Day 142: Gateway to the South

The mountains around Chattanooga, and specifically Lookout Mountain, form what the Union Army called the Gateway to the Heart of the South. And Chattanooga itself, as a rail hub and major river port, was part of the Confederacy's backbone. In early 1863, General Grant, now commander of the Federal force, ordered Gen. Sherman to break through the gateway and then infiltrate the deep South, breaking its ability to supply and reman the Confederate lines. It took a siege and several skirmishes to secure Chattanooga, but going further south was even harder.

The Confederates won their last significant battle at Chickamauga, just south of Chattanooga, on September 20 of that year. It was a bloody fight that lasted two days, wounding or killing 18,000 of the 66,000 Confederates, and 16,000 of the 58,000 Union troops. The Union retreated north to their fortified positions in Chattanooga and regrouped. They were demoralized by their defeat, and yet it was to be the last time that a large Union force would feel such a sting (although thousands more lives would be lost before the war's end in 1865).

The following spring, Sherman and 100,000 Union troops made another push into Georgia, with Atlanta the goal. Kennesaw Mountain stood in the way. But there and at the other battles between Chattanooga and Atlanta, the Confederacy was forced to retreat further and further, allowing Sherman the foothold he needed to begin his destructive march across Georgia. He burned a 60-miles-wide swath from Atlanta to the coast, sparing Savannah at Christmas as a prized gift to President Lincoln. The South never recovered, its supply lines severed, its economic engine (slavery) dismantled, and much of its land laid waste. Lee's surrender, in Spring 1865, had been foretold 18 months prior when Georgia was infiltrated at the Gateway.

Touring the battlefields of Chickamauga and Chattanooga today (and Kennesaw Mountain yesterday) made the events of 150 years ago much easier to visualize and appreciate. Our hikes in these beautiful places, especially on the crisp, sunny days we've been enjoying, seem at odds with the horrors of the Civil War. Stan and I try to censor what the girls are exposed to...truth without the horrors. But the stories of real soldiers--and their families--are what stick with all of us.

View of Atlanta and its many suburbs, from the top of Kennesaw Mountain

authentic earthworks on its summit that date back to the Civil War

we rode the world's steepest passenger incline to the summit of Lookout Mountain. Six states are visible on clear days (ours was outstanding!)

The grade on the incline reaches 73 percent near the summit. We traded off so that both Stan and I got a ride as well as a chance to drive on the Lookout Mountain road. :-)