Crawfish Spring
Crawfish Spring | |
---|---|
Location | Walker County, Georgia |
Coordinates | 34°52′13″N 85°17′33″W / 34.87028°N 85.29250°W |
Primary outflows | Blue Hole / Chickamauga Creek[1] |
Catchment area | Missionary Ridge |
Basin countries | United States |
Surface elevation | 718 ft (219 m) |
Crawfish Spring is a body of water in Walker County, Georgia, on the east side of Cove Road in Chickamauga.[2][3] The spring was named for Chief Crawfish of the Cherokee.[4]
History
Native Americans
After the period of the Mississippian mound builders, the area around Crawfish Spring passed into control of the Cherokee. Under pressure from the encroachment of white settlers, around 1800, the Cherokee nation divided into eight districts, one of which was the Chickamauga District, which included Crawfish Spring.[5] According to Frederick Ufford, director of the Walker County Regional Heritage Museum and Civil War Center in Chickamauga, "Any place where there are large springs, generally there were populations of American Indians because of the water source".[5] The Cherokee constructed their courthouse for the Chickamuaga District on a spot adjacent to Crawfish Spring.[5]
White settlement
Shortly after the forced removal of the Cherokee from their ancestral lands in Georgia, in 1840 white settler James Gordon built a 2,500-acre (10 km2) plantation and constructed a two-story brick house, now known as the Gordon-Lee Mansion, adjacent to Crawfish Spring.[6][7][8] The house was built on the site of the old Cherokee courthouse.[5]
Civil War
With the outbreak of the
On September 16, 1863, two days preceding the
Twenty-six years after the Battle of Chickamauga, on September 20, 1889, General Rosecrans returned to Crawfish Spring, where he was greeted by Confederate Major General
Water supply and recreational area
Until 1888, the area and post office of Chickamauga was known as Crawfish Spring. The spring was the primary water supply for settlers and for the city itself. When the city converted to another water source, Crawfish Spring became a recreational area.[4][7]
Geology
Crawfish Spring is estimated to flow at a rate of approximately 14 million US gallons per day (610,000 L/ks), emanating from the base of a small
References
- ^ a b c Samuel Washington McCallie (1908). A Preliminary Report on the Underground Waters of Georgia. Franklin-Turner Company. p. 264.
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Crawfish Spring
- ^ a b c d e f Jordan Mooney (March 21, 2019). "Historic Walker County: Crawfish Spring". Rome News-Tribune. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
- ^ a b "Walker County". Calhoun Times. September 1, 2004. p. 108. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e Jenni Frankenberg Veal (September 22, 2013). "Sacred ground: History lives on at Crawfish Springs in Chickamauga, Ga". NoogaToday / Chattanooga Today. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
- ^ Tim Alan Garrison (Portland State University) (July 23, 2018). "Chreokee Removal". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
- ^ a b c "History of Chickamauga - Crawfish Spring". City of Chickamauga. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
- ^ a b "Crawfish Spring - Chickamauga Campaign Heritage Trail". ChickamaugaCampaign.org. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
- ^ Benjamin T. Smith (1963). Private Smith's Journal: Recollections of the Late War. R. R. Donnelley. p. 90.