CONCLUSIONS
Together, Chickamauga and Chattanooga comprised one of the key turning points of the Civil War. A Confederacy on the retreat snapped back, and retook the initiative, winning it greatest victory in the West. Then missed Southern opportunities permitted the Union to recoup its strength and come back, if anything stronger and more aggressive than before. The roots of the Atlanta Campaign and the March to the Sea were anchored in two great battles on the Tennessee-Georgia border.
The two battlefields are one of the best travel destinations for the historically-minded. The big Eastern battlefields remain essential, and being concentrated in a relatively small area near large cities, are the easiest to see. But Chickamauga and Chattanooga have other attractions.
In terms of layout and preservation, Chickamauga is not the Gettysburg of the West, minus the traffic. Rather, Gettysburg is the Chickamauga of the East. Chickamauga is what a Civil War battlefield should be, in the popular eye at least. It is large but easily toured by car, well-organized, and contains plentiful monuments.
The last, thanks to the attentions of some of the survivors years later, add a layer beneath the superficial. If a visitor pays attention, one can clearly visualize the perspectives and interaction of the armies amid the interplay of marble and terrain. The only other places where I have experienced this as strongly are all at Gettysburg.
Chickamauga is not just among the best of the Civil War battlefields. It stands in the first rank, right with Gettysburg and Antietam, even surpassing them in different ways.
Chattanooga, or at least the small corner of it regularly toured, is a completely different experience. Though history is Point Park's reason for existence, what one notes more than the vivid visualization and tactical understanding of Chickamauga is a palpable charm. In my experience, it is unique among Civil War sites in this way.
GETTING THERE
The Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park is a far-flung entity, but one that is easy to tour in a single day, provided of course that one has a car. It is not a trip to be made without the help of the internal combustion engine.
Atlanta is the nearest really large metropolitan area, and has the largest airport in the region, and so many visitors will come from or pass through that city. The best route follows Interstate 75 North. To go to Chickamauga, turn west onto Georgia Route 2 toward Fort Oglethorpe, then south on US Route 27. For Lookout Mountain, instead stay on I-75 to Interstate 24 West. Take the Broad Street exit in Chattanooga, and go south to Tennessee Route 17; the lower station of the Incline will be on the right side of the road. The best way between Chickamauga and
Chattanooga is via US 27. The two halves of the park are no more than ten miles apart as the crow flies, so a half-hour drive between them can be expected. At the same time, there is more than just two large parks, as there are also a number of “reservations” in the area. Anyone going to Chickamauga or Chattanooga, by any route will see the small enclaves and monuments that constitute them.
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© Copyright 2001 by David W. Tschanz.
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