In the autumn of 1863, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant recognized Raccoon Mountain as a pivotal landscape in the campaign to resupply Federal troops in Chattanooga after the Battle of Chickamauga. Confederate forces had cut all supply lines into Chattanooga, and rations and material were running low. Grant realized that the mountain was lightly defended. A Confederate brigade manned the eastern slopes, and the 28th Alabama Infantry defended the approach from the Tennessee River. Sharpshooters and artillery made the road from Chattanooga to Jasper on the western side of the Tennessee River impassable. Another supply route was needed, as the current was too fast for boat traffic past Kelley's Ferry, where the river narrowed as it flowed between Raccoon Mountain and Walden's Ridge. Union forces sailed from Bridgeport, Alabama, on October 27, 1863, on the steamship Chattanooga to Kelly's Ferry landing, meeting little resistance. Proceeding through Cummings Gap in Raccoon Mountain toward Brown's Ferry, they established the Cracker Line, named for the hardtack that soldiers ate, to resupply Chattanooga. Obar Spring, which arises within Raccoon Mountain, was the only year-round source of water in the area, and both sides camped periodically nearby and along Black Creek. Later, the fight for Lookout Mountain would be called the Battle Above the Clouds.

Photo: Don Morfe

Photo: Don Morfe

Photo: Don Morfe

Photo: Don Morfe

Photo: Don Morfe