November 5-- Chickamauga and Chattanooga 11/5/2013

Yesterday was a driving day that took us about 420 miles from Vicksburg, MS to Chattanooga, TN. Here, our intent is to not only come a little closer to home, but also to see another chapter in the Civil War story of our country.

Chattanooga and Chickamauga were the sites of two pivotal and bloody battles of the Civil War. In 1863, Union and Confederate forces fought for control of Chattanooga, considered the gateway to the deep south. It was a key rail center fro the Confederacy, through which southern forces accessed supplies. Northern and southern forces met here in some of the bloodiest fighting of the war. We took the auto tour, which takes visitors around to some of the more important battle sites, offering an audio accompaniment on smartphone that helps to explain the significance of each stop. At one spot, the narrator of the audio presentation read a letter written by one of the soldiers who had been at the battle. The soldier described the scene he saw at the spot we were standing: the serene field in front of us today had been carpeted with dead bodies, to the extent that he could walk across the field without his feet touching the ground. Losses on both sides were second only to those at Gettysburg. More men were lost at Chickamauga than the total lost in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Unlike Vicksburg, fighting occurred in and around the forests of the area.

After the auto tour, we drove to Lookout Mountain,

View from Lookout Mountain down to the Tennessee River

another site of Civil War fighting. It's hard to believe that Confederates, with a superior position at the top of the mountain, were overcome by Union soldiers who attacked by ascending the steep terrain.

Lookout Mountain offers panoramic views of the valley. We cruised the neighborhood at the top and saw some fabulous ($$$) homes that hover at the edge of the mountain. This is a beautiful area, and the trees are decked in fall color. We'd like to return some day.