Chattanooga and Its Approaches

  • Creator: Frederic W. Dorr
  • Title: Chattanooga and Its Approaches
  • Date: 1863
  • Description: Map showing the city of Chattanooga and a section of the Tennessee River,as well as some of the topography, including Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. Inscription under the title notes: Surveyed under the direction of Brig. Gen. Wm. F. Smith, Chief Engineer of the Military Division of the Mississippi, during parts of November and December 1863 by F.W. Dorr, U.S. Coast Survey.
  • Historical Note: Dorr and his fellow engineer, John W. Donn, left Baltimore on October 13 by rail to Stevenson, Alabama, to report to Chief Engineer W. F. Smith. It then took them two weeks to travel the 69 miles between Stevenson and Chattanooga, transportation being hampered by the large equipment they had to bring with them (which were also targets for the Confederates). Once in place, Dorr took charge of the survey of the eastern approaches including Missionary Ridge and Donn took the western approaches, including Lookout Mountain, Raccoon Mountain, and the valley of Lookout Creek. Most of the work was done after the Confederates were driven from their entrenchments on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. The map is both informative and artistically rendered and labeled with names of fortifications. It includes railroad lines and the downtown Chattanooga street grid. The information they produced, most importantly of elevations on Missionary Ridge, provided Ulyssess S. Grant and his subordinates critical information used to drive Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee off Missionary Ridge. Within weeks of the battle's end, Dorr's engineers completed their maps of the Chattanooga area, including detailed renderings of every trench and rifle pit dug by the opposing armies between September 21, 1863 and November 25, 1863,
  • Contributing Institution: Chattanooga History Center
  • Publisher: Digital Initiatives, James E. Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University
  • Rights: Images reproduced on this website are intended for individual, educational use only. For research inquiries about specific objects or requests for high resolution images, contact the Chattanooga History Center.
  • URL: http://cdm15838.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/shades
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