Illinois Monument at General Bragg's Headquarters. Missionary Ridge, Chattanooga, Tenn.
As Civil War Battles were fought all around Chattanooga, one of those battles was at Missionary Ridge. This monument signifies where Union troops from Illinois broke through Confederate lines. This tall monument is topped by a female figure and closer to the base are four statues of soldiers, one at each corner.
Just a couple months before this photo was taken in September 2011, the monument underwent a renovation to make it look good as new. The restorers, made up of masons, metal conservators and exhibit specialists cleaned the stone and polished and waxed the metal (so it's not that tarnished green color anymore.)
The location of this and other monuments is labelled as Bragg's Reservation. During the Civil War, Confederate General Braxton Bragg used this high location to build an observation platform so that he could get an overlook of the battles. Later after the war, the government built a semi-permanent Observation Platform here open to the public. There was a common post card view at the time looking down on the monument from the higher platform.
On a personal note, I first learned about that observation platform from my wife's grandmother, who lived in this area for many years. A few years back, I had shown her my photos of the area taken with my first camera. She recalled that when she was a child when the platform was deemed unsafe and closed to the public, and a few years later it was taken down. This photo was taken the day after her funeral.
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