Adam Badeau, Military history of Ulysses S. Grant from April 1861 to April 1865. Volume 1

[428] man. But, first, the Tennessee river itself tempted the adventurous pioneer; and, when the tide of trade and the growth of the republic could no longer be stayed, even the mountains were forced to open their gates. A railroad must be built, connecting the Mississippi with the Atlantic, and the only route through these almost inaccessible hills was along the valley of the Tennessee. Then, the South must be connected with its brother North; and the line of travel stretched out from Mobile, and all the great railways from the interior of the cotton region, from Mississippi, and Georgia, and Alabama, and South Carolina, centred at Atlanta, and reached up along one line, through ridges and ranges, penetrating them by tunnels when Nature afforded no pathway, until, under the shadow of the Chattanooga mountain, the junction with the great eastern line was formed. Where the railroads from Memphis and Charleston and Richmond and Nashville and Atlanta meet, a town sprang up, of course, and was named from the mountain at whose base it was built, Chattanooga; while the acclivity itself now received an English name, and was henceforth known as the Lookout mountain.

When the rebellion broke out, it was at once perceived by military men that Chattanooga must become one of the important strategic positions of the war. The great railway lines converging here afforded the rebels immense opportunities for concentrating and supplying their armies—opportunities which were seized and enjoyed to their full extent. Connecting the extreme eastern and the western portions of the would-be confederacy, these roads enabled its authorities, again and again, to move troops with facility and promptness from one part of the theatre