This is David Powell’s sixth book about the Civil War in the Chattanooga area. It centers on the Battle on top of Lookout Mountain, but it also provides important context with an examination of the events leading up to this important battle. After the Union victories in the summer of 1863 at Vicksburg and Gettysburg, the Confederate Victory in September at Chickamauga, Georgia, on the outskirts of Chattanooga loomed large. Chattanooga, one of the most important transportation hubs in the South, was surrounded and beginning to starve. Lookout Mountain looms steeply above Chattanooga, and Major General Joseph Hooker’s assault of the mountain was not only crucial in protecting the Union’s important occupation of Chattanooga, it was an act of tremendous courage. The Union victory was not just improbable, it was a key to Union momentum during 1863. David A. Powell has a history degree from Virginia Military Institute. He lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago where he runs a specialized delivery firm.
El Dorado Hills, California: Savas Beatie, 2017. 169 pages with a Foreword by William Lee White, Suggested Reading, and several appendices. Trade paperback