Pat Cupples
Are the clouds blocking out the sun or shielding me from my enemies? That was the thought running through my mind as I ascended Lookout Mountain at Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park in Tennessee and Georgia. It was the same question military leaders would have asked 161 years ago before the Battle of Lookout Mountain. I would soon be exploring the battlefield, since converted into a park, in an attempt to better understand the conditions of the soldiers who battled over Chattanooga during the “Battle Above the Clouds”.
I expected the terrain, interpretative plaques, and weather conditions to provide me with a definite answer regarding the role of the clouds on the battlefield. I didn’t find the answer in those places, but I did find it in the faces drawn by an 11-year-old girl in the mud to mark the trail. She navigated the trail amidst the clouds in both the sunshine and the rain effortlessly – and would have finished the hike much faster if left to her own devices while us “grown men” pontificated on “important things” and tried to decipher maps. Her actions on this battlefield reflected the reality of military operations, whether it’s 1864 or 2024: the burden of cresting a hill to preserve our way of life is contingent on the will of a single young person to take one more step forward.
That day, we gathered in the rain ahead of Memorial Day to remember the individuals who gave their lives to preserve our way of life. It’s impossible to ascend Lookout Mountain without gaining an appreciation for the mental, physical, and emotional resilience present in each individual that had to scale that rock under fire decades ago. There is no better place to reckon with our complex past than America’s battlefields. The large New York Memorial in Point Park lists the combatants on both sides of the battle, acknowledging the immense loss of life all around. Preserving battlefields as parks provides us with spaces to remember and reconcile with our past, a deliberate effort undertaken by veterans who championed the power of conserving public lands as a means to heal and bring us together.
A plaque in the park’s visitors center immortalizes that sentiment.
“Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park was created by an 1890 act of Congress supported by veterans from both sides who recognized that preserving portions of the battlefields, commemorating the deeds of their comrades, and honoring the men who had fallen there would benefit the reunited nation. In addition to its historic and educational value, the National Military Park was created as part of the healing process for a nation that had been torn asunder by war.”
Oftentimes the narratives built around veterans bypass their humanity. The veterans who sought to cultivate a space for the public 160 years ago didn’t do so in order to aggrandize their own accomplishments, achieve some political goal, or polarize communities – they wanted to lead the healing process for the nation. We seek to do the same for our nation today in remembrance of those who couldn’t join us on the trail.
This experience changed my outlook on cloudy days both literally and metaphorically. Lookout Mountain was dubbed “The Battle Above the Clouds” due to the literal presence of clouds augmented by a heavy fog on the day of the battle. The clouds concealed the movement of Union forces and negated the Confederate forces’ strategic advantage of high ground - essential to securing a decisive victory for the United States. The victory at Lookout Mountain would herald the eventual defeat of the Confederacy. Today, we’re grateful for the selfless sacrifices of the individual soldiers who died on Lookout Mountain and the efforts of veterans to honor their memory by preserving the park.
This Memorial Day we ask you to join us in honoring the memory of the fallen by visiting a park, battlefield park or historic site to reflect upon the resilience of servicemembers and impact of war on communities across the globe. If you would like to learn more about how to preserve and protect places like Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Battlefield Park, check out www.sierraclub.org/military-outdoors.
