| Crawfish Spring | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Crawfish Spring | |
| Location | Walker County, Georgia |
| Coordinates | 34°52′13″N85°17′33″W / 34.87028°N 85.29250°W |
| Primary outflows | Blue Hole / Chickamauga Creek [1] |
| Catchment area | Missionary Ridge |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Surface elevation | 718 ft (219 m) |
Crawfish Spring is a body of water in Walker County, Georgia, on the east side of Cove Road in Chickamauga. [2] [3] The spring was named for Chief Crawfish of the Cherokee. [4]
After the period of the Mississippian mound builders, the area around Crawfish Spring passed into control of the Cherokee. Under pressure from the encroachment of white settlers, around 1800, the Cherokee nation divided into eight districts, one of which was the Chickamauga District, which included Crawfish Spring. [5] According to Frederick Ufford, director of the Walker County Regional Heritage Museum and Civil War Center in Chickamauga, "Any place where there are large springs, generally there were populations of American Indians because of the water source". [5] The Cherokee constructed their courthouse for the Chickamuaga District on a spot adjacent to Crawfish Spring. [5]
Shortly after the forced removal of the Cherokee from their ancestral lands in Georgia, in 1840 white settler James Gordon built a 2,500-acre (10 km2) plantation and constructed a two-story brick house, now known as the Gordon-Lee Mansion, adjacent to Crawfish Spring. [6] [7] [8] The house was built on the site of the old Cherokee courthouse. [5]
With the outbreak of the American Civil War James Gordon's son, Clark Gordon stood upon a rock beside the Gordon-Lee Mansion and organized 2nd Company D, First Georgia Volunteer Infantry, C.S.A. [7]
On September 16, 1863, two days preceding the Battle of Chickamauga, Union Major General William S. Rosecrans commandeered the house and surrounding property for use as his headquarters during the battle. [3] The spring became the primary water source for troops under Rosecrans' command. One of his staff officers, Col. John P. Sanderson, wrote in his diary that "the spring here is a magnificent one, affording an abundant supply for man and beast of the entire army, of cool, soft, and delicious water". [3] A member of the 37th Indiana Infantry Regiment was also impressed by the spring. George H. Putney wrote "After going some distance, we came to Crawfish Springs. There we were permitted to fill our canteens, which we gladly did, as we knew the importance of water in a bottle. What a beautiful spring of water that was and is! Think of going from that pure life-giving fountain of clear, cold water, springing up in great abundance, to a great and dreadful battle where smoke and dust and toil and wounds and death hold high carnival. That is war!" [8] The 39th Indiana Mounted Infantry encamped at the spring during the battle, which precipitated the establishment of the federal army's major field hospital and medical supply depot there. [9] After the start of battle, wounded filled the Gordon house and large tents that were erected on the grounds. When the number of wounded Union soldiers overwhelmed those facilities, the wounded were laid out in rows on the ground, with lines of campfires at their feet. [3] On September 20, 1863, cavalry under the command of Confederate Major General Joseph Wheeler swept through the area, capturing the hospital and large quantities of medical supplies, in addition to 1,000 wounded Union soldiers. [3]
Twenty-six years after the Battle of Chickamauga, on September 20, 1889, General Rosecrans returned to Crawfish Spring, where he was greeted by Confederate Major General John B. Gordon (then governor of the state of Georgia) in a reunion of former foes "in the spirit of reconciliation and friendship". The reunion was attended by 14,000 veterans from both sides of the conflict and was known as the Blue and Gray Barbecue. [5] The event prompted President Benjamin Harrison to designate the Chickamauga battlefield as America's first Military Park. [3]
Until 1888, the area and post office of Chickamauga was known as Crawfish Spring. The spring was the primary water supply for settlers and for the city itself. When the city converted to another water source, Crawfish Spring became a recreational area. [4] [7]
Crawfish Spring is estimated to flow at a rate of approximately 14 million US gallons per day (610,000 L/ks), emanating from the base of a small dolomite hill. [1] It is along the contact of the Chickamauga Limestone and Knox Dolomite. The Knox Dolomite forms Missionary Ridge to the west of the spring, and it is this chert ridge that acts as the catchment area for the water flowing from the spring. [1]
Chickamauga is a city in Walker County, Georgia, United States. The population was 2,917 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Chattanooga, TN–GA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The Battle of Chickamauga, fought on September 19–20, 1863, between Union and Confederate forces in the American Civil War, marked the end of a Union offensive, the Chickamauga Campaign, in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia. It was the first major battle of the war fought in Georgia, the most significant Union defeat in the Western Theater, and involved the second-highest number of casualties after the Battle of Gettysburg.
William Starke Rosecrans was an American inventor, coal-oil company executive, diplomat, politician, and U.S. Army officer. He gained fame for his role as a Union general during the American Civil War. He was the victor at prominent Western Theater battles, but his military career was effectively ended following his disastrous defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863.
Dragging Canoe was a Cherokee red chief who led a band of Cherokee warriors who resisted colonists and United States settlers in the Upper South. During the American Revolution and afterward, Dragging Canoe's forces were sometimes joined by Upper Muskogee, Chickasaw, Shawnee, and Indians from other tribes, along with British Loyalists, and agents of France and Spain. The series of conflicts lasted more than a decade after the end of American Revolutionary War.
The Nickajack Expedition in 1794 was a long-running battle fought from late summer to fall between American frontiersmen and the Chickamauga Cherokee. This Cherokee band had resisted the increasing American encroachment into their territory and raided American settlements in the region.
North and South Chickamauga Creek are short tributaries of the Tennessee River which join it near Chattanooga, Tennessee on the north and the south. West Chickamauga Creek is a much longer tributary of South Chickamauga Creek.
The Chickamauga campaign of the American Civil War was a series of battles fought in northwestern Georgia from August 21 to September 20, 1863, between the Union Army of the Cumberland and Confederate Army of Tennessee. The campaign started successfully for Union commander William S. Rosecrans, with the Union army occupying the vital city of Chattanooga and forcing the Confederates to retreat into northern Georgia. But a Confederate attack at the Battle of Chickamauga forced Rosecrans to retreat back into Chattanooga and allowed the Confederates to lay siege to the Union forces.
The western theater of the American Civil War encompassed major military operations in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee, as well as Louisiana east of the Mississippi River. Operations on the coasts of these states, except for Mobile Bay, are considered part of the Lower Seaboard Theater. Most other operations east of the Appalachian Mountains are part of the eastern theater. Operations west of the Mississippi River took place in the trans-Mississippi theater.
Georgia was one of the original seven slave states that formed the Confederate States of America in February 1861, triggering the U.S. Civil War. The state governor, Democrat Joseph E. Brown, wanted locally raised troops to be used only for the defence of Georgia, in defiance of Confederate president Jefferson Davis, who wanted to deploy them on other battlefronts. When the Union blockade prevented Georgia from exporting its plentiful cotton in exchange for key imports, Brown ordered farmers to grow food instead, but the breakdown of transport systems led to desperate shortages.
The following Union Army units and commanders fought in the Battle of Chickamauga of the American Civil War. The Confederate order of battle is listed separately. Order of battle compiled from the army organization during the campaign.
The 22nd Alabama Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.
The 123rd Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, was an infantry and mounted infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. In 1863 and 1864 it was temporarily known as the 123rd Illinois Volunteer Mounted Infantry Regiment, as part of Wilder's Lightning Brigade.
The Chattanooga campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in October and November 1863, during the American Civil War. Following the defeat of Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans's Union Army of the Cumberland at the Battle of Chickamauga in September, the Confederate Army of Tennessee under Gen. Braxton Bragg besieged Rosecrans and his men by occupying key high terrain around Chattanooga, Tennessee. Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was given command of Union forces in the West, now consolidated under the Division of the Mississippi. Significant reinforcements also began to arrive with him in Chattanooga from Mississippi and the Eastern Theater. On October 18, Grant removed Rosecrans from command of the Army of the Cumberland and replaced him with Major General George Henry Thomas.
The 72nd Indiana Infantry Regiment, also known as 72nd Indiana Mounted Infantry Regiment, was an infantry and mounted infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment served as mounted infantry from March 17, 1863, to November 1, 1864, notably as part of the Lightning Brigade during the Tullahoma and Chickamauga Campaigns.
The Gordon-Lee Mansion is located in Chickamauga, Georgia and was originally referred to as the Gordon residence. Construction began in 1840 and was not completed until 1847 due to labor and financial issues. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Gordon-Lee House and is also known as the Gordon-Lee-Green House. It is individually listed on the National Register, and is also included in the Chickamauga Historic District. The listing includes six contributing buildings including the main house, a slave house, and a smokehouse, and it includes two contributing sites, on 13 acres (5.3 ha).
The Chickamauga Cherokee refers to a Native American group that separated from the greater body of the Cherokee during the American Revolutionary War. The majority of the Cherokee people wished to make peace with the Americans near the end of 1776, following several military setbacks and American reprisals.
William J. Carson was a United States Army soldier and recipient of the United States' highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Battle of Chickamauga in the American Civil War.
Wilburn Hill King was a Confederate States Army colonel during the American Civil War. He was assigned to duty as a brigadier general by General E. Kirby Smith but he was not officially appointed and confirmed to that grade.
Charles H. Walker was an American lawyer, jurist, and legislator. A Democrat, he was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly for two terms, 1856 and 1857, and was County Judge of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, from 1858 until 1862, when he resigned to volunteer for service as a Union Army officer in the American Civil War.
Hiram Bledsoe's Missouri Battery was an artillery battery that served in the Missouri State Guard and the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The battery was formed when the Missouri State Guard was formed as a pro-secession state militia unit in response to the Camp Jackson affair. As part of the Missouri State Guard, the unit was engaged in the Engagement near Carthage and the Battle of Wilson's Creek during mid-1861, before fighting at the Battle of Dry Wood Creek and the Siege of Lexington later that year when Major General Sterling Price led the Guard northwards towards the Missouri River. After the Missouri State Guard retreated into Arkansas in early 1862, Bledsoe's Battery served during the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Pea Ridge in March. The battery, as part of the Army of the West, transferred across the Mississippi River into Tennessee in April, where it left the Guard to enter Confederate service on April 21.