258 The Mississippi Valley in the Civil War

east and southwest line from McMinnville toWin-Tbe a Chester. The most direct approach to

proaches to Chattanooga was by the left throughChattanooga , Gherman and over Waldron’s Ridge, aspur of the Cumberland Mountains named aftera hardy pioneer of a century ago. But Rosecranshad two good objections to that road. One wasthat it would carry him far from the railway, witha long wagon-haul over steep and dangerous roads;the other was that Bragg fully expected him tocome that way in spite of its difficulty. The alter-native route was by the right through Bridgeportand Stevenson and over the mountains of northernAlabama and Georgia. This would keep Rose-crans near to the railway and to his depot of sup-plies which he was just establishing at Stevenson,but it necessitated his moving through a countryso difficult that Bragg did not believe he woulddare to attempt it. A series of parallel mountainranges, hard to climb and penetrable only throughnarrow defiles, stood in his way.

The first of these steep ranges, parallel to theTennessee river and very near its bank, was knownas Raccoon Mountain. Next came Lookout Moun-tain, a name destined to be famous in song andstory, and more descriptive than such names some-times are. The mountain, 100 miles in length,rears its bold crest at its northern end nearly 8000