MISSIONARY RIDGE – ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND CONFOUNDS GRANT

Illinois State Monument stands at Bragg Reservation atop Missionary Ridge with guns representing Massenberg's Georgia Battery which were overrun.
Illinois State Monument stands at Bragg Reservation atop Missionary Ridge with guns representing Massenberg’s Georgia Battery which were overrun.

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.

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LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN – SOUTHERN MAGIC DISIPATES IN FORECAST OF FUTURE

Idealized painting of the Battle of Lookout Mountain. Joseph Hooker rides the white horse in center.

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. 

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