Point Park Lookout Mountain and Chattanooga Battlefields: National Military Park, Georgia and Tennessee
Anonymous
9781465659156
213 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
Chattanooga was an important railroad center at the time of the Civil War. Railroad lines radiated in the four principal directions and provided connections with Nashville, Memphis, Atlanta, and Richmond. The location of the city on the navigable Tennessee River where there were gaps in the mountains added to its strategic value. Its capture by Union forces would be a severe blow to the South. It would check the east and west passage of men and supplies for the Southern armies and provide a springboard for the invasion of Georgia. During the summer and early fall of 1863, by skillful maneuvers, the Union Army of the Cumberland forced the Southern Army of Tennessee out of middle Tennessee and Chattanooga. On September 19 and 20, at Chickamauga Creek in Georgia, the two armies met in one of the fiercest engagements of the war. While this battle ended in Confederate victory, the Union forces succeeded in retreating northward into Chattanooga. The Confederates now settled down to siege tactics and attempted to force the surrender of the Army of the Cumberland through starvation. By occupying Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge and by establishing a line between the two heights, they cut off all but the most difficult route by which supplies could be brought into the city. Within a month the Union Army in Chattanooga was in a desperate situation and was reduced to half rations. Ten thousand horses and mules died and surrender seemed inevitable. The North, however, met this crisis by a change of command and reinforcements. Troops from the Army of the Potomac in Virginia and from Grant’s Vicksburg forces in Mississippi were sent hurrying to Chattanooga, and General Grant arrived to take the overall command. The reinforcements arrived in time to save the besieged army. A new supply route was opened and was successfully defended. As a result of this timely aid, the siege of Chattanooga failed. Nevertheless, the Confederates still held their positions. In November the greatly strengthened Union Army assumed the offensive.
