The W Road on Signal Mountain, which perhaps had its origin as an Indian foot trail long before local history, is in the news today because there is concern about dirt and rock erosion that threatens current automobile traffic up and down the eastern side of the mountain.
The W Road is aptly named, since the steepness of the mountainside requires road switchbacks that, viewed from above, surely suggest the letter W.
The W Road long has been an important link in travel from Sequatchie Valley, along the top of Signal Mountain and into Chattanooga.
One noted story in history tells about how Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant traveled that way in a cold and rainy October of 1863, as he came to Chattanooga to take command of local Union forces.
Gen. Grant had suffered a fall from his horse a short time earlier while he was reviewing troops in New Orleans. He was still quite sore and in discomfort during his horseback ride from Bridgeport, Ala., along Sequatchie Valley, up Signal Mountain and then down the W Road, to assume his command in Chattanooga.
Union Gen. Oliver O. Howard related that Gen. John Rawlins “lifted his general, as if he had been a child, into the saddle. The direct route across the Tennessee (River) was held by Confederate (Gen. Braxton) Bragg, and the river road, on our side, was exposed to sharpshooters from the other bank and to Confederate General Joseph Wheeler’s spasmodic raids. Yet almost without escort Grant risked the journey along the river through Jasper, across swollen streams, through deep mud and along roads that were already too wretched for wagons.
“The soldiers carried him in their arms across the roughest places,” Gen. Howard continued. “Yielding to no weariness or suffering, however, he pushed on through to Chattanooga, reaching Gen. George Thomas on Oct. 23,” 1863.
Then, on Nov. 24 of the same year, Union forces took Lookout Mountain in the “Battle Above the Clouds.” The next day, Nov. 25, they assaulted and took Missionary Ridge as Gen. Grant commanded from Orchard Knob.
The W Road obviously was a very important Signal Mountain route long before that time, and continues to be very important today. That’s why there is concern now about what needs to be done to keep the W open and useful for many years to come.