Reenactors portraying artillerymen fire cannons.View our Civil War Sequicentennial site
Exactly 150 years ago today, Chattanooga was a pivotal place of history. It was smack in the middle of a three-day Civil War battle that by the end of its final day – tomorrow – would make the city the Union Army’s “Gateway to the Lower South,” signaling the end for the Confederacy.
At the end of the first day, Union troops were building breastworks on the ridge side of Orchard Knob after forcing the Confederates who had been there to withdraw to the base of Missionary Ridge. As the Union soldiers worked, the rebels barraged them from several ridge batteries until darkness. Historian James W. Livingood writes: “The Yankees spent the night on their arms without shelter in a cold, rainy weather change.”
A letter from Union soldier Lyman S. Widney to his parents – recounted by Livingood – described the victory.
“The dusky form of the mountain, encircling our position for 3 miles seemed in the dim twilight, like some dense thunder cloud looming against the heavens and shooting forth unceasing flames of lightning, while its thunder made the earth tremble beneath our feet. …”