From the ground, it’s hard to tell that a giant has been watching over Rossville Boulevard.
“His foot’s got to be 20 inches long,” said Carrie Toepper, marveling at the size of the Union soldier atop the Iowa Monument, a 72-foot-tall granite Civil War marker on Rossville Boulevard just east of downtown Rossville.
Toepper belongs to a six-person crew giving makeovers to Civil War monuments on the Chickamauga Battlefield and Missionary Ridge in time for the 150th anniversary of the battles for Chattanooga, which comes next year.
Armed with tools of the trade such as powdered walnut shells, used as a gentler alternative to sand when sandblasting bronze plaques, the crew hauled its gear here from the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Training Center in Frederick, Md. They’re staying at an extended-stay hotel near Hamilton Place mall.
On Tuesday, the crew tackled two stone towers: the Iowa Monument and the 2nd Minnesota Monument on Missionary Ridge.