Sherman's March

There never will be anything more interesting in America than that Civil War never. -Gertrude Stein CYCLING SHERMAN’S MARCH will be 60 soon. I’ve been touring but understood. since I was 16. And yet if you sur- One of the finest ways to do this is to fol- prised me with the question “What’s low the historic path of U.S. Army General your single sweetest in-the-saddle William Tecumseh Sherman, the brilliant Imemory?” I could answer without hesita- and brutal Civil War hero who helped lead tion. It was a chilly, quiet Sunday morn- the Union to victory over the Confederacy. ing back in the spring of 1984, riding Riding with Sherman across the South Chattanooga’s Missionary Ridge amidst is like pedaling a four-part play — first, the fragrances of wood smoke and hon- the horrible battles around Chattanooga, eysuckle. Somebody’s going to bottle that Tennessee; next, the tough-to-understand someday and make a fortune. series of battles and flanking movements Of course it wasn’t just that the place made on the road to Atlanta, the siege of smelled great, or that it was the first-hour- that city, and its ultimate capture; third, of-a-tour time in lovely weather and a the famed “March to the Sea” from Atlanta place far from home. No, I think instead to Savannah; and finally that war-ending it was the emotional mix of natural beauty piece I’ve not yet pedaled but plan to soon (the gorgeous lushness of the South, espe- — Sherman’s smash-up, war-ending route cially if encountered after a winter up north through the Carolinas and Virginia north), of its sad pull-at-the-heartstrings to Washington, DC. Ride this route with history (evidence of “the War of Northern your eyes and ears open, and with some of Aggression” is everywhere down there, the books I suggest in your bags, and you’ll something I’d learned when living for a know the final, terrible 18 months of the year in Georgia during my army days), Civil War as do relatively few Americans. and my eager anticipation of talking with And just as important, you’ll understand scores of Southerners during the upcom- today’s South. ing ride to Atlanta and Savannah. As my It was to Chattanooga that the routed observant, philosophy-major riding buddy Union Army retreated after its defeat Daryl Schueller remarked near the end of at nearby Chickamauga in September of that tour, “It ain’t only their voices that 1863, the year of major Northern victo- are different.” ries at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. (We’ll One can have a satisfying tour in many be pedaling Chickamauga — that now- sections of our nation by simply looking beautiful, then-horrendous killing field — at the countryside over the handlebars, shortly, but starting in Chattanooga keeps day after day. Like our very best friends, you from having to ride the urban miles however, the South must not only be seen twice.) Casualties on both sides were mas- History turned to stone. A cyclist walks through Madison Square in Savannah, Georgia, the former site of General Sherman’s headquarters. Story and photos by Dennis Coello sive — 16,000 dead and wounded Union century-old Walnut Street Bridge that troops, 18,000 Confederate losses — and was slated for destruction but saved by a 7^XnXa^c\Idjgh had General Braxton Bragg, the South’s citizens group that raised the money for commanding officer, been more aggressive restoration. Now that the cars are gone, in the days thereafter (as some of his junior people can enjoy the longest pedestrian [dgHZc^dgh*% officers suggested) the Union troops likely bridge in the world. would have had to retreat farther north Missionary Ridge and Lookout into middle Tennessee. Mountain in the distance both loom into Instead, the Union forces had time view as you ride near the river. With the to fortify their positions, and President right maps or just some friendly advice Lincoln sent in General Grant to save the from the locals, you can work your way up town (vital for its railroad and its posi- to Missionary Ridge from downtown and tion on the Tennessee River) and plan pedal its length past gun emplacements an attack up and over the lofty heights of and explanatory historic markers. You’ll Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. be cresting the tough geography that the >C8 Grant in turn brought in his erratic, cigar- Union troops traversed under awful fire p o k e s n s s o chewing, red-haired friend Sherman, about and riding the narrow ridge that Rebel o l d f o l k whom one war correspondent wrote: “He troops were defending. I wish you a lovely walked, talked or laughed all over. He morning of little traffic and lots of bird- www.seniorcycling.com perspired thought at every pore … with song, for mother nature and the pleasure Erie Canal - C&O Canal a mood that shifted like a barometer in a of cycling is required to lift the spirits Katy Trail - Lake Champlain tropic sea.” after thinking about so much death. One Florida Keys - Florida Trails Another reporter telegraphed to his edi- can choose not to think about the Civil Amish Country - Allegheny Passage tors, “All his features express determina- War, I suppose, though that’s tough to do [email protected] tion … the concentrated quintessence of in Dixie. And again, just as with friends, 540-668-6307 Yankeedom … He believes in hard war.” there’s no understanding a people if you What he and Grant both believed was don’t know their history. that the road to victory lay in the con- Okay, time to drop down from ridge stant application of the North’s larger height to cross Chattanooga Creek and and better-supplied military against all the begin your climb up Lookout Mountain. South’s forces, all of the time. That, and The creek is at the city’s elevation — 685 total war — whatever was required to stop feet; the top of Lookout Mountain, where the flow of war material from the Deep Under the parapet. A cyclist grabs a musket from her pannier atop Lookout Mountain in Tennessee. you are headed (as were the attacking South to its armies in the field. Thus the Union troops in November of 1863 in successful late-November outbreak from hub and manufacturing base of the entire three different occasions in the past year; what has been termed the “Battle Above Chattanooga south into Georgia would Confederacy. it’s a far different place for us cyclists than the Clouds”), is a whopping 2,393 feet. lead the following spring (once dirt roads But we’re getting too far ahead in the it was back in 1984. There is a 13-mile- Don’t scoff at these elevations, you higher- dried sufficiently to support a 100,000-man story, for first comes some enjoyable riding long Tennessee Riverwalk to ride, with living Westerners. Pumping full panniers army and cavalry and some 254 cannons) in Chattanooga, a place Bicycling magazine inventive and fun-to-negotiate links to the up 1,700 feet of sometimes-steep terrain to the Atlanta Campaign. Atlanta, by named as one of its top 21 cycling cities. huge art museum and nearby downtown isn’t a piece of cake. Well, unless you com- that point in the war, was the major rail I’ve had the pleasure of riding there on streets, plus the option of crossing the pare it to getting up here on foot through a hail of rifle and cannon fire. Know before you go that there are actually a number of routes up Lookout Mountain. I’ve thus far been up three paved approaches plus one great mountain-bike climb (the Guild/Hardy Trail, which requires only a bit of pavement riding to reach Point Park at the northern tip and the national park’s small visitor center) and still I haven’t covered them all. Tourist traffic on the narrow, twisting two-lane scenic highway (past famed Ruby Falls) can be tough on summer days and on any weekend throughout the year, so if 12 a d v e n t u r e c y c l i s t j u n e 2008 adventurecycling . o r g a d v e n t u r e c y c l i s t j u n e 2008 adventurecycling . o r g 13 you’re a roadie-only hit it early. It’s a fast Designed to reduce run-off-road accidents, state bike route isn’t signed (except for strips but that the upcoming 2008 map and fun climb that offers fantastic views they unfortunately run us cyclists off the those two I’d spotted) — and won’t be — “… will indicate shoulder widths of four from the top, a host of loop rides along shoulder and onto the road when the because there is “… a new state bicycle feet and greater with the understanding the appropriately named West and East rumble strips stretch clear across the path map due out this summer which will that anything narrower than that would be Brow Roads and, just an hour’s ride to the we’d otherwise happily be on. Where the replace the 2002 map and cue sheets.” rendered unrideable if it has rumble strips south, Cloudland Canyon State Park. strips end a few inches from where the (Until then, the link to the pdf listed in on them.” I also received photos of the new Score a campsite there and you’ll sleep grass or dirt appears (at the far right side “Nuts & Bolts” section, still works.) bike-friendly rumble-strip design which, cool even in summer, marvel at the views of the shoulder) we at least can pedal that She also explained that the state does thankfully, covers a much smaller width of down-canyon when awake, and have a narrow space, though this is where debris not at present have location data on rumble highway shoulders.

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