POINT PARK.
Visitors to the Chattanooga Battlefields are urged to go first to Point Park. There, from the terrace of the Adolph S. Ochs Observatory and Museum, high above the winding Tennessee River, you will have a wide view of the battlefields. This point is acclaimed one of the finest overlooks in the South. Markers throughout the area identify important landmarks and troop positions. A National Park Service attendant is there to assist you. The observatory and museum bears the name of one of the park’s major benefactors, the late Adolph S. Ochs, Publisher of the Chattanooga Times and the New York Times.
The New York Monument, completed in 1907, is in the center of the area.
The Cravens House, where part of the “Battle Above the Clouds” was fought, can be seen from the museum terrace. Near the house, stand three large monuments—New York, Iowa, and Ohio—honoring troops who were in this battle.
From Lookout Point several foot trails provide interesting walks. These reveal unusual rock formations and provide ever changing and beautiful vistas of the countryside below.
The Park
Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park is composed of several separate areas, the more important of which are: Chickamauga Battlefield in Georgia; Point Park and the Battlefield of Lookout Mountain, in Tennessee; Orchard Knob in Chattanooga; a chain of small reservations located on Missionary Ridge; and Signal Point on Signal Mountain. The park contains approximately 8,190 acres of Federal land.
How to Reach the Park
Chickamauga Battlefield is 9 miles south of Chattanooga on U. S. 27. This section of the park is also reached by Georgia Route 2 connecting with U. S. 41 at Ringgold, Ga. Buses from Chattanooga run on a schedule to the battlefield throughout the week.
Point Park is reached from Chattanooga by U. S. 11, 41, 64, and 72 which combine as they leave the city and skirt the base of Lookout Mountain. The Scenic Highway turns off from these highways at the base of Lookout Mountain and winds up the slope to the park entrance. You may also visit the park by means of the St. Elmo buses from Chattanooga which connect with the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway at the foot of the mountain. The top of the incline is within short walking distance of the Point Park entrance.
The Ochs Memorial in Point Park, Lookout Mountain.
From Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge is reached by following eastward on U. S. 11 and 64; 41 and 76; or 27; and Tennessee Route 58. There are access roads to the top of the ridge and Crest Road from these highways.
Orchard Knob is on Orchard Knob Avenue near McCallie Avenue (U. S. 11 and 64) in Chattanooga.
About Your Visit
The park is open daily, including Sunday, throughout the year. The park museum and headquarters building is at the north entrance to Chickamauga Battlefield on U. S. 27. The museum, which has no admission fee, is open from 8 a. m. to 4:30 p. m. (E. S. T.) during the winter, and from 8 a. m. to 5 p. m. (E. S. T.) during the summer. At the museum, you will receive information concerning the self-guided tour. Library facilities are also available here. Talks and guide service are given to educational and special groups if arrangements are made in advance with the superintendent.
At Point Park on Lookout Mountain, you are urged to visit the Adolph S. Ochs Observatory and Museum. Point Park is open from 8:30 a. m. to 4:30 p. m. (E. S. T.) in winter and from 8 a. m. to 6 p. m. (E. S. T.) in summer. There is an admission fee of 25 cents. Children under 12 years of age, or groups of school children 18 years of age or under, when accompanied by adults assuming responsibility for their safety and orderly conduct, are admitted free.
2nd Minnesota Monument, Chickamauga Battlefield.
New York Monument at Point Park, Lookout Mountain.
Related Areas
Also administered by the National Park Service are two areas associated with the campaigns before and after the battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga: Stones River National Military Park and Cemetery, Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Marietta, Ga. Both are less than half-a-day’s drive from Chattanooga. Other Civil War areas administered by the National Park Service are: Shiloh and Fort Donelson National Military Parks, Tenn.; Vicksburg National Military Park, Miss.; Fort Pulaski National Monument, Ga.; Antietam National Battlefield Site, Md.; Gettysburg National Military Park, Pa.; Manassas National Battlefield Park, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, Petersburg National Military Park, Richmond National Battlefield Park, and Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Va.
Administration
Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park is administered by the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior.
The headquarters office for the park is located at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. Communications and inquiries relating to the area should be addressed to the Superintendent, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Fort Oglethorpe, Ga.
The Tennessee River and Lookout Mountain from the east.
Suggested Readings
Alexander, E. P. Military Memoirs of a Confederate. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. 1907. Beatty, John. Memoirs of a Volunteer. W. W. Norton & Co. New York. 1946. Govan, Gilbert E., and James W. Livingood. The Chattanooga Country 1540-1951. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. 1952. Grant, U. S. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant. Vol. II. Charles L. Webster & Co., New York. 1886. Guernsey, Alfred H., and Henry M. Alden. Harper’s Pictorial History of the Great Rebellion. Part II. Harper & Brothers, New York. 1866. Horn, Stanley F. The Army of Tennessee. The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis. 1941. Johnson, Robert Underwood, and Clarence Clough Buel, Eds. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. Vol. III. The Century Co., New York. 1884-88. Livermore, Thomas L. Numbers and Losses in the Civil War in America 1861-65. Houghton Mifflin & Co., Boston. 1900. Miller, Francis T. The Photographic History of the Civil War. Vols. II, V, X. The Review of Reviews Co., New York. 1911. Mottelay, Paul F., and T. Campbell-Copeland. The Soldier in Our Civil War: A Pictorial History of the Conflict, 1861-1865. Vol. II. Stanley Bradley Publishing Co., New York. 1890. Sheridan, P. H. Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan. Vol. I. Charles L. Webster & Co., New York. 1888. Steele, Matthew Forney. American Campaigns. Vol. I, text: Vol. II, maps. Byron S. Adams, Washington. 1909. 2 Vols. United States Government. Atlas to Accompany the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Government Printing Office, Washington. 1891-95. Van Horne, Thomas B. History of the Army of the Cumberland. Robert Clarke & Co., Cincinnati. 1876. 2 Vols, and Atlas.
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
HISTORICAL HANDBOOK SERIES
(Price lists of National Park Service publications may be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington 25, D.C.)
Antietam Bandelier Chalmette Chickamauga and Chattanooga Battlefields Custer Battlefield Custis-Lee Mansion, the Robert E. Lee Memorial Fort Laramie Fort McHenry Fort Necessity Fort Pulaski Fort Raleigh Fort Sumter George Washington Birthplace Gettysburg Guilford Courthouse Hopewell Village Independence Jamestown, Virginia Kings Mountain The Lincoln Museum and the House Where Lincoln Died Manassas (Bull Run) Montezuma Castle Morristown, a Military Capital of the Revolution Ocmulgee Petersburg Battlefields Saratoga Scotts Bluff Shiloh Statue of Liberty Vanderbilt Mansion Vicksburg Yorktown
