152 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



rivers flowing lengthwise of the valley arc the Shenandoah and Tennes- 

 see. These and the smaller streams have a general direction parallel 

 to the valley trend. They have discovered strata which they can erode 

 and into which they have sunk their channels. The streams on the 

 plateau have no such succeeding parallel strata to guide their course 

 and have cut valleys in an irregular fashion, not unlike the branching 

 of a tree. 



Looking at the course of the Tennessee, it would seem that the river 

 could hardly have taken a more roundabout way to the sea. Rising 

 about seventy miles above Chattanooga, it follows the valley trend until 

 it reaches this place. There, instead of continuing about three hundred 

 miles down the valley to the Gulf, the river turns abruptly to the west- 

 ward and enters the plateau by a deep gorge. Flowing in a meander- 

 ing course, it passes through northern Alabama and across Tennessee 

 and Kentucky, entering the Ohio River at Paducah, over fifty miles 

 north of its source. It finally reaches the Gulf after a circuitous jour- 

 ney of more than three times the distance that would be required had 

 it taken the course down the valley. Indeed, it is thought that the 

 Tennessee at one time did follow the shorter course, but a tilting of the 

 land together with the rapid erosion eastward of a westward-flowing 

 stream, diverted the river to its present course. 



The civil war opened with the Chattanooga region in the. hands of 

 the confederates who also controlled Tennessee and Kentucky to the 

 north and west. Both sides were fully alive to the importance of the 

 position and for over two years it was the objective of the union armies. 

 But at this time Chattanooga was nearly one hundred miles within the 

 confederate lines, which reached from Columbus, a strongly fortified 

 post on the Mississippi, to Cumberland Gap, at the northeast corner 

 of Tennessee, where there was a pass to the Great Valley. At about 

 the center of the line were forts Donelson and Henry, which commanded 

 respectively the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers. These rivers were 

 natural roadways into the confederacy, and it was an important step 

 when Grant captured the forts. The first advance toward Chattanooga 

 had been taken, and from now on until its capture Chattanooga was the 

 goal of some union army in Tennessee. 



General Rosecrans was in command of the army which found itself 

 ready to start for Chattanooga, with General Bragg as his opponent. 

 Bragg had attempted an invasion of Kentucky, but was checked at the 

 battle of Stone River near Murfreesboro, which left the two armies 

 facing each other on the Cumberland plateau. Rosecrans's army and 

 supplies were concentrated at Murfreesboro and Bragg bad his center 

 resting at Tullahoma, a straggling village important only as a railroad 

 junction. The Tullahoma campaign which now followed was inde- 

 cisive, hut is interesting to the student of military history because of 

 the strategy by which Rosecrans forced his adversary to retreat without 



is. 



