Hamilton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located in the southern part of East Tennessee on the border with Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 366,207, making it the fourth-most populous county in Tennessee. Its county seat is Chattanooga, located along the Tennessee River. The county was named for Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury.
Chattanooga is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. It is located along the Tennessee River, and borders Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee's fourth-largest city and one of the two principal cities of East Tennessee, along with Knoxville. It anchors the Chattanooga metropolitan area, Tennessee's fourth-largest metropolitan statistical area, as well as a larger three-state area that includes Southeast Tennessee, Northwest Georgia, and Northeast Alabama.
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 18–20, 1863, between the United States Army and Confederate forces in the American Civil War, marked the end of a U.S. Army 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 US defeat in the Western Theater, and involved the second-highest number of casualties after the Battle of Gettysburg.
The Battle of Lookout Mountain also known as the Battle Above the Clouds was fought November 24, 1863, as part of the Chattanooga Campaign of the American Civil War. Union forces under Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker assaulted Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and defeated Confederate forces commanded by Maj. Gen. Carter L. Stevenson. Lookout Mountain was one engagement in the Chattanooga battles between Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Military Division of the Mississippi and the Confederate Army of Tennessee, commanded by Gen. Braxton Bragg. It drove in the Confederate left flank and allowed Hooker's men to assist in the Battle of Missionary Ridge the following day, which routed Bragg's army, lifting the siege of Union forces in Chattanooga, and opening the gateway into the Deep South.
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 Cherokee American Wars lasted more than a decade after the end of the American Revolutionary War.
The Battle of Missionary Ridge, also known as the Battle of Chattanooga, was fought on November 25, 1863, as part of the Chattanooga campaign of the American Civil War. Following the Union victory in the Battle of Lookout Mountain on November 24, Union forces in the Military Division of the Mississippi under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant assaulted Missionary Ridge and defeated the Confederate Army of Tennessee, commanded by Gen. Braxton Bragg, forcing it to retreat to Georgia.
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.
Missionary Ridge is a geographic feature in Chattanooga, Tennessee, site of the Battle of Missionary Ridge, a battle in the American Civil War, fought on November 25, 1863. Union forces under Maj. Gens. Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, and George H. Thomas routed Confederate forces under General Braxton Bragg and lifted the siege of the city.
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 St. Elmo Historic District, or St. Elmo for short, is a neighborhood in the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is situated in the southernmost part of Hamilton County within the valley of Lookout Mountain below the part of the Tennessee River known as Moccasin Bend. St Elmo is at the crossroads of two ancient Indian trails, and was first occupied by Native American hunters and gatherers in the Woodland period, then agricultural Mississippians, including Euchee and Muscogee, and for a brief period between 1776 and 1786, the Cherokees in a community called Lookout Town. St. Elmo became part of the city of Chattanooga when it was annexed in September 1929.
North Georgia is the northern hilly/mountainous region in the U.S. state of Georgia. At the time of the arrival of settlers from Europe, it was inhabited largely by the Cherokee. The counties of north Georgia were often scenes of important events in the history of Georgia. It was the site of many American Civil War battles, including the Battle of Lookout Mountain and the Battle of Chickamauga, leading up to the Atlanta Campaign. Today, particularly in the northeast portion of the region, tourism sustains the local economy.
The Battle of Ringgold Gap was fought November 27, 1863, outside the town of Ringgold, Georgia, by the Confederate and Union armies during the American Civil War. Part of the Chattanooga Campaign, it followed a heavy Confederate loss at the Battle of Missionary Ridge from which General Braxton Bragg's artillery and wagon trains were forced to retreat south. The five hour Battle of Ringgold Gap resulted in the Confederate victory of Major General Patrick R. Cleburne and gave the Army of Tennessee safe passage to retreat through the Ringgold Gap mountain pass.
The Lookout Mountain Incline Railway is a 4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge inclined plane funicular railway leading to the top of Lookout Mountain from the historic St. Elmo neighborhood of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Passengers are transported from St. Elmo's Station at the base, to Point Park at the mountain summit, which overlooks the city and the Tennessee River. It is just a short drive to three of Chattanooga's main tourist attractions, Ruby Falls, Cavern Castle, and Rock City. The railway is approximately one mile (1.6 km) in length. It has a maximum grade of 72.7%, making it one of the world's steepest passenger railways. It obtained Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark status in 1991. The cable system for the cars was made by the Otis Elevator Company.
Lookout Mountain Caverns is the second-longest known cave in Hamilton County, Tennessee. Its mapped length of 2.481 miles places it at 361st on the United States Long Caves List. Unofficially, anecdotal reports of cave expeditions have exceed 12 miles with legends exceeding 82 miles. The cave is closed and public access is forbidden.
Nickajack Cave is a large, partially flooded cave in Marion County, Tennessee. It was partially flooded by the Tennessee Valley Authority's Nickajack Lake, created by the construction of Nickajack Dam in 1967. The entrance was originally 140 feet wide and 50 feet high. There is now about 25–30 feet of water at the entrance, so the portion of the entrance above water is 140 feet wide and 20–25 feet high. It houses a large colony of gray bats, an endangered species, and the water levels have posed a danger to the bat colony. The cave took its name from the Chickamauga Cherokee town of Nickajack, located between its mouth and the Tennessee River. The town was once attacked and destroyed in 1794 by the Nickajack Expedition.
Whiteside is an unincorporated community in Marion County, Tennessee. It was originally settled as a Cherokee town in the late eighteenth century.
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.
Turtle-at-Home, or Selukuki Wohelengh, was a Cherokee warrior and leader, brother and chief lieutenant of Dragging Canoe, a war-chief in the Cherokee–American wars.
Chattanooga, Tennessee, was a major rail center and a strategic vantage-point, with high ground competed-for by both sides. When Union forces were besieged in the town, General Ulysses S. Grant forced a supply-route, earning him Lincoln's particular gratitude.
