03-20-2010, 06:29 PM
Okay, you historical peeps, try this on for size:
![[Image: 2184335-Lookout_Mountain_above_Chattanoo...untain.jpg]](http://cache.virtualtourist.com/2184335-Lookout_Mountain_above_Chattanooga_the_TN_River-Lookout_Mountain.jpg)
Lookout Mountain, seen from across the
Tennessee River in Chattanooga
I lived on Lookout Mountain from the ages of 10 -25. I went to high school in Chattanooga, and attended the University of Tennessee there. Lookout Mountain was the site of "The Battle Above the Clouds," November 24, 1863, when Union troops scaled the Mountain and took it away from the Confederates at the summit. As a child, I sometimes would play in the woods, and, in kicking a pile of dead leaves, would find an actual minié ball, still lying in place after a hundred years: this was not an unusual phenomenon. The Chattanooga campaign of the War for Southern Independence also included the Battle of Missionary Ridge, where General Douglas MacArthur's father had won the Congressional Medal of Honor by disobeying orders (which, subsequently, made the two men the only father and son to each be awarded that honor). I drove through Missionary Ridge (a tunnel) every day on my way to and from high school. Nearby lay the famous Chickamauga battlefield. The Battle of Chickamauga had the second highest number of casualties in the War, after Gettysburg. The Battlefield was transformed into a National Park, and, by the time I was a teenager, was a favorite place for couples to go watch the submarine races.
I don't want to be maudlin, but this always struck me as a wonderful (and poignant) symbol of war and peace. There, in the late twentieth century, teenagers sat in cars and did what teenagers do, under the watchful eyes of the statues of the battle's heroes - - - who had made their recreation possible.
I tell you, history will break your heart!
Lookout Mountain, seen from across the
Tennessee River in Chattanooga
I lived on Lookout Mountain from the ages of 10 -25. I went to high school in Chattanooga, and attended the University of Tennessee there. Lookout Mountain was the site of "The Battle Above the Clouds," November 24, 1863, when Union troops scaled the Mountain and took it away from the Confederates at the summit. As a child, I sometimes would play in the woods, and, in kicking a pile of dead leaves, would find an actual minié ball, still lying in place after a hundred years: this was not an unusual phenomenon. The Chattanooga campaign of the War for Southern Independence also included the Battle of Missionary Ridge, where General Douglas MacArthur's father had won the Congressional Medal of Honor by disobeying orders (which, subsequently, made the two men the only father and son to each be awarded that honor). I drove through Missionary Ridge (a tunnel) every day on my way to and from high school. Nearby lay the famous Chickamauga battlefield. The Battle of Chickamauga had the second highest number of casualties in the War, after Gettysburg. The Battlefield was transformed into a National Park, and, by the time I was a teenager, was a favorite place for couples to go watch the submarine races.
I don't want to be maudlin, but this always struck me as a wonderful (and poignant) symbol of war and peace. There, in the late twentieth century, teenagers sat in cars and did what teenagers do, under the watchful eyes of the statues of the battle's heroes - - - who had made their recreation possible.
I tell you, history will break your heart!