Lookout Valley, in the shadow of Lookout Mountain, is resplendent with historic sites beckoning local residents to search out their stories. None are more steeped in history than Kelly’s Ferry. Kelly’s Ferry and Kelly’s Ferry Road played an important role in local transportation history, have a strong connection with Cherokee history, especially during the Trail of Tears, and were the site of military events during the Battles for Chattanooga during the U. S. Civil War, 1863-1864.
According to the approved National Register of Historic Places application, the road and the adjacent cemetery are the oldest historic resources associated with the rural community, one of the first white settlements along the Tennessee River in Marion County. Located along the western portion of the Tennessee River Gorge, the community developed after the construction of the Federal Road, 1835. Around the same time, Col. John Kelly [1779-1845] built the ferry on a calmer section of the Tennessee River, just downstream from “the suck,” a treacherous section of the shallows and rapids first noted by Col. John Donelson during the flatboat expedition to Fort Nashborough during the winter of 1780.
Kelly, born in Greenbriar County, Va., had moved to Bledsoe County in 1808 and had served in the Tennessee General Assembly from 1817-1819, voting to approve Hamilton County’s charter in 1819. Prior to opening his ferry, he had been “instrumental in building a turnpike road to Ross’s Landing, the first bridge over the Sequatchie River and the Nashville-Chattanooga turnpike.” [Biographical Directory of the Tennessee General Assembly, 1796-1861] Kelly served as a captain during the War of 1812, leaving researchers to wonder about the “honorary designation” as colonel.
Settlers poured into the region when gold was discovered in Georgia, increasing the pressure on local governments to provide more land for the new residents and precipitating legal and political actions against the Cherokee people living in the region. Prior to the removal, Kelly’s Ferry had served as the western boundary of the Cherokee lands and served as an important link between the U. S. settlements to the west and the Cherokee settlements in the east. (Tennessee had been settled from east to west, originally across the northern half of the state in the east due to the Cherokee and Creeks settlements along the southeastern border.) When Georgia intensified its push to “remove” the Cherokee people, Chief Justice John Marshall of the U. S. Supreme Court, writing the majority opinion, ruled that the Cherokee could not be forced to relinquish control of their lands. However, President Andrew Jackson refused to enforce the ruling, instead bowing to the concept of state sovereignty.
Preparation for the removal began in March 1838 when Gen. Winfield Scott directed that the Cherokee be “moved” into temporary forts at 27 military posts in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. After several weeks in the temporary camps, the Cherokee were marched to emigration depots for the journey westward. Three detachments of about 2,660 Cherokee are known to have crossed at Kelly’s Ferry or camped at the site, accompanied by the U. S. Army guards. Colonel Kelly, still operating the Ferry, witnessed the removal.
Twenty-five years later, Kelly’s Ferry would again gain national prominence as Chattanooga became the “Gateway to the South” during the U.S. Civil War. The Tennessee River, a major access point to Chattanooga, was narrow and extremely rapid once it passed Williams Island, northwest of the city. The long and narrow gorge between Raccoon Mountain to the south and Walden’s Ridge to the north widened and slowed near Kelly’s Ferry, increasing its strategic value. Military records indicate that in January 1863, Maj. James Nocquet, the chief engineer for the Confederate Army of Tennessee, identified Kelly’s Ferry as the “most likely approach for an enemy attack” against Chattanooga.
By July 1863, Hardee’s Corps of the Army of Tennessee, CSA, arrived at Kelly’s Ferry, crossed the Tennessee on a pontoon bridge and then, after crossing, took up the bridge. Later in the autumn, Gen. Thomas C. Hindman, CSA, informed his commanding officer Gen. Braxton Bragg that the artillery and Texas cavalry posted at Kelly’s Ferry could hold the strategic location, although he did increase the forces by adding 60 Alabama infantrymen.
Union forces also identified Kelly’s Ferry as an important target, and their records note that upon mounting several scouting missions, leaders realized that the “Confederates did not maintain a constant presence at the Ferry.” Colonel John T. Wilder, in his report of September 6, 1863, wrote that “there is an absence of any Southerners at Kelly’s Ferry,” but the following day’s scouting report recorded more than 300-400 Confederate horsemen near the site.
On October 1, Union forces led by Lt. Col. James B. Cahill, commander of the 16th Illinois Infantry, easily seized the Kelly’s Ferry and secured the site while other Union troops captured first Brown’s Ferry and then all of Lookout Valley. The “Cracker Line” opened, allowing the supply of desperately needed rations to the besieged Union soldiers in Chattanooga. By the end of November, following the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, Confederate forces had withdrawn and Chattanooga was secured as a Union stronghold. General U. S. Grant, headquartered in Chattanooga, would send Gen. William T. Sherman and his forces southward to divide the Deep South, hastening the end of the war.
One lovely spring afternoon, drive the sections of Kelly’s Ferry Road and consider the importance of the Tennessee River and Kelly’s Ferry in local history. Visit the Kelly’s Ferry Cemetery where many of the early settlers, including John Kelly, are buried. Walking through history can be an interesting family adventure.
by Linda Mines
Linda Moss Mines is the Chattanooga and Hamilton County Historian, Regent, Chief John Ross Chapter, NSDAR and an active member of the Chattanooga Civil War Roundtable.
According to the approved National Register of Historic Places application, the road and the adjacent cemetery are the oldest historic resources associated with the rural community, one of the first white settlements along the Tennessee River in Marion County. Located along the western portion of the Tennessee River Gorge, the community developed after the construction of the Federal Road, 1835. Around the same time, Col. John Kelly [1779-1845] built the ferry on a calmer section of the Tennessee River, just downstream from “the suck,” a treacherous section of the shallows and rapids first noted by Col. John Donelson during the flatboat expedition to Fort Nashborough during the winter of 1780.
Kelly, born in Greenbriar County, Va., had moved to Bledsoe County in 1808 and had served in the Tennessee General Assembly from 1817-1819, voting to approve Hamilton County’s charter in 1819. Prior to opening his ferry, he had been “instrumental in building a turnpike road to Ross’s Landing, the first bridge over the Sequatchie River and the Nashville-Chattanooga turnpike.” [Biographical Directory of the Tennessee General Assembly, 1796-1861] Kelly served as a captain during the War of 1812, leaving researchers to wonder about the “honorary designation” as colonel.
Settlers poured into the region when gold was discovered in Georgia, increasing the pressure on local governments to provide more land for the new residents and precipitating legal and political actions against the Cherokee people living in the region. Prior to the removal, Kelly’s Ferry had served as the western boundary of the Cherokee lands and served as an important link between the U. S. settlements to the west and the Cherokee settlements in the east. (Tennessee had been settled from east to west, originally across the northern half of the state in the east due to the Cherokee and Creeks settlements along the southeastern border.) When Georgia intensified its push to “remove” the Cherokee people, Chief Justice John Marshall of the U. S. Supreme Court, writing the majority opinion, ruled that the Cherokee could not be forced to relinquish control of their lands. However, President Andrew Jackson refused to enforce the ruling, instead bowing to the concept of state sovereignty.
Preparation for the removal began in March 1838 when Gen. Winfield Scott directed that the Cherokee be “moved” into temporary forts at 27 military posts in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. After several weeks in the temporary camps, the Cherokee were marched to emigration depots for the journey westward. Three detachments of about 2,660 Cherokee are known to have crossed at Kelly’s Ferry or camped at the site, accompanied by the U. S. Army guards. Colonel Kelly, still operating the Ferry, witnessed the removal.
Twenty-five years later, Kelly’s Ferry would again gain national prominence as Chattanooga became the “Gateway to the South” during the U.S. Civil War. The Tennessee River, a major access point to Chattanooga, was narrow and extremely rapid once it passed Williams Island, northwest of the city. The long and narrow gorge between Raccoon Mountain to the south and Walden’s Ridge to the north widened and slowed near Kelly’s Ferry, increasing its strategic value. Military records indicate that in January 1863, Maj. James Nocquet, the chief engineer for the Confederate Army of Tennessee, identified Kelly’s Ferry as the “most likely approach for an enemy attack” against Chattanooga.
By July 1863, Hardee’s Corps of the Army of Tennessee, CSA, arrived at Kelly’s Ferry, crossed the Tennessee on a pontoon bridge and then, after crossing, took up the bridge. Later in the autumn, Gen. Thomas C. Hindman, CSA, informed his commanding officer Gen. Braxton Bragg that the artillery and Texas cavalry posted at Kelly’s Ferry could hold the strategic location, although he did increase the forces by adding 60 Alabama infantrymen.
Union forces also identified Kelly’s Ferry as an important target, and their records note that upon mounting several scouting missions, leaders realized that the “Confederates did not maintain a constant presence at the Ferry.” Colonel John T. Wilder, in his report of September 6, 1863, wrote that “there is an absence of any Southerners at Kelly’s Ferry,” but the following day’s scouting report recorded more than 300-400 Confederate horsemen near the site.
On October 1, Union forces led by Lt. Col. James B. Cahill, commander of the 16th Illinois Infantry, easily seized the Kelly’s Ferry and secured the site while other Union troops captured first Brown’s Ferry and then all of Lookout Valley. The “Cracker Line” opened, allowing the supply of desperately needed rations to the besieged Union soldiers in Chattanooga. By the end of November, following the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, Confederate forces had withdrawn and Chattanooga was secured as a Union stronghold. General U. S. Grant, headquartered in Chattanooga, would send Gen. William T. Sherman and his forces southward to divide the Deep South, hastening the end of the war.
One lovely spring afternoon, drive the sections of Kelly’s Ferry Road and consider the importance of the Tennessee River and Kelly’s Ferry in local history. Visit the Kelly’s Ferry Cemetery where many of the early settlers, including John Kelly, are buried. Walking through history can be an interesting family adventure.
by Linda Mines
Linda Moss Mines is the Chattanooga and Hamilton County Historian, Regent, Chief John Ross Chapter, NSDAR and an active member of the Chattanooga Civil War Roundtable.
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