The Chattanooga area, a crucial rail center, was the site of battles at Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and others.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Chattanooga had become one of the most important rail centers in the South. Lines here connected the Atlantic Ocean with the Mississippi River and Atlanta to Virginia. After Union occupation of the city in late 1863 and the relief of a Confederate siege, Gen. William T. Sherman staged his Atlanta Campaign from here.
