American Civil War Battlefields

Lookout Mountain, TN

Cravens House

Photo and text courtesy of LCWRT Member Charlie Moore

Today Robert Cravens is best known for the house that bears his name on a small outcrop of level land about half-way up Lookout Mountain, south of Chattanooga.  Cravens was a wealthy iron manufacturer whose business thrived with the coming of the railroad to this area. During the siege of Chattanooga, the Cravens family fled to their property in Georgia. The Confederate Army then used the home as a headquarters and encampment.  Because it was visible from Moccasin Bend across the Tennessee River, Union gunners used the home as a target when they fired at Confederates on the mountain.  On November 23, 1863, much of the fighting in the Battle of Lookout Mountain occurred on the Cravens’ property.  After the battle, Union forces used the home as a headquarters and an encampment for reporters.  It was during this time that the house was largely destroyed.  After the war the Cravens family returned to Lookout Mountain and rebuilt the house in 1866.  The house had a complete renovation in 1956 and is today under the auspices of the National Park Service.