Our fourth Green siblings trip to Civil War battle sites is in the books. Sadly, we were missing one who had other business that couldn’t be stepped away from, and he was sorely missed. The three of us soldiered on and had a good time.
We piled into a rented SUV and headed east. Our first stop was in Vicksburg, Mississippi to see where the 47-day siege took place, and CSA General John Pemberton’s surrender of the Confederate stronghold to US General Ulyssess S. Grant effectively cut the Confederacy in half. Without supplies and products able to be shipped from its ports, the CSA Army had a harder time and was definitely a turning point in the war.
The US Park Service-run battlefield is in sad shape. Areas next to the road are mowed but pretty much nothing else is. The vegetation has grown up so tall that you can’t see anything, including the river or the next ridge. Getting a feel for how things laid out was next to impossible. There were no NPS museums other than a small one beside the ironclad ship, the Cairo. It was the best part of our tour. I’ve read about those early metal-covered gunboats but had never seen one anywhere else. They dug it out of the riverbed where it had sat since being sunk by an early form of an underwater mine. The paddlewheels had a huge spider web with a giant yellow and black spider on it. That ended my enjoyment of seeing it.
We drove to Chattanooga, Tennessee the next day where we stayed at a very charming AirBnB. The roads in that town were like paved wildlife trails at a water hole; they crisscrossed at sharp angles and went every direction. Our GPS took us a different route every time we drove back to the house. It was a challenge, but I got to see a lot of cute houses while Sister did the driving.
We first drove to the Chatanooga Battlefield site on top of Lookout Mountain. The views alone made it worth the trip. A small museum and monuments are situated in well-groomed grounds. The air is cooler which explained all the houses along the road to the top. The Confederate Army held the high ground and had the Union Army in Chatanooga surrounded after their loss at the Battle of Chickamauga. General Grant and General George Thomas were able to construct a pontoon bridge to get needed food supplies to their troops there. That bridge across the Tennessee River was called the Cracker Bridge because they send hard tack across it. They fought their way up the mountain and dislodged the Confederate Army and sent them retreating toward Georgia. Sister and Brother walked a trail downhill where I picked them up. They did a lot of walking trails while we were there.
We drove along Missionary Ridge where cannons were placed to hold the Union Army at bay. A lot of nice subdivisions are up there and some of the yards along the road have cannons and plaques in their front yard. On the side of the road facing town, the houses had cannons pointed at their front doors with plaques facing the road. That’s what you get for building between an army outpost and the target of their aim.
A short distance away, the Battle of Chickamauga took place prior to Chatanooga. The CSA Army defeated the Union when General William Rosecrans inadvertently made a hole in his line that the enemy forces pushed through to defeat them. It sent the Union Army back to Chattanooga where they were in siege until General Grant rescued them. It was here that we watched reenactors portray a Union troop with cannons. They paraded by us, then set up in the meadow, and fired each cannon. I expected a deafening roar, but it wasn’t all that loud for which I was thankful. They made a circle and stopped so the crowd could talk to them. They shared pieces of hard tack and let me tell you, the name is well earned. It’s like eating a rock, so it must be soaked in something or ground into powder to be consumed. Maybe you could put it in the cheek of your mouth and let it set there for while, then eat it.
Chattanooga is a charming town with lots of great restaurants, but expensive parking downtown. It cost us $17 in parking fees to eat at one restaurant. We ate at another but didn’t see the “Pay Here” box. A parking ticket was on our windshield when we got back to the car. It was less than the parking fee at the other place, so we decided we got a good deal.
We drove home all in one day, with Sister’s phone playing the football games of the day. I finished a book I was reading and started another one. We missed our brother, but Face Timed him several times. It was a great time, and I’m already looking forward to next year.