Following their defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga, the Union troops withdrew (ran away) to Chattanooga. Instead of pursuing aggressively, the Confederate troops, under General Braxton Bragg, took some time to regroup, bury the dead, and then mosey on up to the area around Chattanooga. By this time the Union army was firmly entrenched, so …
From October 2015
Riding the Incline
There are three attractions on Lookout Mountain besides Point Park: Rock City, Ruby Falls, and the Incline. I already wrote about Rock City but we have also done the other two. Ruby Falls will be a post for another day. The Incline was my favorite of the three. Getting up Lookout Mountain has always been a …
Flash Flood at Scotty’s Castle
Last winter (January – April 2015) Tom and I worked at Scotty’s Castle, part of Death Valley National Park. We helped clean, led tours, and enjoyed working with the rangers in a remote but beautiful place. We planned to go back this winter – it has been on our itinerary ever since we left. Unfortunately, …
Chattanooga BBQ
Chattanooga is smack in the middle of BBQ country, stuck between Memphis BBQ and North Carolina BBQ styles. There is no distinctive Chattanooga BBQ style, so the BBQ restaurants in Chattanooga feel free to go with whatever they like best. Because Tom and I love BBQ we have been trying some of the different BBQ …
Saints in a Day
Have you ever wanted to perfectly serve God: to love him with your whole heart, follow him completely, stay within his will perfectly? I think we all have this desire, to a greater or lesser degree, every day of our lives. And we would especially like to do it if we could do it today …
The Final Day at Chickamauga
The third and final day at Chickamauga was, of course, the decisive one for the battle. As darkness fell on the second day, Rosecrans reordered his lines. He did this by shuffling just about every regiment in his army. Instead of allowing them to dig entrenchments where they were and get some rest, he moved …
How to Lose the Civil War
I have been reading a lot of books about the Civil War in order to be the best possible worker at the Visitors Centers. One that recently caught my eye had an intriguing title: “How to Lose the Civil War: Military Mistakes of the War Between the States.” This book is a collection of essays …
Riverwalk
The Tennessee River runs through downtown Chattanooga and Chattanooga is taking advantage of this natural resource better than most other cities we have visited. The Riverwalk is just one of the many attractions in the easy-to-navigate downtown area. The Riverwalk is seven miles of trail along the Tennessee River. The Riverwalk starts at Chickamauga Dam …
Kennesaw Mountain
On one of our days off last week, Tom, Judy (our fellow RV volunteer) and I went to Kennesaw Mountain, the most visited National Military Park in the United States. Why is it the most visited? Not because of the importance of the battle fought there, although it was the last battle fought before Atlanta …
Narrow the Road
Yesterday Tom and I returned to the evening service at First Presbyterian in Fort Oglethorpe. Rev. Allen’s sermon that morning had been on Matthew 7:13-14 and during the evening service he asked us to gather in small groups to discuss what he had said about the passage and what we thought about it. Several people …