Bragg Reservation: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, National Park Service

Styles, Sean; Goetcheus, Cari; Hasty, David

Bragg Reservation is a 2.5 acre component landscape of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, located near Chattanooga, Tennessee. The site is one of a series of detached reservations on Missionary Ridge, linked by the north-south Crest Road. Vehicular access to Bragg Reservation is via North Crest Road that forms the property's western boundary, or via the original alignment of Crest Road (now called Old Crest Road) which bisects the reservation. During the 1960's, the original alignment of the road was rerouted along the northwest boundary (North Crest Road) when a new bridge was constructed just beyond the reservation. Bragg Reservation is significant for its association with the Civil War Battles of Chattanooga, and particularly the Battle of Missionary Ridge on November 25, 1963. The reservation marks the site of Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s headquarters during the battle. It also represents the commemoration of those events through the establishment of the first national military park. The site was acquired for the park in 1893, and subsequent alterations during the Park Commission Era included the construction of an observation tower (1895), building of the Illinois monument (1899), addition of a decorative metallic fence, and the erection of monuments, markers, and a mounted cannon. Some of these objects were later removed after the National Park Service (NPS) took over the property in 1933, reflecting yet another era in park development at the site. More recent changes include a flagstone interpretive plaza, built during the 1970s, and removal of vegetation to restore views. Located east of the reservation is a small parking area for approximately 10 cars. This parking area was constructed within the past 20 years, dramatically reconfiguring the grade of both the commemorative and battle-era landscapes. There is no defined pedestrian circulation system aside from a concrete sidewalk that runs along the original road alignment and around the Illinois Monument, located at the high point of the site and honoring the Illinois troops who fought in the battle. Associated tablets and cannon are clustered with reference to events of the battle on the crest of the ridge near the monument. Tablets are also located on the eastern edge of the reservation along School Street. To the south and east, the reservation is bounded by streets and suburban homes; a retaining wall bounds the reservation on the west; and a chain link fence on the north. The vegetation on the reservation consists of open mowed grass panels east and west of Old Crest Road, a massing of hardwood trees along the western edge of the property, and scattered hardwoods along School Street on the eastern edge of the reservation. The Park Commission maintained the summit as open space, and probably kept the slopes of the reservation cleared of dense understory in order to preserve views out over the ridge. Vegetation was released at an unknown date, obscuring any views that may have been present historically. In recent years, the understory was cleared along the western and northern edge of the property. Views towards the interstate highway to the west are buffered by off-site vegetation, but views north towards Chattanooga, Orchard Knob and Missionary Ridge are presently unobstructed. The Master Plan map depicts a vegetation density that is somewhat more wooded on the eastern edge of the reservation than currently exists, although the vegetation along the western edge of the reservation is similar in density to the 1941 master plan.

Bragg Reservation: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, National Park Service

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