Video
Accessibility Video of the Wilder Brigade Monument
Transcript
Hello everyone. My name is Chris Young, and I'm one of the park rangers here at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. Today, we're coming to you from Tour Stop Number 6 on Chickamauga Battlefield, the Wilder Brigade Monument, or as many locals refer to it as, the Wilder Tower. Why does it get its name Wilder? Well, it's named after the brigade of US soldiers that were here on Chickamauga Battlefield, Wilder's "Lightning Brigade." Colonel John T. Wilder had an idea in the spring of 1863 to mount his men on horseback, becoming shock troops of the US Army of the Cumberland. So, they're mounted on these horses, they ride to battle, they dismount, and they strike like "lightning" with the seven shot Spencer Repeating Rifle that will blanket battlefields with firepower. Today, we're going to take you up the spiral staircase in the top of the Wilder
Brigade Monument so that you can get a bird's-eye view of Chickamauga Battlefield and what happened here in 1863. If you're unable to climb to the top of Wilder Tower, for whatever reason, we want to provide you that opportunity to be able to see from the top of the Wilder Brigade Monument. It has a sordid history itself. In 1890, a group of officers and men from the brigade get together and decide that they want to create a monument on Chickamauga Battlefield to what happened here in 1863, and so they began to raise money. In 1892, construction begins on the monument here, but by 1893, a bank failure has liquidated a lot of the money, and so, it takes them several years to regain those funds to start construction again, but it's done by 1897, and by 1899, on September 20, the anniversary of when those soldiers were here in 1863, the monument is formally dedicated. It's not until 1903, though, that the spiral staircase is placed on the inside and the monument is open for visitation. And so, that's what we're going to do today; is we're going to walk up to the Wilder Brigade Monument, and we're going to climb that spiral staircase to the top to get that view of Chickamauga Battlefield and the surrounding area. So, won't you join me as we walk up to the Wilder Brigade Monument and continue our journey? Come on.
So, here we are inside the monument, and we're walking up the spiral staircase. Just keep in mind that it can be quite dark in here as we don't have lights inside the monument, but as we're going up the spiral staircase here it gets quite dark. We
do have a handrail. So, we encourage you, if you do come up the monument, to use that handrail as the steps can be quite slippery. All right everyone. Now, we've made it up to the top of the Wilder Brigade Monument, up that spiral staircase, to the very tip top. Just behind me, several miles in the distance, about eight miles to nine miles, is the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Chattanooga is going to be in the crosshairs of the US Army of the Cumberland and the Confederate Army of Tennessee. It's going to be over this city that these two armies are going to battle during two major campaigns of the Civil War that of Chickamauga and that of Chattanooga. Why is this city so important and vital? Well, because there are four major railroads that intersect in the city of Chattanooga, not to mention the Tennessee River that flows just outside of the city. So, these two armies are going to vie over this important transportation hub in the summer and fall of 1863. What we want to do is give you a bird's-eye view of what was happening here during the fighting that occurred on Chickamauga Battlefield on September 20, 1863, the final day of the battle. John T. Wilder's "Lightning Brigade" is going to be set up where this monument is, and Confederates will be attacking him, and it's during this battle that we really are going to see the mettle of those US soldiers and the firepower that those Spencer Rifles will bring to play on these Confederate attackers. So, let's take a look at the battlefield from the top of the Wilder Brigade Monument. So, here we are now looking toward Chattanooga, Tennessee in the distance. As we begin moving toward the east, we're looking at a field just down below us, into the distance. Wilder's men are going to be placed here on this hillside, and out in the distance, you'll see cars driving up and down LaFayette Road.
From that direction, the left wing of the Confederate Army, under General James Longstreet, will attack the right side of the US Army of the Cumberland. As they're moving in the direction toward us, the firepower of those Spencer Rifles, as well as Captain Eli Lilly's battery of artillery, the 18th Indiana Light Artillery, will set a destructive fire over those Confederate attackers, so much so, that one Confederate in the South Carolina and Alabama brigade of Arthur Manigault will say that he believes that it was an entire division of US soldiers that were coming up against him; that's about 4,000 to 6,000 men. Less than 1,800 of Wilder's men had the Spencer Rifle. So, that just shows you the intensity of the firepower laid down on this battlefield. Wilder's men will thwart Manigault's Confederates from attacking through here, and they'll be forced to shift, those Confederates will, just to your left and continue the attack. Wilder's men will have to disengage, and they'll spend the remainder of the battle protecting wagons heading back to Chattanooga, as they're relegated to a support role for the army. As we now continue to move to the east, to the southeast, and now to the south, we're beginning to look down into McClemore's Cove, where the battle should have occurred a few days prior in September. McClemore's Cove is in this direction, as is the city of Chickamauga, Georgia, today. Then, it was known as Crawfish Spring, at the time of the battle. Now, we're going to move toward the southwest, and then to the west, you'll see portions of Missionary Ridge in the distance,
and then we will also see
parts of Lookout Mountain coming into view just through the pine trees far out into the distance right there.
We'll continue to the north and to the west,
and then back to the north, toward the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
So, this ends our time together today. Hopefully, you've learned a little bit more about the Battle of Chickamauga, the second deadliest battle of the American Civil War, that was fought here on September 18 - 20, 1863, especially the 20th, which had occurred right here along the slopes at the base of the Wilder Brigade Monument. We hope that those who were unable to to make the climb to the top of the Wilder Brigade Monument have gotten a different perspective of the battle from a bird's-eye view and can learn a little bit more of the terrain and what it took to fight this battle in 1863. We hope to see you again soon. Take care. Bye-bye.
Description
For many, it may be difficult to climb the winding staircase to the top of the Wilder Brigade Monument, which is Tour Stop 6 in Chickamauga Battlefield. With that in mind, we have provided a short video including some of the monument's history with views from the top.
Duration
9 minutes, 46 seconds
Credit
NPS
Date Created
04/26/2022
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