Looking around us

[Will Posey]

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Thanks to the National Park Service, many Civil War sites in and around Chattanooga have been preserved as parts of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga Battlefield Park. Many people are familiar with the Chickamauga Battlefield itself, but the other sites are not so well known.

A variety of parks, monuments, scenic views, museums and historic structures are featured in the Tennessee portion of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga Battlefield Park. These sites focus on the Battles For Chattanooga, which occurred two months after Chickamauga.

Point Park, at 2,100 feet above sea level, features beautiful views of the Tennessee River Valley. Three gun batteries mark a small segment of the siege lines that encircled Chattanooga. The 95-foot Peace Monument, constructed from pink Massachusetts granite and Tennessee marble, features on top of its shaft a Union and Confederate soldier shaking hands under one flag. The visitors center has the historic James Walker painting of "The Battle Above The Clouds," measuring 13 feet by 33 feet, along with an audio program discussing the work, and a book store. A set of stairs leads 500 feet down to The Ochs Museum and Overlook, with great views of the valley. A ledge nearby is Umbrella Rock, where many Union soldiers had their photo taken, including Gen. U.S. Grant. To the left of the museum is the Bluff Trail, the main hiking trail of the park which will take you to the Cravens House.

The Cravens House, built around 1854 by Robert Cravens, was the site of the fiercest fighting on the mountain and is the only remaining structure of the Civil War period on the battlefield. Confederate officers used the house as a headquarters for their fortifications on Lookout Mountain, only to be pushed out by Union Gen. "Fighting" Joe Hooker on Nov. 24, 1863 during the "Battle Above the Clouds." Only open for tours on Sat. & Sun. Grounds are always open.

Signal Point Reservation, to the north and directly opposite Lookout Mountain marks the spot where Native Americans, Confederates, and Union forces communicated through the use of signals. When the Federal army was trapped in Chattanooga in the fall of 1863, the U.S. Signal Corps was able to communicate up to 25 miles through the use of flags. Exhibits are displayed along the terrace, which affords a beautiful view of the Tennessee River Valley.

Orchard Knob Reservation marks the site of Gen. U.S. Grant's headquarters during the Union assaults of Confederate forces holding Missionary Ridge on Nov. 25, 1863. Located in the park are monuments, memorials, descriptive metal plaques, and cannon.

Missionary Ridge Reservations
Missionary Ridge is a 400-foot high, 20-mile long mountain barrier running east of the city of Chattanooga. Along this ridge were the seemingly impregnable, entrenched Confederate forces and gun batteries, laying siege to U.S. forces in Chattanooga. A series of military reservations, with monuments, cannon and explanatory tablets, mark significant spots on the ridge. The Sherman Reservation marks the area where Gen. William T. Sherman tried in vain to break through the Confederate eastern flank commanded by Gen. Patrick Cleburne. The De Long Reservation contains a large monument to the 2nd Minnesota Regiment, which fought gallantly at Chickamauga and was among the first to reach the crest of Missionary Ridge. The Ohio Reservation honors troops who fought in the Chattanooga Campaign. The Ohio Monument was dedicated by then Ohio Gov. William McKinley, who later became president of the U.S. The Bragg Reservation marks the site of Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's headquarters. The monument here honors Illinois troops.

There's a lot to be seen at Chattanooga. Plan on a full day, maybe two.

Will

 

[richard]

Now I don't know how gunboats got upriver from Florence... the Confederate boat that was scuttled on Cyoress creek was scuttled because it could not get away from the federal gunboats due to the shoals, and they did not want it to fall into union hands

The Union had a boat building yard at Kingston, Tennessee. There they built and rebuilt boats. Infact they even rebuilt a steamer that was shelled and sunk at Chattanooga during August of 1863.

 

[larry_cockerham]

down the road a few miles southeast is Springfield and we have made a circle.

So come on to Springfield, the town wants you to come and spend money... Stimulate US!

In my recent visit to your beautiful state of a thousand corn fields, I discovered that a circle is a very rare occurence. Most of your citizens must be square or at least rectangles. Trying to move (drive) diagonally is like climbing the staircase in most any direction.

 

[bama46]

The Union had a boat building yard at Kingston, Tennessee. There they built and rebuilt boats. Infact they even rebuilt a steamer that was shelled and sunk at Chattanooga during August of 1863.

Thanks for that information.. I have learned something..

 

[bama46]

In my recent visit to your beautiful state of a thousand corn fields, I discovered that a circle is a very rare occurence. Most of your citizens must be square or at least rectangles. Trying to move (drive) diagonally is like climbing the staircase in most any direction.

Well, I'll have to give you that.. except of course for the towns laid out along railroad tracks

 

[larry_cockerham]

The Union had a boat building yard at Kingston, Tennessee. There they built and rebuilt boats. Infact they even rebuilt a steamer that was shelled and sunk at Chattanooga during August of 1863.

Were these expected to reach the Ohio?

 

[ole]

There are towns not laid out along railroads, rivers or canals?

And ditto thanks, richard. Knew boats were made at Kingston, but didn't know that boats could power down the river.

 

[larry_cockerham]

There are towns not laid out along railroads, rivers or canals?

And ditto thanks, richard. Knew boats were made at Kingston, but didn't know that boats could power down the river.

Well, I suspect there are few towns in Illinois of much size that don't happen to have one of those components. Seems to be a partiality to the grid though, just at a glance. I was actually writing more about the road system that seems to respect section lines for the most part; hence lots of right and left turns with very short curves.

 

[Will Posey]

Revisiting Chattanooga

News has just been published that efforts are underway to add 75-100 acres to the National Park holdings on Missionary Ridge.

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_182558.asp

Will

 

[richard]

Ole, these boats were used from Decatur to Knoxville. They also stopped at Stevenson and Chattanooga. In my research of the 18th Indiana Battery several men took the boat to Chattanooga from Knoxville to catch the train to Nashville then to Louisville and then to Indianapolis. These boats were all shallow draft, but were steam powered.

 

[Will Posey]

Ole, these boats were used from Decatur to Knoxville. They also stopped at Stevenson and Chattanooga. In my research of the 18th Indiana Battery several men took the boat to Chattanooga from Knoxville to catch the train to Nashville then to Louisville and then to Indianapolis. These boats were all shallow draft, but were steam powered.

Steamboating was big business in the Kingston area in the 19th century and into the 20th. With no railroad, people and goods were speedily (for that day) moved about by steamboat.

Will

 

[Karen Lips]

Waxahachie, Texas had one of two gun powder mills in Texas. It exploded on April 29, 1863 killing owner William Rowen and another man by the name of Joshua G. Phillips. The cause of the explosion could never be established. However, a stranger in town , who people believed was a Northerner, disappeared immediately after the explosion. Some suspected he was the culprit. Who knows, he may have left town because he knew people would suspect him of sabotaging the powder mill.
http://blogforelliscountytexashistory.blogspot.com

 

[Nathanb1]

We were more "pre-war" as a place Lee and those other cavalry guys rode through on what they must have thought were interminable patrols back and forth across Texas....Fort Mason is only 35 miles away, and Lee is documented to have come through our county several times, stopping at Soldiers' Water Hole and burying at least one unlucky trooper by the Colorado River in the northern part of the county. Let's just say it made Virginia look a whole lot more attractive....

 

[RobertP]

Knoxville folks let expanding development obliterate Fort Sanders, the principal Union fort at Knoxville and the site of the decisive battle where Union forces repulsed Longstreet's atttempt to take Knoxville. There is nothing of it left, although recently researchers were able to produce an overlay on the current map, so that we now know just where it was. The area is now fully developed, with a large hospital and numerous residences.

The house that was Longstreet's headquarters still stands, being used now as the local UDC headquarters.

Fort Dickerson, a Union fort across the river from downtown Knoxville, has been preserved. It is now an 85 acre park, where an annual history weekend is held. At other times, the police have a constant battle dealing with all sorts of illegal activities at that site.

Recently, a construction project uncovered Confederate earthworks west of the Fort Sanders area. I'm not sure what, if anything, is going to be done about preservation at that site.

Will

Will, I learned recently that a ggrandfather, a private in the 17th Miss. (Barksdale's Bgde, McLaws' Div., Longstreet's Corps) was wounded at Knoxville. I knew he had been shot through the hand, permanently paralyzing it, and that was the end of his war. Before, I
had believed the injury happened at Gettysburg but apparently he made it through to Chickamauga and Knoxville. I didn't know much of the Knoxville battle but am trying to get up to speed.

 

[unionblue]

RobertP,

The Confederate reenacting company I was with was the 17th Mississippi, and was founded by an old friend of mine from Holly Springs, Mississippi. I reenacted the part of the real Company 1st Sergeant, who came all the way from Columbus, Ohio, to enlist with that regiment.

Strange world, ain't it?

Sincerely,
Unionblue

 

[unionblue]

About 12 miles South of the Columbus, Ohio, city limits there is a town I grew up in and went to church there for many years before I enlisted in the Army in July of 1971. Its name is Lockbourne, Ohio, a town of about 135 people. Its historical claim to fame is that the Erie Canal feeder line from Columbus, Ohio, the state capitol, passes through it on its way to connect with the main Erie Canal.

The town boasts four locks and at one time had a large whiskey distillery and warehouse right beside one of its locks. Most of this product was put on canal boats and shipped up to Columbus to stock the many saloons that sat across from the Ohio Statehouse. The town also boasted four saloons, and four churches. The churches remain, but the saloons were voted out by the town residents back in the 1900's. The distillery and warehouse are also long gone.

After I retired in 1991, I bought a house in Lockbourne and lived there another 9 years before I moved to Columbus where I now reside. When I was 13, I remember going down to the town cemetery and looking at all the headstones there. Most date from the middle 1800's and some a bit later before it was closed. While wandering through this small cemetery (about 30 to 40 monuments and headstones) I noticed one small monument, very simple in design, facing in a different direction than the others. In fact, all of the other headstones were facing East, as is the custom. But this one, lone, small headstone faced North. I was too young too understand what that was all about at the time and I had the idea that this poor fellow had been buried improperly or had done something very wrong to be singled out for such a placement of his stone.

Much later, and much older, I went back to the graveyard and looked up this headstone again. On the headstone I made out the following.

JNO. PARKISON, Co. D, 46 Ohio Inf.

I had found a single, lone, Union soldier, buried, as was the custom with all Union soldiers, buried, facing North, the direction of the side of the country he fought for.

I wonder now how he died and why was he buried in Lockbourne all so long ago. Was he a town resident? Did he enlist? Was he drafted? How and when did he die? Did he die of disease or was he killed in battle, far away from the little town on the canal?

Funny how the war reached even into this small, little town, to the tune of one life. Or did his life touch others and when his life was over, did he leave others behind? A wife? Children? A Mother or a Father?

Makes me wonder.

For more on the 46th Ohio Infantry, see the website below.

http://www.ohiocivilwar.com/cw46.html

I noticed from the above website that Company D thought very highly of itself, naming itself, "The Columbus Coldstream Guards" and that it was made up by men from Franklin (where Lockbourne is located) and Logan counties.

Sincerely,
Unionblue

 

[footeghost]

About 12 miles South of the Columbus, Ohio, city limits there is a town I grew up in and went to church there for many years before I enlisted in the Army in July of 1971. Its name is Lockbourne, Ohio, a town of about 135 people. Its historical claim to fame is that the Erie Canal feeder line from Columbus, Ohio, the state capitol, passes through it on its way to connect with the main Erie Canal.

The town boasts four locks and at one time had a large whiskey distillery and warehouse right beside one of its locks. Most of this product was put on canal boats and shipped up to Columbus to stock the many saloons that sat across from the Ohio Statehouse. The town also boasted four saloons, and four churches. The churches remain, but the saloons were voted out by the town residents back in the 1900's. The distillery and warehouse are also long gone.

After I retired in 1991, I bought a house in Lockbourne and lived there another 9 years before I moved to Columbus where I now reside. When I was 13, I remember going down to the town cemetery and looking at all the headstones there. Most date from the middle 1800's and some a bit later before it was closed. While wandering through this small cemetery (about 30 to 40 monuments and headstones) I noticed one small monument, very simple in design, facing in a different direction than the others. In fact, all of the other headstones were facing East, as is the custom. But this one, lone, small headstone faced North. I was too young too understand what that was all about at the time and I had the idea that this poor fellow had been buried improperly or had done something very wrong to be singled out for such a placement of his stone.

Much later, and much older, I went back to the graveyard and looked up this headstone again. On the headstone I made out the following.

JNO. PARKISON, Co. D, 46 Ohio Inf.

I had found a single, lone, Union soldier, buried, as was the custom with all Union soldiers, buried, facing North, the direction of the side of the country he fought for.

I wonder now how he died and why was he buried in Lockbourne all so long ago. Was he a town resident? Did he enlist? Was he drafted? How and when did he die? Did he die of disease or was he killed in battle, far away from the little town on the canal?

Funny how the war reached even into this small, little town, to the tune of one life. Or did his life touch others and when his life was over, did he leave others behind? A wife? Children? A Mother or a Father?

Makes me wonder.

For more on the 46th Ohio Infantry, see the website below.

http://www.ohiocivilwar.com/cw46.html

Sincerely,
Unionblue

That was great. thanks UB Ben

 

[RobertP]

RobertP,

The Confederate reenacting company I was with was the 17th Mississippi, and was founded by an old friend of mine from Holly Springs, Mississippi. I reenacted the part of the real Company 1st Sergeant, who came all the way from Columbus, Ohio, to enlist with that regiment.

Strange world, ain't it?

Sincerely,
Unionblue

It certainly is. A little research told me they were were in every major battle from 1st Bull Run to Appomattox CH, and usually in the thick of it. Ball's Bluff, Malvern Hill, West Woods, Peach Orchard, Snodgrass Hill, Bloody Angle. They made up the bulk of the sharpshooters in Fredricksburg trying to prevent the river crossing. And they they were overrun at the Stone Wall on Marye's Hill in 2nd Fredricksburg after several repulses while most of Longstreets' command had gone south foraging. What a regiment!

My ggrandfather's was from a village, Chullahoma, a few miles outside Holly Springs. He sure saw his share of the 'Elephant'. Welcome to the family! I am honored.

 

[unionblue]

RobertP,

They were indeed, "What a regiment!"

I studied their campaigns and battles and was well aware they were excellent marksmen and used as sharpshooters in Fredricksburg. Held the Union army back for quite some time. A proud and brave regiment, and if your ggrandfather was a part of that outfit, he was certainly one of the best.

Proud to have honored them when I portrayed them in reenactments with the modern ANV.

And trust me, the honor is all mine to have represented people like your ggrandfather.

Sincerely,
Unionblue

 

[larry_cockerham]

And trust me, the honor is all mine to have represented people like your ggrandfather.

Sincerely,
Unionblue

I suspect you have just expressed the essence of re-enacting, blue, gray, north, south, revolution, or other things that a soldier found himself bothered with. It is for that reason that most of us explore this 'hobby', if it takes a lifetime. Your efforts have touched the lives of many, most of whom you'll never actually meet. Godspeed.