The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-12-10
WHERE IOWA MEN FOUGHT
STATE COMMISSION SENT TO
CHICKAMAUGA TO LOOK OVER
THE BATTLEFIELDS
FIND MANY CHANGES THERE
Scenes of Lookout Mountain and
missionary Ridge - Lack of
Monuments to Dead at
Former Place.


Vicksburg and Shiloh commissions visit
ed the battle grounds at this place for the
purpose of studying the nature of the
parks and to see what other states had
done in the way of erecting monuments.
They spent one day on Lookout mountain
and another at Missionary ridge and other
places of interest.
The work of the national park asSocia-
ton has completely changed the appear
~ance of the battle grounds, except on
Lookout mountain, where nature has
made the place even more rugged and
difficult to reach by the growth of an
endless amount of underbrush and even
a forest of no mean dimensions. The
place of greatest interest to visitors is
the ChicEamauga park, where was fought
the great and TO the Union disastrous
battle But Iowa had no troops in the
engagement Illinois was we'll represent
cd and its monuments attract attention
at every turn, because they are all of
one style, and they can be distinguished
as belonging to that state as far as thsy
can be seen.
The Chickamauga park contains near
w 1900 acres of land. 1t is about i've
miles long and has roads of fine clay and
gravel leading to every place of interest
MANY of the old trees stand, but for the
most part the forest is of second growth.
Many stately pines are to be seen, and so
= are oaks in numbers. The old trees are
SCARED by bullets and shell, and many
Of them have tops cut off by cannon balls.
But if the visitor did not know he was in
a battlefield he would not notice any
thing unusual The cid time houses have
all been either preserved or restored, ana
they are occupied by people employed on
the park. Some Of them show the marks
of bullets. and several are of histori- al
interest This is especially true of the
Snodgrass house, located on the Snod-
grass hill, where a brigade and several
broken commands made a last and deS-
perate stand, holding Bragg's army at
bay till night, when Rosecrans Withdrew
The government has erected several
lookouts upon the battlefelds. They are
built of steel and carry the visitor above
the trees and reveal to him new O.
the country for many miles around. Frcm
the one on SnOdgraSs hill the entire pat
tlefield and all the places of interest can
be seen. 1t reminds one of the great
panorama of Gettysburg, as exhibited
several years ago at Chicago, and II is
easy to feel that the picture before you
is not real but is painted upon canvas.
But the illusion is soon broken, as men
are seen walking about and carriages
passing over the drives. Only the close
student of details will be able, even after
a visit to this field, to understand how
the battle was fought and lost. But that
makes little difference. The scene is
enchanting even weird, as the long lines
of cannon, the stately monuments, the
markings of the regiments and briSades
silently tell of charge and repulse, OF
victory and defeat. Two hours takes the
visitor to all the places OF interest, but
days might be spent in reading the in
scriptions and studying the battle in de-
tail Georgia has a state monument that
ecIipses all others. Kentucky has one
erected for both Federal and Confederate.
: Its inscription is unique and reads:
Erected by the state of Kentucky in
memory Of her sons, VINO fought ana
fell on this field. AS We have been
monument perpetuate their deeds and one
people forgetful of all asperities, mold
in grateful remembrance al the giorleS
of that terrible conflict which made all
men free and retained every star in the
nations flag.
Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge
parks are connected by a fine drive, and
it is continued along the crest Of the
ridge to the northern extremity, making
its total length about twenty miles. The
first monuments commemorative OF tie
battle of Missionary Ridge are seen at
Rossville Gap, on the Georgia line, where
Hooker and his army from the Potomac,
with WilliamsOn's brigade of Iowa troops
ana MISSOURI regiment, began the as
cent of the hill, after the battle of Look
out mountain. The advance monument
for Hookers army is near Gen. Bragg s
headquarters At the same place is a
lookout from which the entire battle
ground and the surrounding country can
be seen.
The north part of the ridge was car
lied by troops under corps and division
commanders, with Grants headquarters
near by, at Orchard Knob Iowa had
tour regiments in this part of the battle
in ShermanS army. Many fine mOnu-
ments are located on Orchard Knob, in
the vicinity of Grants headquarters. One
Of the finest is by the state of Illinois
1t is of canopy form, and erected IN
honor of the detached regiments that op-
Grated around Chattanooga, but were moi
IL the battle. The list of regiments with
brief history, is given in plates set ir
the marble.
The national cemetery is close to Chat
tanGOga. 1t contains seVenty-fiVe acres
and within its limits are buried 1905
men, who died or were killed in the bat
ties about this city.
But while the battle of Lookout noun
tain was not a very severe engagement
and while it has not received much at
tentiOn from the government, so far az
park developments are concerned, vet i
has greater attraction for the visitor
than any of the other battlefieIds of tha
vicinity. The mountain is eighty-fivC
miles long, reaching down into Georgil
and Alabama, and comes to a termina tioT
with a sharp ridge or point overlookius
the Tennessee river three miles south
west of the city. 1t is 2,400 feet above
the sea, and $500 feet above the rive
running at its base. Viewed from othe
hills, like Missionary ridge, which is so
feet above the city, the mountain doe
not appear lofty, but when its steep side
are scaled, and the cold air on its top !;
felt the visitor realizes that ne is IA
above MS surroundings. The mountai!
rises abruptly for 1000 feet the sides be
ing covered with huge rocks that hav,
fallen from the palisades, and timber an(
brush that make progress, except i'll tn,
roads, well night impossible. Then come
the steep part, the last few hundred fee
being perpendicular, rocky palisades tina
bar approach to the summit. \ Wagon
road winds its way to the top by goiu.
far to the SOUTH but all that part occu
pied by Bragg'S army on the summit ma,
well be considered unassailable
AS the mountain is now a noted sum.
mer resort, with many fine summer
houses and several large hotels natural
~ a quick method of reaching the tor
has been provided. The trip is made in
ten minutes but the sensation of the frs
ascent will never be forgotten. The
route is up a steep incline, with cars
drawn by immense cables, with power
house at the top. The car goes straight
to the top without stop or ceremony
VXTEe0% Ch0FG XNo