rds, our enthusiasm somewhat abated by the
fatigue, but finally we reached the summit. A sentinel with white gloves
and glistening brass, a "true regular" demanded to see our pass. We were
now two miles or more from the point which overlooks the town. Here was
quite a town called Summer Town with a large tavern, stables, etc.
Evidently this was once a great pleasure resort in the summer season for
the aristocracy. Here were also extensive hospital buildings erected by
the U. S., accommodating I should judge, over 5,000 sick. Also the camp
of the Regular Brigade quartered here for over a year.

But time was precious and we pushed on toward the west side of the
mountain which is about a mile and a half across, through a heavy growth
of timber with a beautiful variety of wild flowers. Before noon we stood
on the grounds where Hooker and his men won immortal fame in November,
1863. Directly beneath us we could see the remains of the camp in
Lookout Valley. On the further side of the valley was a train of cars
leaving Sequatchie Station, looking very diminutive like a child's
plaything. On the parapet we walked around the craggy points towards the
Point, passing several heavy lines of rebel earthworks. 'Tis astounding
how men could ever fight on such precipitous rocks. By a most lovely
spring gushing over the very brink we seated ourselves in the refreshing
shade of a sycamore, and ate our dinner with keen relish.

[Sidenote: 1865 Lookout]

Now we stood on the veritable point, 1600 feet above high water mark of
the Tennessee, 200 feet straight down the rocks. The scene from this
place was the grandest I have ever seen, and may be the most extensive I
may ever see again. Chattanooga looked very regular and flat, Mission
Ridge dwindled down to an apparent flat, and miles beyond it was but one
flat ocean of green timber. Off to the east the eye could distinguish
four distinct ranges of mountains beyond the Mission Ridge, the last
being the obscure Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, undoubtedly sixty
miles distant. To the northeast the view was much further, nothing to
intercept the vision as far as the naked eye could reach. We could look
over into Western Virginia and East Tennessee, and imagine all kinds of
things of the human beings scattered along. To the west and north the
eye had not as wide a range, the Cumberland Mountains being as high, if
not higher, but could easily see Alabama in that way. Five different
states of