Lookout Mountain is an amazing place to discover nature, history and enjoy vistas reaching out to a claimed seven states. The Mountain is best explored on foot along its myriad of trails traversing the dense forest slopes of this quintessential Appalachian prominence. Surrounded to the north, east and on top by urbanity, it is easy to forget you are never far from civilization if not for the subtle roar of traffic on Interstate 24 far below.
Continue reading
The battle of Chickamauga severely troubled the Federal Army of the Cumberland. Mainly due to a failure in command, the Army suffered a stiff rebuke on 20 September 1863 losing over 16,000 casualties. Routed, the force made its way back to Chattanooga thanks to the steady defense shown on Horseshoe Ridge by men scrabbled together by General George Thomas. Luckily, their antagonist, the Confederate Army of Tennessee suffered even more casualties in victory – over 18,000. More problematic for the Confederate commander Braxton Bragg was a large loss of horses for an army already suffering mobility problems before that epic confrontation.
Continue reading
The Chattanooga section of the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park consists of several disparate sections separated by over a century of urbanity. Two of the lesser-known parts of the park lie at the northern end of Missionary Ridge – the Sherman and the Pennsylvania Reservations. These two reserves remember the heavy fighting of 25 November 1863 on Tunnel Hill. Tunnel Hill, so-called for the railroad tunnel for the Chattanooga & Cleveland Railroad. Here, the better part of the Army of the Tennessee, led by Major General William Sherman, with additional troops provided by the division of Jefferson C. Davis and the Federal 11th Corps hit the northern flank of Braxton Bragg’s Missionary Ridge position. The goal was to gain Tunnel Hill and roll up Bragg’s position from that end.
Continue reading
REHERSAL TO GAIN THE HEIGHTS
The battle of Chickamauga over the last days of September 1863 delivered a severe blow to the Union Army of the Cumberland pushing that army back into the fortifications of Chattanooga while the victorious Confederate Army of Tennessee stood upon the heights surrounding the city – Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge.
Continue reading
With the onset of the Civil War in April 1861, 700,000 soldiers would die on both sides in the next four years. It was not until 11 September before the War Department began to have commanding officers keep records of deceased soldiers. At the same time, the Quartermaster General became responsible for tending to the needs of soldiers in death. Each grave marked with a headboard. Not long after, the graves gained numbers on the headboards and recorded in a register.
Continue reading
Flying from the west into Atlanta, looking out the window it is hard to miss the waves of mountains sprawling in long ranks southwest to northeast not unlike a series of geographically arranged ribs. Chattanooga, Tennessee lies smack dab in the middle of these ancient ripples. And flowing right through the middle of the long mountain spines is the Tennessee River looping back and forth onto itself as it brushes through the city. The long ridges, extending for vast distances from Birmingham. Alabama in the southwest all the way to the northeastern edge of Pennsylvania in the northeast, represents a vast area once an ancient seabed that underwent uplift. Eons have worn down the region, though Lookout Mountain still rises 1,500 feet above the city below.
Continue reading
Recent posts have dealt with history for the most part – military history, mostly – World War 1 and the American Civil War. There are several more to come dealing with the later, so I thought to break it up a bit.
Continue reading
Very similar to the Italian episode of 1918 in France, Austria-Hungary sent several divisions to help her Central Power ally Germany in the last summer of the Great War. Unlike the Italians, there are no monuments or military cemeteries marking their presence on the battlefields. The only evidence of their participation is a lonely memorial and the few graves left behind in several German military cemeteries. You must look closely to find them.
Continue reading
In covering the countryside of France in the region where elements of the American Expeditionary Force took part in the Second Battle of the Marne on a corps level, I ran across two Italian military cemeteries. Certainly, the appearance of these cemeteries came as a surprise to me. The story of how the Italians got here and their battles do not show up in many histories of the war. So, here is a quick rundown of Italy in France.
Continue reading
The second deadliest battle of the American Civil War, Chickamauga is nowhere near as well-known as other battles such as Gettysburg, Antietam, or Vicksburg. The first two were fought by the Army of the Potomac, the main Federal army fighting in the eastern theater of the war centered on Virginia. If this army had been destroyed, the Federal cause would have been defeated. Neither Gettysburg nor Antietam were large-scale Federal victories. They both were emphatic ending notes to the two invasions of the Northern States in 1862 and 1863 by General Robert E. Lee and his Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Vicksburg meant the Confederate States were split into two as Federal control over the Mississippi came into being.
Continue reading