In late October, the Civil War cannons fired from the top of Lookout Mountain. Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park held artillery demonstrations at Point Park on a Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Chattanoogan.com described them as "the roar of a cannon thundering from the mountaintop." Getting in cost $10 per adult.
On November 21 and 22, the park brings its artillery demonstrations down to the valley floor. The National Park Service event page lists the demonstrations "in Lookout Valley on the Lookout Mountain Battlefield" at 3100 Parker Lane. That's a short turn off Brown's Ferry Road just south of I-24, and there's no entrance fee. For people who live in Lookout Valley, the move from mountaintop to valley floor shows something the view from Point Park hides. The fighting that reopened Chattanooga's supply line happened along Brown's Ferry Road, from the interstate exit down to the river. This year, the land at the river end of that road is being protected.
Three days in October 1863, from the river to Parker Lane
In the fall of 1863, the Union army inside Chattanooga was under siege, and the lack of rations was taking a toll on the troops and their animals. The plan to fix that became known as the Cracker Line, a supply route bringing goods to the Army of the Cumberland from Stevenson and Bridgeport, Alabama. The route ran straight through Lookout Valley, and the American Battlefield Trust's account of Wauhatchie lays out how quickly it came together:
- October 27. Union troops under William B. Hazen floated down the Tennessee River on flatboats and took the Brown's Ferry landing. That completed the first stage of the Cracker Line operation, which had started on October 26.
- The night of October 28. Joseph Hooker's column had marched through Lookout Valley and reached Brown's Ferry that afternoon. Confederate troops from James Longstreet's command then attacked the Union rear guard at Wauhatchie in the dark. The Union side held, though it was running low on ammunition by the time the Confederates were called back.
- October 29. With the line secure, the first supplies reached Chattanooga.
The Trust calls Wauhatchie one of the few nighttime actions of the Civil War, and the Union victory there kept the Federal supply line open.
Geography explains why the valley mattered. In those years, the Old Wauhatchie Pike connected Chattanooga to Lookout Valley. The National Park Service describes it as a narrow road along the slopes of Lookout Mountain that slowed both armies down as they moved around Chattanooga. Whoever controlled the valley floor and the ferry controlled whether food got into the city.
The Confederate commanders planned their attack from above the valley. The park's Lookout Mountain page says Longstreet and Braxton Bragg stood on Sunset Rock, on the western side of the mountain, in late October 1863, looked down at the Union army trying to open a supply line through the valley, and planned the attack that became the Battle of Wauhatchie.
The November 21 and 22 demonstrations
So when the park fires on Parker Lane, it fires on the ground where the night battle was fought. Here are the basics from the NPS listing:
- Dates: Saturday, November 21, and Sunday, November 22, 2026, the weekend before Thanksgiving
- Times: 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. each day
- Length: about 30 minutes per demonstration
- Location: 3100 Parker Lane, Chattanooga
- Cost: no entrance fee. The park charges only for programs inside Point Park, where adults 16 and older pay $10 and children 15 and younger get in free.
The park describes each program as a chance to "hear the roar of a cannon thundering across the battlefield and to learn more about the role and experiences of Civil War field artillerymen in battle and on campaign." The page is titled for the 163rd Anniversary of the Battles for Chattanooga and asks visitors to check back for updated information, so it's worth a look the morning you go. The listing doesn't give parking instructions for Parker Lane. From most of the valley, though, you're only a few minutes from Exit 175.
With six firings over two days, you can pick a time that fits your weekend. The 11 a.m. demonstration finishes in time for lunch, and the 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. firings leave the morning free for errands.
Two monuments in the valley, and the view from above
The Wauhatchie Battlefield works differently from most of the park. The state of New York put up two monuments there. Both sit outside the park's boundaries, but the National Park Service counts the monuments themselves as part of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. Chattanoogan.com notes that the park also holds several small reservations at Wauhatchie tied to the fighting there.
That means you can visit the battlefield in pieces, mostly along roads you already drive:
| Site | Where it is | How the park says to get there |
|---|---|---|
| New York monument | Parker Lane, just off I-24 | Take Exit 175 onto Brown's Ferry Road; Parker Lane is just south of the interstate |
| Monument to David Ireland's Brigade | Wauhatchie Pike | About one mile south of US Highway 64/Cummings Highway |
| Sunset Rock | West Brow Road, Lookout Mountain, Tennessee | Very little parking; don't park in the street or in nearby yards. You can also reach it on the Bluff Trail |
The park's Lookout Mountain Battlefield trail map marks the Battle of Wauhatchie site at the New York monument. The park says you can see the battlefield in the valley from Sunset Rock. Sunset Rock is where Longstreet and Bragg planned the attack, and Parker Lane is where it was fought.
The river end of Brown's Ferry Road is being protected
In March 2026, the National Park Service announced $7,469,893 in Battlefield Land Acquisition Grants nationwide, paid for by the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Wauhatchie was on the list. The program covers battlefield land outside national park boundaries, and it requires a 50 percent non-federal match.
According to the NPS grant announcement, the Chattanooga award went to the City of Chattanooga, working with the American Battlefield Trust, to buy about 30 acres at the Wauhatchie Battlefield. The plan is for the Trust to buy the land and then convey a protective easement to the Tennessee Historical Commission. On April 28, 2026, the City Council adopted Resolution 32882. It names the land as the Charton Tract and makes the City the grant's sponsor and pass-through to the Trust, with the grant capped at $973,527.
The location matters most for people in the valley. Chattanoogan.com reported that the tract sits near the Tennessee River, close to where the old Brown's Ferry once ran at the end of Brown's Ferry Road. One road connects the Exit 175 turn toward the November cannons with the landing Hazen's troops took by boat on October 27, 1863.
Chattanooga Pulse gave the exact size as 30.72 acres and reported that the Trust expected to buy it "in coming months." The match of nearly $450,000 comes from the Tennessee Civil War Sites Preservation Fund, a major donation from the landowner, and contributions from Trust members. For scale, the American Battlefield Trust's Wauhatchie page credits the group with saving more than 25 acres there so far.
Be clear about what this means and doesn't mean. Chattanoogan.com reports that the property won't become part of Chickamauga Park. The public plans describe preserving the land through an easement once the purchase is complete. None of them announce a park, a trail, or a date when visitors can walk the riverbank, so the riverfront at the end of Brown's Ferry Road isn't a place to visit yet.
Where you can walk to the water
You can stand at the river along the Cracker Line route today, just from the other bank. On Moccasin Bend, across the Tennessee River, the National Park Service maintains the Brown's Ferry Federal Road trace. It's a 1.2-mile round-trip walk from a parking area off Moccasin Bend Road, with interpretive signs along the way. The route was used by Cherokee people during their forced removal in 1838 and by Union supply wagons in 1863.
A Times Free Press photo caption notes that the trail ends at the Tennessee River, across the water from the land being preserved. Walk to the end on Moccasin Bend, look across, and you're facing the Lookout Valley bank where the ferry crossed. Pair that with a 2 p.m. firing on Parker Lane, and you've covered the Cracker Line from the river to the night battle, almost all of it within a few miles of home.
We love it when one of Lookout Valley's quieter stories turns out to run along roads our neighbors drive every day. At Bridge City Realty, we're a family-owned team that keeps track of what's happening in the valley, from cannon weekends on Parker Lane to the land being protected at the end of Brown's Ferry Road. If you're thinking about a home near Exit 175 or anywhere else in the valley, start your home search with us and we'll share what we know about the area.
