Medal of Honor Heritage Trail

During the Chattanooga campaign, General William T. Sherman brought his army from Memphis and Mississippi, crossed by pontoon bridge to Moccasin Bend, and moved behind Stringer’s Ridge to mislead the Confederates into thinking he was headed for Knoxville. He then crossed the river to the Crutchfield farm on Amnicola Highway, intending to climb the north end of Missionary Ridge and move south along the crest, but faulty maps led him instead across a series of hills, over Billy Goat Hill, and into a valley where he had to attack uphill against General Patrick Cleburne’s fortified artillery on Tunnel Hill. On November 25th, 1863, General Green R. Raum’s 2nd Brigade of General John E. Smith’s 2nd Division of the 17th Corps advanced on the left and was driven back; Sergeant Freeman Davis of the 80th Ohio Infantry, seeing the color bearers shot down, recovered both flags under severe fire and later received the Congressional Medal of Honor and promotion to Captain. To the right, Company G of the 37th Ohio Infantry attacked with Drummer John S. Kountz, who threw aside his drum and went forward with the regiment, was badly wounded above the knee, and lay bleeding near the enemy works. When his commander asked for a volunteer, William Schmidt went out under cover and then across open ground to bring Kountz back to the lines, an act for which Schmidt later received the Medal of Honor. Kountz was taken to an aide station, underwent amputation after being chloroformed, survived the war despite losing his leg, and though judged guilty of disobedience by the War Department, later received the Medal of Honor for the same act of bravery 30 years afterward.

Chattanooga, Tennessee · United States