163rd Anniversary of the Battles for Chattanooga

10 am – A Driving Tour of the Battle of Missionary Ridge
Location: Meet at the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center, 3370 LaFayette Road, Fort Oglethorpe, GA 30742

On November 25, 1863, the US troops stormed the seemingly impregnable Missionary Ridge, routing the Confederate defenders and securing Chattanooga for the remainder of the war. This 2-hour car-caravan tour of Missionary Ridge will stop at the Iowa and Bragg Reservations, where insights into the November 25, 1863, actions will be shared.

10 am – "...With a Fearless and Determination that was Astonishing" - Corse's Illinoisans, Iowans, and Ohioans Attack Tunnel Hill
Location: Sherman Reservation, Missionary Ridge, near 2900 Lightfoot Mill Road, Chattanooga, TN 37406

Brigadier General John Corse’s 920 Illinoisans, Iowans, and Ohioans would be the first of William Sherman’s “brigade” size attacks against Confederate positions on what was starting to be called Tunnel Hill. As the sun of that November 25, 1863, burned away the morning fog, Corse’s men found something very different from what they’d learned through rainy gloom of the previous afternoon. National Military Park Historian Jim Ogden will look at Corse’s stage setting attack in this 2-hour, 1-mile walking tour.

2 pm – The Lone Star State Leads the Defense of Tunnel Hill
Location: Sherman Reservation, Missionary Ridge, near 2900 Lightfoot Mill Road, Chattanooga, TN 37406

“…the brunt of this long day’s fight was borne by Smith’s (Texas) brigade….” That is how Confederate General Patrick Cleburne began the summary of his division’s fighting on November 25, 1863. While ably supported by others, the Lone Star men positioned atop Tunnel Hill withstood more than half a dozen Union attacks to thereby be the basis of Cleburne’s success against William T. Sherman. National Military Park Historian Jim Ogden will examine this stalwart defense by the Texans in this 2-hour, 1-mile walking tour.