Alison GerberIn the autumn of 1863, Chattanooga was a small river town.
But because of its location on the Tennessee River and at the crossroads of important rail lines, it was considered a key prize in the Civil War.
“Chattanooga had only 2,545 inhabitants in 1860, but its importance was out of all proportion to its size,” according to the National Park Service. “Chattanooga was vital to the Confederacy and a coveted goal of the Northern armies.”
The city was known as the “gateway to the deep South,” and Chattanooga and the surrounding region came to see “some of the most complex maneuvers and hard fighting of the Civil War,” the park service states.
Following defeats at Gettysburg, Pa., and Vicksburg, Miss., in July, the Confederate victory at Chickamauga, Ga., in September gave hope to the South. But the loss of Chattanooga to Union forces that winter changed everything.