Chickamauga Creek

Chickamauga Creek is a short tributary of the Tennessee River, which it joins near Chattanooga, Tennessee. There are two main arteries of Chickamauga Creek, the North Branch and the South Branch.

Course

Chickamauga Creek is part of the Georgia, Middle Tennessee-Chickamauga Watershed.^[1]

North Chickamauga Creek forms in an area called the horseshoe, near where Standifer and Brimer creeks join together near Old Anderson Pike on Walden's Ridge, and runs entirely in Tennessee.^[2] South Chickamauga Creek is a long and winding valley-floor stream in the northwest corner of Georgia. It flows north from Ringgold, Georgia, over the border into Tennessee and from there into the city of Chattanooga.^[3]

History

Chickamauga Indians

The tribal band of the Cherokee which settled near the creek in the late 18th century, became known as the Chickamauga. Under the leadership of Dragging Canoe, they became a frontier adversary to early American expansionism west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Battle of Chickamauga

During the Civil War, one of the bloodiest engagements of the war was fought near Chickamauga Creek over control of the railroad center at nearby Chattanooga, Tennessee. The conflict became known as the Battle of Chickamauga, fought September 19–20, 1863. However, the creek itself had very little influence on the course of the battle.^[4]

Union General William S. Rosecrans had established his army at Chickamauga, Georgia, 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Chattanooga. Confederate General Braxton Bragg had collected reinforcements and prepared to do battle, assisted by General James Longstreet.^[5] After two days of fighting, Rosecrans and a large portion of his army fled the field in disarray.^[6] The Battle of Chickamauga marked the end of the Union's "Chickamauga Campaign" in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia.

Notes