Friday, November 25, 2016
1-5 PM
A BLACK FRIDAY LOOK AT A BLACK WEDNESDAY: THE BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE AT TUNNEL HILL
On this Black Friday, if you don't want to spend the afternoon fighting for parking spaces, spend the time instead taking a more extensive look at fighting that made this date 153 years ago a Black Wednesday for so many on the slopes of Missionary Ridge's Tunnel Hill. Taking advantage of the recently completed Pennsylvania Reservation-Sherman Reservation connector trail, Historians Jim Ogden III and Gerald D. Hodge, Jr. will lead a walk that will, more fully than has really been possible in many years, examine the November 25, 1863, Battle of Missionary Ridge actions that Union General Ulysses S. Grant thought would be his main effort. Walking more of the ground than in the past, you'll come to understand more fully why Confederate generals William Hardee, Pat Cleburne and Carter Stevenson were able to bloodily turn back William T. Sherman's repeated assaults that day, making that Wednesday in 1863 a black day for so many. This “work-some-of-your-Thanksgivings-dinner-off” program will begin at the Sherman Reservation on Lightfoot Mill Road on Missionary Ridge (approximately 2800 Lightfoot Mill Road, Chattanooga, TN) and cover about four miles going uphill and down on sidewalks and trials. Water, comfortable, supportive footwear and clothing appropriate for the weather are recommended. A port-a-john will be available part the way through the walk.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Respectfully,

Gerald D. Hodge, Jr.
Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired)
M.A. Military History - Civil War Concentration
Research - Preservation
Historian: 39th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment
http://39thgavolinfrgt.homestead.com/39thHomepage.html
Athens, Tennessee