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SOURCE: National Archives
Click image to view full size.
SOURCE: National Archives
Likely taken in the first months of Union occupation, this view up Market Street reveals a rather depressing scene. Large boulders jut from the earth. A man sits on a rock , head down, as if to be pondering his unfortunate venue. Perhaps he could pick up a nice souvenir at the DEPOT SHOPS across the street.
The large brick structure on the left is passenger and freight facilities of Chattanooga’s first railroad - the Western and Atlantic, built in 1851. 14-years earlier, in 1837, a stake marking the founding of "Terminus" (or Zero Mile Post) of the Western and Atlantic Railroad was driven into the ground over a hundred miles south in Georgia. The settlement that quickly grew around that point was eventually renamed Atlanta.
Chattanooga presents a wide scene of ruin.--The fencing is all destroyed; every shade tree and ornamental shrub has been hewn down or trampled in the mire many of the best buildings have been burned or torn to pieces. The pews of the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches have been cut to pieces, and perhaps of all the other churches. The glass in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church has all been broken.
Approximate locations of the Union Depot (left) and W&A Freight Depot (right). The gentle curves of streets to the south of these locations follow former railroad tracks and the buildings that were built around them as the city grew.
