Chattanooga National Cemetery

This is 120 acre's of cemetery which was established in December 1863 as a military cemetery Chattanooga which is the largest National Cemetery of the State of Tennessee Chattanooga is considered to be one of the few National Cemeteries if not the only one. Located at 1200 Bailey Ave., Chattanooga, TN 37404.

On December 25, 1863 Maj. Gen. George H Thomas known as "The Rock of Chickamauga"  issued General orders Number 296 creating a National Cemetery in commemoration of the Battles of Chattanooga November 23 through the 27th 1863 Gen. Thomas selected the cemetery site during the assault of his troops that carried Missionary Ridge and brought the campaign to an end. The land was originally appropriated but later purchased from local residents. 

Selected was approximately 75 acres of round hill rising with a uniform slope to a height of 100 feet. It faced Missionary Ridge on one side and Look Out Mountain on the other. Gen. Grant established headquarters on the summit of the hill. By 1870 more than 12,800 people were buried 8,685 known 4,189 unknown. The dead included men who fell at the Battles of Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and Look Out Mountain. There were also a number of internment from the surrounding areas including Athens and Charleston location's along the line of Gen. Sherman's march to Atlanta. A large number of men 1,798 remains who died at the Battle of Chickamauga unknowns where buried. 

In addition to Civil War veterans there are 78 German prisoners of war buried here. After World War I the Germans wanted their POWs back but instead the 23 remains were left at the national cemetery. The German government assumed the cost of disinterment and transportation to Chattanooga and erected a monument to honor the rate of the POWs. Chattanooga National Cemetery was listed in the national register of historical places in 1996.

Also here at the cemetery is the Andrew Raiders Monument erected by the state of Ohio in 1890 and is among the most unique memorials of the cemetery. The stone is topped with a bronze replica of The General from the Civil War era. The famous locomotive's great chase in 1862, the great locomotive chase with the Andrew's raid was a military raid that occurred April 12, 1862 in northern Georgia during the American Civil War. Volunteers from the Union Army led by civilian Scott James J Andrews commanded The General train and took it northward towards Chattanooga Tennessee doing as much damage as possible to the Western and Atlantic railroad line from Atlanta to Chattanooga as they went they were pursued by Confederate forces at first on foot and later on a succession of locomotives because the Andrew and his Union volunteers had cut the telegraph wires the Confederates could not send warnings ahead to forces along the railway.

Sadly Confederates captured the Raiders and executed some quickly as spies. Some of the Andrews Raiders were the first to be awarded the Medal of Honor by the US Congress for their actions.

 The pursuit of Andrews' Raiders was featured in the Buster Keaton silent film comedy The General.

The Walt Disney movie The Great Locomotive Chase also was based on this incident.