which were wide enough for single file horse travel. Soon settlers began widening the trails into rough roads for their wagons.

The first settlement was founded as Ross’s Landing, a river crossing point in 1816 by Chief John Ross, a Cherokee. The Cherokees of Tennessee adapted remarkably well to the new white men’s ways. Many began farming, raising peaches, sheep, and cattle. They learned to spin wool and weave cloth on looms, they built houses, learned English, and some even intermarried with the newcomers. Unfortunately, all their efforts to coexist were for naught. After gold was found in northern Georgia all Native Americans in the southeastern U.S. were forcibly removed in 1838.

That same year the remaining citizens of Ross’s Landing chose a new name for their city, ironically, opting for Chattanooga, a Creek Indian word meaning “rock coming to a point.” The prior year the town was selected as the end point of the Western and Atlantic Railroad. Although not completed until 1850, the knowledge that the railroad was coming sparked a building boom. By 1860 the population had more than doubled to 2,500 in the bustling frontier town. 1861 was the first of many difficult years the town would experience during the Civil War, but again, its location as a crossroads led to its importance.

To set the stage (as briefly as possible), Abraham Lincoln was elected in the fall of 1860, South Carolina was the first state to secede in December of 1860. By the time Lincoln was inaugurated in March of 1861 eight southern states had formed the Confederate States of America and elected Jefferson Davis as their President. The War Between the States had begun.

Tennessee was evenly split between pro-slavery folks in the west and a pro-Union populace in the east; the state’s first vote on secession was defeated. However, on June 08, 1861, Tennessee became the last state to leave the Union. A torn state, Tennessee furnished more men to the Union cause than all the other Southern states combined. At the same time, Tennesseans fighting for the Confederacy were second in number only to soldiers from Virginia.

The Civil War was fought in two theaters, East of the Appalachian Mountains and West of them. Tennessee was the bread basket of the South. Lincoln considered Tennessee to be “the keystone of the Southern arch” with Chattanooga as the gateway city, not only for its railroad hub but because of the mountain gaps nearby. If the Union could gain control of Chattanooga the War would draw to a close.

As a result of its importance the battles in the Chattanooga area were especially fierce and deadly. The Battle of Chickamauga, just over the border in Georgia, (September 19th and 20th, 1863) was one of the deadliest battles on the Western front with over 34,000 casualties (killed, wounded, or missing). The fighting was so furious that afterwards lumber mills refused logs from the battlefield because of all the ordinance fired (the metallic fragments in the wood could destroy a saw blade and jeopardize the lives of the workers). A rare Confederate win, the battle was merely a prelude to the other battles for control of Chattanooga.

A blunder by Union General Rosecrans set the stage for the Confederate victory at Chickamauga. Yet, a miscalculation by
General Bragg of the Confederate Army ultimately lost the War for the South. Bragg chose not to pursue and attack Rosecrans’s weakened, retreating army. Instead he took several days to regroup his men, thinking it would be easy to force the Union Army’s surrender by laying siege to Chattanooga.

The siege plan might have worked if not for the opening of a supply route called the “Cracker Line” by Union troops led by Ulysses S. Grant. Lincoln had appointed Grant as the head commander in the West and he wasted no time in replacing Rosecrans with General George S. Thomas. Thomas immediately attacked Confederate posts around Chattanooga.

The battles began November 23rd at Orchard Knob and continued the next day with the Battle Above the Clouds, fought on the sides of Lookout Mountain. (Interesting anecdote: when the Confederates on top of Lookout Mountain aimed their cannons down the mountainside on the advancing Union line, the angle was so steep that the cannon balls rolled out!) After the battle on November 25th for Missionary Ridge, Bragg’s army retreated and Chattanooga belonged to the North.

The stage was set for Sherman to roll into Atlanta and begin his controversial “March to the Sea.” Controversial, because Sherman’s troops burned and destroyed many of the cities they marched through. Sherman literally rolled into Atlanta, since the newly won railroads in Chattanooga were used to transport men and supplies deep into the South. A relieved Lincoln knew that the end of the War was in sight.

In 1864, Lincoln drafted Andrew Johnson, a democrat from Greeneville, Tennessee, as his running mate in a gesture of compromise. On April 9th, 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia (he was trapped by a large Union force to the north and Sherman’s troops had cut him off from the South). Tragically, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated five days later, on April 14th.

Tennessee was the first state readmitted to the Union on July 24th of 1866. The price of the War was high in Tennessee; the “butcher’s bill” for battles on Tennessee soil was 58,000 Federals and 66,000 Rebels killed or wounded with an additional 124,000 dead of disease or malnutrition. As much damage as it caused the War also helped Chattanooga recover. Out of necessity Union forces had rebuilt the rail lines and repaired or installed other essential infrastructure in the city. All kinds of manufacturing took place in the city which at the height of the War was home to over 70,000 Union soldiers.

In my reading about the Civil War in general (I had some brushing up to do) I came across an interesting observation. The needs of the War propelled this country forward at a dizzying rate as many crucial innovations were made in efforts to improve communication, medicine, technology, and agriculture. While the price was high, with over 620,000 Americans dead, the Civil War was the impetus for the country’s rapid industrialization. Something I’d never thought about before.

Chattanooga went on to become a large manufacturing center known as the “Dynamo of Dixie” by the 1930s. Though rail travel was losing in popularity to the car, Chattanooga had nothing to fear since the Dixie Highway, a route from Miami to Detroit, came through in 1927.

In 1941 Chattanooga Choo-Choo, a song made popular by Glenn Miller, had the town firmly entrenched in everyone’s mind. The Tennessee River no longer posed a flooding threat once the Tennessee Valley Authority dammed the river in several places. The dams provided drinking water and power to the growing industries and thriving community. By the 1970s the years of rampant manufacturing and strip mining led to the city’s high pollution rate. Chattanooga went through its first decline in its history.

During our visit we noticed that the city is once again taking advantage of being a major crossroads and has focused on tourism. The large Tennessee Aquarium and other museums and attractions downtown have been spruced up, and the Tennessee Riverpark—centered on the historic Walnut Bridge (restored for pedestrians only)—provides easy access to green space and river views.

There is more to Chattanooga than Civil War history. Did you know that miniature golf was invented there? Yep, Garnet Carter invented the fun game on top of Lookout Mountain. This is the same man who opened his wife’s rock garden, Rock City, to the public and made it a commercial success by painting advertisements on barns from Florida to Ohio. The “See Rock City” barns are still around, although most of the ads are now on billboards along the Interstates.

Chattanooga has been the home of the Moon Pie, a smore-like treat, since 1917. Neither Lance nor I had ever eaten one before. When I shared that information with the lady behind the counter she exclaimed, “Why honey, you must not be from the South!” So true!

The “Empress of the Blues”, Bessie Smith, was born in Chattanooga in either 1892 or 1894 (the records are contradictory). She started singing on street corners with her brother to make money after both her parents died. She was discovered by Columbia Records, and recorded with some of the finest musicians of the time—including Louis Armstrong. It was a short life; in 1937 Bessie was critically injured in a car accident and died the following day.

In 1890 the first of four national battlefields, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park was created to preserve Civil War battlefields so the country would never forget. The Park is over 7,000 acres and has two large sections: Point Park on the top of Lookout Mountain and Chickamauga Battlefield in Georgia (with several smaller sites located around the Chattanooga area). We started our tour of the Park on top of Lookout Mountain.

Since we were told that the road up Lookout Mountain was narrow and too curvy for an RV we rode the Incline Railway. The Incline is a funicular railway that travels about a mile in its journey to the top. The Incline was first built in 1895 and is billed as the steepest passenger railway in the world, with a 72.7% grade. The Incline Railway had a large, free parking lot and the view was breathtaking. Quite literally for one woman on our way up. She lost all color and was visibly shaking as she exited the car.

From the Incline ‘station’ on top of Lookout Mountain it was a short walk to Point Park. The Visitor Center is home to James Walker’s massive painting, The Battle of Lookout Mountain. The 13’ x 30’ painting depicts the rugged scene as he witnessed it. The Confederates clearly had the better location but they were no match for the determined Union forces.

The next day we toured the Chickamauga battlefield. At the Visitor Center a volunteer Civil War reenactor had set up a field hospital and gave a short talk. The driving tour followed the flow of the battle and we were intrigued when we ran across a group of officers from the U.S. Army who were studying the strategy and tactics used during the battle.

During our stay in Chattanooga it was easy to immerse ourselves in Civil War history. Heck, our RV Park was located on an old battlefield. But, we thoroughly enjoyed exploring the modern parts of the city, too. Next stop: Turner Field and a date with the Atlanta Braves.

Photos: View our photos from Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Notes: We stayed in Chattanooga, Tennessee from 04/08/07 to 04/14/07. Lance enjoyed an early morning round of disc golf at the challenging “The Sinks” disc golf course along the Tennessee River.