Stretching across the frontier from the Chattahoochee River to the Moccasin Bend of the Tennessee River, the Western and Atlantic Railroad would be the first to connect the coastal United States with territory deep inside our nation. Rossville Landing, founded by John Ross in 1815 was designated the end of the railroad in 1837. The following year settlers officially renamed the city to Chattanooga, after the Creek Indian word for North Chattanooga .

In 1860 population of Chattanooga reached 2,000. Although still a small town, Abraham Lincoln understood the importance of this growing rail center to the Southern Cause. Three times the Union Army would fight for this land. In 1862, General Kirby Smith[CSA] defended the city from forces under the command of Ormsby Mitchel[USA]. Mitchel's first attempt to disrupt the city on April 12, 1862 featured the theft of the W&ARR's General in an episode of American history now called  The Great Locomotive Chase.

On June 7-8, 1862, a small force of Union troops advanced and fired upon Confederate forces along the Tennessee River and atop Cameron Hill. Then, from August until November, 1863, two powerful armies battled in the vicinity of the city in what many historians believe was the beginning of the end for the Confederacy. General William Rosecrans sent forces northwest of the city as a diversionary tactic aimed to keep General Braxton Bragg from realizing that the Union Army was moving through the rugged mountain passes south of the city. On September 8^th, Bragg learned of the Union advances to the south and withdrew, allowing Federal forces to occupy the city without a shot.