A VISIT TO CHATTANOOGA.

177

nooga similar structures were frequently seen. We passed by the fortifications of Tullahoma, dined at Decherd, and in the afternoon descended the Big Crow Creek hollow, in the Cumberland mountains, to Stevenson, where we remained long enough to visit Battery

Harker, in front of it. It was a strong
work, that covered the village and its ap-
proaches, and had within its heavy earth-
walls a very substantial citadel, octagonal
in form, and made of logs, after the manner
of the block-houses. Stevenson was then
almost entirely a village of shanties, stand-
ing among the ruins of a once pleasant
town, on a slope at the foot of a high rocky mountain.

Passing on from Stevenson, we observed many earth-works and blockhouses; and at each end of the temporary railway bridge at Bridgeport, where we crossed the Tennessee River, we noticed heavy redoubts. At Shellmound we entered the mountain region south of the Tennessee. The road gradually ascended, and in some places skirted the margin of the river, high above its bed. We soon reached one of the deep mountain gorges through which Hooker passed, and crossed it upon delicate trestlework two hundred feet in air above the stream that passed through it, the whole trembling fearfully as our heavy train moved over it at a very slow pace. Then we were among the lofty hills of the Raccoon mountains, and in a little while descended by a gentle grade into Lookout Valley, crossed the Lookout Creek at Wauhatchie, swept along the margin of the Tennessee, at the foot of Lookout Mountain, and arrived at Chattanooga at sunset, where we took lodgings at the Crutchfield House.

A letter of introduction to the Rev. Thomas B. Van Horn, post-chaplain at Chattanooga, gave us a valuable friend, and a competent guide to historical places during the two or three days we were in that town and its vicinity. He was then in charge of the National Cemetery near Chattanooga, laid out under his directions, into which he was collecting the bodies. of Union soldiers from the battle-fields of Southeastern Tennessee and Northern Georgia and Alabama, and from posts and stations within a circle. from eighty to one hundred miles radius. Mr. Van Horn was residing, with his family, in the house not far from Grant's head-quarters, which both Thomas and Sherman had occupied as such-a pleasant embowered dwelling, unscathed by the storm of war that swept over the town. He kindly offered to accompany us to all places of interest around Chattanooga; and on the morning after our arrival we were seated with him in his light covered wagon, drawn by his spirited horses, "Joseph Hooker" and "John Brown." We first rode to the summit of Cameron's Hill, an alluvial bluff between the town and the river, which rises to an altitude of about three hundred feet. From its top we had a comprehensive view of the country around, including almost the entire battle-field on Lookout Mountain and along the Mission

1 This shows the elevation of the block-house, with the entrance to its bomb-proof magazine in the mound beneath it. It was constructed of hewn logs from 16 to 20 inches in thickness, with which walls from three to four feet in thickness were constructed. The lower story was pierced for cannon, and the upper story, or tower, for musketry.

2 See page 152.

VOL. III.-90

See page 151.

178

THE CEMETERY AT CHATTANOOGA.

aries' Ridge. It received its name from its owner, Mr. Cameron, an artist from Philadelphia, who, in the pleasant wood that covered it, built a house,

ruined walls of it may be seen in the foreground of the picture on page 163. From Cameron's Hill we rode to the Cemetery, in the direction of the Missionaries' Ridge, where Chaplain Van Horn officiated at the funeral of the child of a captain at the post. When the solemn service was over we carefully examined the Cemetery grounds and the holy work going on there under the direction of the chaplain. The Cemetery was beautifully laid out in the form of a shield, on an irregular

knoll, whose summit is forty or fifty feet above the surrounding plain. It was arranged in sections, the graves close by the side of each other in rows, with graveled walks between. In the center, on the top of the knoll, was a space reserved for a monument, in commemoration of the martyrs whose remains would be around it. The receiving-vault, as we have already observed,' was a natural cave, in which we saw the coffins containing the remains of the. Union, raiders hung at Atlanta. On the summit just above it, was made the sketch of Orchard Knob and the Missionaries' Ridge, on page 161, at the time of this visit. Then several hundred bodies were already gathered into the Cemetery, and that number of the tenants has since increased to thousands."

PLAN OF CEMETERY AT CHATTANOOGA.

On Friday morning, Mr. Van Horne took us to the battle-ground of

• May 11, 1866.

Chickamauga, with which he was well acquainted, having been a participant in the action there, and since then an explorer of it

1 This house was on Walnut Street, near Fort Sherman. It belonged to an Englishman named Richardson, who had espoused the cause of the Confederates.

2 See page 802, volume II.

3 According to the report of the Quartermaster-General, under the title of "Roll of Honor," No. XI. there were, a few months after our visit, 9,628 bodies buried in that cemetery, of whom 2,360 were unknown. Of the whole number, 778 were colored.