Longstreet Highroad Guide to the North Georgia Mountains The
Chickamauga Valley lies between the Cumberland Plateau's Lookout
Mountain to the west and the Armuchee Ridges to the east. Where
it divides the "thumb" of Pigeon Mountain from Lookout Mountain
is the famed McLemore Cove. The Chickamauga Valley forms a
natural passageway between the high ridges on either side.
Because it gives access to both Chattanooga and the Tennessee
River and contains a few low ridges, it was the site of much
movement and conflict during the Civil War. The Chickamauga
Valley is not just one valley but a series of northeast-
southwest trending valleys with limestone floors and ridges some
200 to 300 feet high, capped with more weather-resistant rock.
Down through these valleys and across the ridges between
Chattanooga and Atlanta, Union army forces under General William
Sherman pursued Confederate troops during the fighting which led
to the Battle of Atlanta near the end of the Civil War. Visitors
to the military parks at Chickama