Here is a map from GoogleMaps showing Lookout Mountain. Shows fairly clearly that Lookout Mountain was strategic, a very important land mark to hold. Lookout Mountain comes to a point that over looks the Tennessee River and Chattanooga, as my later photos will show.
The entrance to Point Park:
A view from the point, looking down on Chattanooga.
As you can see from this Google Earth image, the New York State Monument stands almost to the point of the Mountain. The monument cost over $100,000, dedicated Nov. 15, 1910, it stands ninety-five feet high. It features a Northern and Southern soldier shaking hands. You can read more about it in this article, dated 2010, written during the centennial year celebration.
Cannons and spring bushes blooming and the monument in the background. Due to lighting conditions, I could not get a photo from the front.
Check out this view of Chattanooga from the very point of Lookout Mountain.
This is what the cannon saw. And, yes, that rock in the lower right portion of the photo, well, that is the top of the mountain and there is a significant drop off, straight down.
We walked around the park, but, did not wander far, we were tired from our visit to Rock City. Several days later we would take a river cruise on the Tennessee River. We had a great opportunity to see Lookout Mountain from a different view point. There on the highest spot to the right is the New York State Monument. If you look very hard at this photo you can see what appears to be a tall singular tree, that is the monument, all 95 feet of it.
Putting Sony Too to work, zooming to the max. There are the two soldiers of the New York State Monument, standing guard over Lookout Mountain and the city of Chattanooga.
While researching for this post, I found an exciting and fun web site covering the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Parks, a PointsMap product, you really must have a look if you are interested in Civil War history. Photos, data, all tied to a map. Very interesting. HERE.
More can be learned about the battle and Lookout Mountain at this Wikipedia page. (You be the judge of the quality of Wikipedia articles, they may lead you to further research possibilities, see the References, Further Reading and External Links portions of the page, near the bottom.)
Point Park was established in 1905. The point was the location of the headquarters of the Lookout Mountain Battlefield (over 3000 acres). The Confederate troops occupied this point until November 24, 1863 when the Union army drove out the Confederates, therefore setting up Sherman with the position he needed to carry out his march to Atlanta. Many historians and Civil War students consider this to be the "battle" that turned the tide of the Civil War. Some call it the "Battle Above the Clouds"
* Now, here is the disclaimer, I struggle to understand war stories and reports of battles. Therefore, I make no claims as to my understanding or my representation of it here.
**Thanks to GoogleMaps and GoogleEarth for the images of Lookout Mountain. They maintain all rights and copyrights and all that stuff. They offer free maps for use on the internet, and, yes, I do use them.
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