Gettysburg Ride - 2007: Day 3 - Chattanooga to Murphy, NC

Approx. 125 Miles

Actually slept in for a change, knowing the sights wouldn't be opening until at least 9:00 a.m. Got up, had a leisurely breakfast, and rode up Lookout Mountain. Nice little ride. Once at the top you start to get a real appreciation for those who had to fight their way up it. Not this cowboy! I got worn out walking the steps back up from the Och's Memorial Observatory (the "rock" where all the pictures of the Union troops were taken).

My first observation riding up was that the Union troops may have gone, but the capitalists were still there in droves. Many, many nice houses with great views. Did manage to slip up a very steep roadway that said "No vehicles over 13' 6" long allowed." (No rider worth his salt is going to pass up a road with a sign like that.) It was steep and windy but turned into pea gravel quickly enough to turn me around. Views weren't that pretty and the housing was redneck provincial. No reason to ride pea gravel.

Went to Point Park and walked the site.

(Tennessee River from Lookout Mountain)

Note: Click on any picture to enlarge

Good field of fire. It didn't have to go too far to just fall on something.

The target: Chattanooga, TN

View looking west down the Lookout Valley

Pulled off of Lookout Mountain just as Bragg's CSA troops did, retreating south. Took Hwy 17 to Hwy 193, then Hwy 2 to Fort Oglethorpe and the Chickamauga battlefield visitor center. Nicely done center; evidently the first U.S. battlefield memorial, even before Gettysburg. Unfortunately, it was so damned hot by this time that I decided to forgo much of the battlefield, limiting myself to a visit to Snodgrass Hill.

I am a huge Ambrose Bierce fan. For any who do not know him, he is worth the reading and the study...if for no other reason than you have a sense of humor. I defy anyone to read his "Devil's Dictionary" without laughing uproariously and out loud. He is also the subject of a very bad Jane Fonda-Gregory Peck movie, 'The Old Gringo.' But all that notwithstanding, he was also one of the best American writers, the equal of Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, et al, and, unlike Crane and his contemporaries, actually saw real battle during the Civil War. He was with Hazen's Brigade at Chickamauga and witnessed the route that ensued when Longstreet's Corp. (CSA) attacked at the very place that Rosecrans mistakenly withdrew his center. This led to Rosecrans "retiring from the field" while his chief-of-staff, future president James Garfield returned to inform Gen. George Thomas (The Rock of Chickamauga) of Rosecrans's "departure."
(Bierce's remembrances of the day can be found at http://www.online-literature.com/bierce/768/. I love his shot at President Garfield's "heroism" for going to Thomas.)

Thomas' famous stand took place on Snodgrass Hill.

Doesn't look like all that much now, but it had to be a pure inferno that day.

While big fields capture the imagination, there were few of them, and most of the fighting was through pine forests.

Once you came out of the forest you were met with these guys.

(Note: a Canon-eye view of a cannon-eye view...hehe)

The Snodgrass family homestead was a field hospital for both sides.

According to the information on the site, Mr. Snodgrass lived here with his wife and nine kids. Hard to believe eleven people could live in this.

(Wonder if this was The Hag's inspiration for Working Man Blues? "It's a big job just gettin' by with nine kids and a wife, I been a-workin' man dang near all my life...")

Left the battlefield on Hwy 2 East. Managed a little ten or so mile detour down Hwy 201 (missed a turn) before realizing I was lost and, after talking with a very nice Deputy Sheriff at 201-I75, found my way back on track on 2 East to Cisco. From there I took US 411 north to US 64/74 East (again).

Hwy 2 East takes you through the Ringgold Gap and is a nice country ride. A few twists and turn and, once out of Ringgold, a pretty ride. US 411 is the same, two-lane country highway with little traffic allowing for a pretty good time. I didn't want time as much as I didn't want Interstate, so it was fine by me. Turned east on US 64/74 stopping in Murphy, NC for the evening around 5:00 p.m. Total miles from Chattanooga via I-state: 92. My route: ~ 125. My route was better.

The Ocoee River, Hwy 64/74 East