Chattanooga: Steamboat opened 'Cracker Line' to feed hungry Union troops. Students think they may have found its wreckage

Chattanooga reportedly was made with parts from other vessels

On either side of dark area are wood framing and planks. Sonar image
provided by UTC may show part of paddlewheel (circular area on top right) 

An anthropology professor and his students believe they may have found the wreckage of a steamboat that was a crucial part of the Union’s “Cracker Line,” which provided supplies and food to famished troops near Chattanooga, Tenn., in fall 1863.

Morgan Smith, an assistant anthropology professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and his students used sonar to scour the bottom of the Tennessee River near downtown, according to a press release from the school.

The team believe images it captured are of the Chattanooga, a homemade craft celebrated for its relief of Federal troops who were about to go on the offensive against Confederate forces that had vanquished them weeks earlier at Chickamauga

“It had a big role in American history and it is unrecorded as far as archaeological sites go,” Smith told students as they set out in a pontoon boat in mid-April. Smith believes a circular shape noted in the sonar may be part of the USS Chattanooga’s paddlewheel, according to the release.

UTC says the next step is to compare the sonar imagery with archival data to get an idea of the length and width of the boat. Construction techniques used during the Civil War will be examined to see if the wreck matches.

Officials say the boat sat on the northern side of the river after the war, across from what is now the Tennessee Aquarium and Riverfront. Eventually, it fell apart and sank.

Smith likens the Chattanooga to a "Frankenstein" -- made from parts scavenged from other ships, according to UTC.

When Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant arrived in October 1863, he quickly determined the Army of the Cumberland, which was besieged by the enemy, needed a new supply route.

His forces seized Brown’s Ferry at Moccasin Point, a spot that could be reached by Federal supply boats, which brought food, uniforms and reinforcements. The USS Chattanooga is said to be the first steamboat built by the Federals on the upper Tennessee River, at Bridgeport. It was put together in less than a month.

Assistant quartermaster William Le Duc, who commanded the improvised and flat-bottom USS Chattanooga, later wrote about a successful run down the river in late October:

USS Chattanooga (Wikipedia)

“And in due time we tied the steamboat and barges safely to shore, with 40,000 rations and 39,000 pounds of forage, within five miles of General Hooker's men, who had half a breakfast ration left in haversacks; and within eight or ten miles of Chattanooga, where four cakes of hard bread and a quarter pound of pork made a three days' ration. In Chattanooga there were but four boxes of hard bread left in the commissary warehouses on the morning of the 30th [October].

"About midnight I started an orderly to report to General Hooker the safe arrival of the rations. The orderly returned about sunrise, and reported that the news went through the camps faster than his horse, and the soldiers were jubilant, and cheering "The Cracker line open. Full rations, boys! Three cheers for the Cracker line," as if we had won another victory; and we had.”

A 2014 post in Emerging Civil War by author Frank Varney challenges what he calls the myth of the Cracker Line. He argues descriptions of starving Union troops were exaggerated and that it was in Grant’s interest to depict conditions under deposed Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans as being particularly bad.

Professor Morgan Smith (right) with students on the site (UTC)

Grant aims to help safeguard earthworks built during Sherman's push on Atlanta

A volunteer civic association in suburban Atlanta has received a $75,000 National Park Service grant to develop a preservation plan for Confederate and Federal earthworks dug during the 1864 Atlanta Campaign.

The grant to the Mableton Improvement Coalition (MIC), awarded in July, comes at a vital time.

A previous study showed "that the overall historic integrity of the Chattahoochee River Line battlefield has been adversely affected by modern construction and development."

The plan to be developed by a consultant will cover a relatively small portion of the battlefield -- two tracts totaling 127 acres, owned by Cobb County, near the Chattahoochee River and Nickajack Creek. The county supports preservation of the tracts.

The Chattahoochee was the last natural obstacle for Union troops moving on Atlanta.

In a recent newsletter, the MIC said it wants to safeguard the fortifications and educate the public.

“It is our goal to make the battlefield available and accessible to the public for their enjoyment and their education about the historical resource there," MIC Vice President Robin Meyer told the Picket this week.

Former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, a mative of Mableton, provided $5,000 for the project -- giving the coalition $80,000 to work with.

The previous NPS-funded study included an archaeological survey and GIS mapping.

Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston (photo, above) ordered a series of defenses north of the Chattahoochee River to be built largely by slaves.

Union Maj. Gen William T. Sherman, using his familiar flanking strategy, crossed the river elsewhere, forcing Confederates to retreat to Atlanta.

Federal and Confederate forces faced off in earthworks and redans along the River Line for nearly a week in early July 1864 before the withdrawal.

Sherman called a unique fortification on the River Line “one of the strongest pieces of field fortifications I ever saw.”

The timber and earthen redoubts – known as Shoupades -- were built manned for a brief period early in July 1864.

The arrowhead shape of the forts (model by Bill Scaife) allowed defenders to shoot in several directions. Connecting them was an infantry trench. Attackers could be fired on from several angles.

Nine Shoupades have survived along the line, much of which is now private property.

The previous study said that while the River Line no longer exists as a continuous entity, identification and development of “pocket parks” could give visitors a sense of the size and scale of the defensive line.

The 127 acres currently are "wide open to trespass," said Meyer, adding a fire damaged a couple acres.

While the economic slowdown eased preservation pressure somewhat, growth in the area continues. The preservation plan, once submitted in 2014, will need support to make it reality.

“In the end it all comes down to money," said Meyer. "We are in an age when governments are trying to close parks and we are trying to open one.”

• Archaeological inventory of Chattahoochee River Line
• Mableton Improvement Coalition
• The Riverline Historic Area