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The
city of Chattanooga is now a place of considerable interest. It used to contain about 5,000
inhabitants,
four or five churches, five hotels, two printing offices, bank, a number of fine residences, etc.
It
is situated in Hamilton county, Tennessee just north of the dividing line between that State and Georgia, situated on the left bank of the Tennessee River
and the northern terminus of the Western and Atlantic Railway; the southern terminus
of' which is Atlanta Georgia. It
is also the eastern terminus of the
Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, and forms an angular connection with the
line of the railroad from Charleston, South Carolina, to Memphis,
Tennessee.
It
is 151 miles from Nashville, 432 miles from Savannah, and 477 miles from
Charleston. The City is situated on a
high bluff overlooking the rushing waters of the Tennessee River, which, at
this point, spreads out to a greater extent than at many others in the
vicinity.
Being
the terminus of two important roads, and the most prominent points on another
(the Charleston and Memphis,) it became the most available place where the
rolling stock of all could be repaired and new stock manufactured. Hence were established here numerous machine
shops, foundries, etc., which, up to the outbreak of the rebellion, were doing
a thriving business and contributing, in a great measure, to the advancement
and prosperity of the place.
The
Tennessee River is navigable for steamboats from the Muscle Shoals, twenty
miles in extent, above Florence, Alabama, up to Knoxville, Tennessee, which is
110 miles by railroad north-east of Chattanooga, and of course much further by
the windings of the river.
The
upper waters of the Tennessee are extremely beautiful, varied as the landscape
is in the wild mountain scenes and pastoral lands.
The
Lookout Mountains, immediately around Chattanooga, in which so many deserters
from the rebel army are said to have been awaiting Rosecrans’ coming, form one
of the boldest and most romantic objects to be seen.
Republican – October 15, 1863
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