The Iowa Reservation is the southernmost National Park Service Military Reservation on Missionary Ridge. The reservations are small plots carved out to denote important points along the ridge.
The main focal point of the Iowa Reservation is the 72-foot Iowa Monument, commemorating the Iowans who fought at the Battles of Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and Ringgold, Georgia. The units commemorated are the 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th, 17th, 25th, 26th, 30th and 31st Infantry Regiments and the 1st Artillery Battery. The monument was dedicated on November 20, 1906.
The reservation also contains a small monument and markers (including one on the opposite side of West Crest Road) describing the events of November 25, 1863. General Joseph Hooker's Union army, which had captured Lookout Mountain the previous day, marched across the Tennessee Valley to attack the southern end of Missionary Ridge. They were delayed crossing Chattanooga Creek and had little effect on the overall battle.There is also a marker denoting the Rossville Gap's position on the Chickamauga Campaign Heritage Trail, describing the events of September 21, 1863, the day after the Battle of Chickamauga. The Confederates made a feeble, unsuccessful attempt to keep the Union army from retreating into Chattanooga.
The reservation is located at the western opening of the Rossville Gap through Missionary Ridge, in Rossville, Georgia, at the intersection of Chickamauga Avenue and West Crest Road. Unlike some of the other reservations, there are actually a couple of parking spaces and benches.
In researching this post, I ran across this photo from the Library of Congress of the Iowa Monument taken in 1907, shortly after the monument's dedication, for your viewing pleasure.
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