A couple of weeks ago, Canadian author Steve Carter of
Vancouver, British Columbia, visited Chattanooga with his wife Daphne. A large part of the reason for his visit was
to lay eyes on the actual physical settings for a book he is writing as a
sequel to the just published pre-Civil War era novel The Cauldron. He’d first
contacted me several months ago with questions regarding the local area, intent
on getting details as accurate as possible.
For instance, asking the name of the street along the river from Ross’
Landing around Cameron Hill in the late 19th century (River Street
or Water Street depending on the map).
The next novel in the series covers the war years and the
following decades. We drove the crest of
Missionary Ridge, noting the signs and placements of units, stopped at the
Bragg Reservation and looked out over the city.
We also went by the Orchard Knob Reservation, drove by the Read House
(former site of the Crutchfield House), and visited Fountain Square. With all of which Steve was greatly
impressed.
There was one huge disappointment, however. The site Steve most wanted to see was all but
unavailable. Unavailable to someone like
him with a physical condition of any kind, like his pacemaker. The site in question is the one at which the
major part of the action of the Battle of Missionary Ridge took place, from
sunrise until around two in the afternoon.
That site is Sherman’s Reservation, unilaterally blocked off by the City
of Chattanooga several years ago after it received an unsubstantiated reports
of illegal activity there.
Yes, the city provided a tiny parking area to one side of
Lightfoot Mill Road where it comes west over the ridge from South Chickamauga
Creek. But the pathetic excuse for a
parking area is on the opposite side of the street from the entrance to the
path through the woods to Sherman’s Reservation on a curve and almost blind
hill. The path through the woods is
well-kept and marked, or at least was the last time I was there, but it is also
one-quarter mile long and uphill, too much for a man with a pace-maker who
doesn’t want to include a visit to the emergency room, or morgue, on his visit
to the city. Or a man suffering from
emphysema.
Before vehicular access to this highly significant portion
of Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park was impeded, there was a
drive along the side of the ridge and several monuments giving the visitor a
good idea of the hazards troops from both sides faced in the battle there.
The fighting here at what both sides called Tunnel Hill (but
what locals called Trueblood Hill) was between two brigades of Cleburne’s
Division of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, augmented by two brigades of
Walker’s Division and Kentucky’s Orphan Brigade defending the position against
the troops of Sherman’s Union Army of the Tennessee attacking from their
position atop Billy Goat Hill.
After Cleburne’s men repulsed assault after assault from
their strong position and with their general’s brilliant tactical placement,
Gen. Grant sent Gen. Thomas’ Army of the Cumberland to assault the ridge across
Chattanooga Valley, and it is that action which led to the Union sweep of the
ridge, everywhere except for Cleburne’s position. Ironically, at the same time Thomas’ troops
were routing everything before them, Cleburne’s ad hoc command was making its
final counterattack to halt Sherman’s attempts to take his position.
In fact, the soldiers of his division and the units of
Walker’s Division on-loan were sitting down to chow and to celebrate their
victory when Cleburne received orders to cover the retreat of the Army of
Tennessee. It was around 7:45 pm that
evening when the last of Cleburne’s men left the site of their victory and the
army’s defeat.
In additional to its unparalleled military history
significance, the view from the apex of the hill at Sherman Reservation among
the cannons and plaques describing the action there is one of the two most
beautiful in the Chattanooga area, second only to that from Sunset Rock on the
West Brow of Lookout Mountain.
Surely the situation thought to exist ten years ago which
made a previous administration feel it needed to take the actions it did have
by now dissipated and disappeared. Reopening
Sherman Reservation to easy popular access will be especially appropriate for
the sesquicentennial of the battles here, and it can also allow this important
site to serve as a major attraction as part of the redevelopment of the
neighborhood now known as Glass Farm District, formerly part of the town of
East Chattanooga, originally the suburb of Sherman Heights.
(photo of me atop Trueblood Hill, by Hal Jeperson)
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