Words Fail Me

Like Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain is now also a tony residential neighborhood.  Over the years, important battles were fought here against the Indians and during the Revolutionary War.  But during the Chattanooga Campaign it was firmly in the hands of the Confederacy.  The Union storming of the mountain became known as “The Battle Above the Clouds”.  I can’t imagine fighting my way up the steep sides of this mountain.  It’s just inconceivable.

Commanding from Orchard Knob in the middle of Chattanooga, Ulysses S. Grant could see both Missionary Ridge to the east and Lookout Mountain to the southwest.

Missionary Ridge (not to be confused with Seminary Ridge in Gettysburg) is now a tony residential neighborhood looking down on Chattanooga from the east.  The Confederacy held the high ground.My man George Henry Thomas’s men were ordered by Grant to take the rifle pits at the foot of the steep hill, but spurred on by the memory of their loss at Chickamauga, they continued on, up and over the hill, and overran the Confederate positions.  The rebels fled.This was the command post that General Braxton abandoned.  One of the Confederate officers was heard to remark that the loss at Missionary Ridge was the “death knell of the Confederacy”.

Visited the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park which straddles the Tennessee/Georgia border. As a railroad hub, Chattanooga was critical for the Union to take before it could invade the Deep South and, they hoped, end the war.Named after the creek that runs through the area……the Battle of Chickamauga was a tactical disaster for the Union caused by miscommunication.One of my other favorite figures of the Civil War, Major General George Henry Thomas, held the Confederacy back here at Snodgrass Hill which allowed the Union troops to retreat to Chattanooga and which prevented the debacle from becoming a rout.Thomas’s valor earned him the nickname “The Rock of Chickamauga”.

As I had expected, the Shoney’s staff was unamused by my repeated Rick & Morty references.  But, hey, this trip hasn’t been an entire waste of time.  Job opportunity!

Ate dinner at a place called Sticky Fingers that claimed to be the best BBQ ribs in Chattanooga.  I ordered the sampler so I could try the dry rub, spicy, sweet, and regular.  Couldn’t finish them all in one sitting.  (I’ve settled on the dry rub as my favorite, going forward.)