The Chattanooga History Center, in cooperation with the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, will present a bus tour, “Our Army Is Divided:” Rosecrans on the Offensive, on Saturday, August 23rd.
The day-long tour will depart from the History Center, 615 Lindsay Street, Suite 100, at 9:30am, and will return no earlier than 3:30pm.
The fee is $40 per person. The tour includes some walking on the Chickamauga Battlefield. Participants should bring their own sack lunches.
In mid-August 1863, Union General William Starke Rosecrans put in action a bold plan to capture Chattanooga. Advancing from the Tennessee River, he divided his three Army Corps sending one toward Chattanooga to deceive Confederate troops there into believing the main attack would come from the north.
All the while, the other two-thirds of the Union Army advanced south of the city with hopes of cutting off the rebel’s from their supply line. Despite the heroic efforts of the Union soldiers who climbed and crossed both Sand and Lookout Mountains during their advance, the plan unraveled when Confederate troops unexpectedly concentrated their forces and moved to cut off and capture the widely divided Union forces. Only by the slimmest of margins was Rosecrans able to reassemble his Army to meet the Confederates along the banks of Chickamauga Creek.
This day long bus tour will follow General Rosecrans’ Army as it advanced from the area around Bridgeport and Stevenson, Alabama, across the mountains, into McLemore’s Cove, and onto the banks of Chickamauga Creek. As you ride along the route, you will learn about the difficulties and dangers of Rosecrans’ bold move from Chattanooga History Center Curator, Dr. Daryl Black, and National Park Service historians.
For more information, or to register, call 423-265-3247.