Chattanooga in the American Civil War

Chattanooga, Tennessee, was a major rail center and a strategic vantage-point during the American Civil War, with high ground competed-for by both sides.

Tennessee was the last state to join the Confederacy (June 1861), being deeply divided between the mountainous eastern zone, including Chattanooga, that was pro-Union, and the slave-intensive western counties that were pro-Confederate.

)[5] As a Southern War Democrat, Johnson was the natural choice as Lincoln's running-mate in his successful 1864 re-election bid.

[7][8] As an important railroad hub, connecting major southern arsenals, Chattanooga was closely engaged in the Confederate war effort from the start, despite local resistance and even some guerrilla activity.

After its shock-defeat at Chickamauga (Georgia), Rosecrans’ Army of the Cumberland retreated into its fortifications at Chattanooga, where it was under heavy siege by Bragg and facing surrender.