Local landmarks gear up for 150th Anniversary of Civil War

In the spring of 1861, Chattanooga was a city divided.

Martha and James Hancock, from Gadsden, Alabama, tour the Chickamauga Battlefield on Sunday afternoon under a clear blue sky. The Hancocks had made the drive up for the day to visit the park. Staff photo by Jake Daniels/Chattanooga Times Free Press

Even after the first shots of what became known as the Civil War were fired 150 years ago, there were powerful factions both for and against the state’s secession from the union in the city.

That February, Hamilton County had voted overwhelmingly with the state against secession, according to “The History of Hamilton County and Chattanooga, Tennessee” by Zella Armstrong. Yet a volunteer company already was being solicited in the city for Confederate service.

After the fall of Union forces at Fort Sumter, S.C., on April 12, 1861, a June secession vote in Tennessee resulted in separation. However, Hamilton County still voted against the division, though the vote was much closer than the first one.

Now, 150 years later, descendants of area families who fought on both sides are commemorating the sesquicentennial of the war, which didn’t involve major battles in the area – at Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and Chickamauga, Ga. – until 1863.