Event
The Battle of Lookout Mountain
Fee:
Fees only apply to programs being conducting inside Point Park. Entrance to Point Park, on Lookout Mountain, is $10 per adult, ages 16 and older; children ages 15 and younger are free.Dates & Times
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Time:
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Type of Event
Description
9 am – The Battle of Lookout Mountain at Reflection Riding
Location: Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center, 400 Garden Road, Chattanooga, Tennessee
“What! Does the General expect us to fly?” That was the response of some Union soldiers when told early on November 24, 1863, that they would be attacking the Confederates on Lookout Mountain that day. The mountain’s seemingly indomitable height made the idea of such an attack to be almost as impossible as that of human flight. But their commander, Major General Joseph Hooker had taken the measure of his enemy in gray and devised a plan by which to wrest control of the mountain from the Confederates. Today, Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center protects ground where key parts of Hooker’s plan unfolded. Join National Military Park Historian Jim Ogden for a guided 2 ½ mile, 2 ½ hour hike across Reflection Riding to learn about those key parts of the “Battle Above the Clouds,” a time when the peace and solitude of Reflection Riding was disturbed by fighting that became part of one of the most important campaigns of the Civil War. Participants are asked to keep in mind that the hiking pace between historical points will be approximately 2 ½ to 3 miles per hour.
Note: Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center is waiving their normal admission fee for participants to this program.
11 am – The Battle of Lookout Mountain
Location: Meet inside the Point Park Entrance Gate
On November 24, 1863, US soldiers assailed Lookout Mountain from the west and drive Confederates around the mountain’s bench, beyond Cravens House, in what became famously known as “The Battle Above the Clouds.” This 30-45 minute program will provide an overview for this battle fought among the foggy and rocky slopes of Lookout Mountain.
2 pm - Geary’s White Stars Sweep the Cravens Plateau
Location: This program will begin at the Cravens House on the Lookout Mountain Battlefield
For over two miles they had struggled around boulders and through draws and ravines on the wet, forested western slope of Lookout Mountain. Now as they neared the northern point of the mountain, they struck the main Confederate defenses. In this two-hour, two-mile round-trip walking tour, National Military Park Historian Jim Ogden will examine what became the climax of the Battle of Lookout Mountain as the men of John White Geary’s Second Division of the Twelfth Corps swept across Robert Cravens' “Alta Vista” farm, securing the northern tip of Lookout Mountain for the Union cause.