The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 30, In Four Parts. Part 1, Reports. Page: 49
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THE CHICKAM AUG A CAMPAIGN.
Between the eastern base of this range and the line of the Chat-
tanooga and Atlanta or Georgia State Railroad are a series of liar-
row valleys separated by smaller ranges of hills or low mountains,
over which there are quite a number of practicable wagon roads
running eastward toward the railroad.
The first of these ranges is Missionary Ridge, separating the waters
of Chickamauga from Chattanooga Creek.
A higher range with fewer gaps, on the southeast side of the Chicka-
mauga, is Pigeon Mountain, branching from Lookout, near Dough-
erty's Gap, some 40 miles south from Chattanooga. It extends in a
northerly direction, bearing eastward until it is lost in the general
level of the country, near the line of the Chattanooga and La Fayette
road.
East of these two ranges and of the Chickamauga, starting from
Ooltewah and passing by Ringgold to the west of Dalton, is Taylor's
Ridge, a rough, rocky range, traversable by wagon roads only
through gaps, generally several miles apart.
Missionary Ridge passes about 3 miles east of Chattanooga, ending
near the Tennessee at the mouth of the Chickamauga. Taylor's
Ridge separates the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad from the
Chattanooga and Atlanta Railroad.
The junction of these roads is at Dalton, in a valley east of Taylor's
Ridge and west of the rough mountain region, in which are the
sources of the Coosa River. This valley, only about 9 or 10 miles
wide, is the natural southern gateway into East Tennessee, while the
other valleys just mentioned terminate northwardly on the Tennes-
see to the west of it, and extend in a southwesterly direction toward
the line of the Coosa, the general direction of which, from the cross-
ing of the Atlanta road to Rome and thence to Gadsden, is south-
west.
From the position of our army at McMinnville, Tullahoma, Decherd,
and Winchester, to reach Chattanooga, crossing the Tennessee above
it, it was necessary either to pass north of the Sequatchie Valley, by
Pikeville or Kingston, or to cross the main Cumberland and the
Sequatchie Valley, by Dunlap or Therman and Walden's Ridge, by
the routes passing through these places, a distance from 65 to 70
miles, over a country destitute of forage, poorly supplied with water,
by narrow and difficult wagon roads.
The main Cumberland range could also have been passed, on an
inferior road, by Pelham and Tracy City to Therman.
The most southerly route on which to move troops and transpor-
tation to the Tennessee, above Chattanooga, was by Cowan, Univer-
sity, Battle Creek, and Jasper or by Tantallon, Anderson, Stevenson,
Bridgeport, and the mouth of Battle Creek, to same point, and thence
by Therman or Dunlap and Poe's Tavern, across Walden's Ridge.
The University road, though difficult, was the best of these two, that
by Cowan, Tantalon, and Stevenson being very rough between
Cowan and Anderson and much longer.
There were also three roads across the mountains to the Tennessee
River below Stevenson, the best but much the longest by Fayette-
ville and Athens, a distance of 70 miles.
The next, a very rough wagon road from Winchester, by Salem,
to Larkinsville, and an exceedingly rough road by the way of Mount
Top, one branch leading thence to Bellefonte and the other to Steven-
son.
On these latter routes little or no forage was to be found except at
4R R--VOL XXX, PT I49
CHAP. XLII.]
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Errata sheets for the Records of the War of the Rebellion include additions and corrections to the text and the index for Series 1, Volume 30.
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United States. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 30, In Four Parts. Part 1, Reports., book, 1890; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth152978/m1/60/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.