Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park will host a variety of special programs to mark the 161st anniversary of the Battle of Chickamauga this weekend and next. All scheduled events are free to the public.
The actual Battle of Chickamauga took place on September 18, 19, and 20, in 1863 and was the second deadliest battle of the Civil War, behind Gettysburg. Interpretative Park Ranger Christopher Young said they will have ranger guided and living history tours beginning this weekend Sept. 14 and 15. Tour times vary.
“Every September we commemorate the battle of Chickamauga,” he said. “About 120,000 (soldiers) engaged and there were 34,000 casualties to include killed, wounded and missing.”
Of those 18,000 were confederate soldiers and 16,000 were Union soldiers, Young said, though he added they don’t do re-enactments to commemorate the occasion.
“Two reasons, one being safety,” Young explained. “We don’t want people firing at one another.
They also consider the area to be hallowed grounds. “And number two for memorialization, we don’t want people to pretend like they are dying at a place where it actually happened.”
On one of the tours this weekend, a park ranger will be portraying George Washington Snodgrass, at a primary tour spot within the park – Snodgrass Grass Hill, the site of the family’s former cabin.
Snodgrass Hill was the location of a horrific battle which forced the family to flee from their home. Their story is just one of many families having to run from the horrors of battle only to return to massive bloodshed and destruction.
Also, this weekend, just up the hill from Snodgrass, is where they’ll be firing a reproduction Civil War era canon.
“Volunteers and staff from the park will be dressed out as Union soldiers firing that canon, and they’ll tell the story about what happened at that specific location,” Young said. There are different tours suited to fit everyone’s needs and abilities.
Young said park historian Jim Ogden offers an in-depth tour. “Those are a little bit more intensive,” Young said. “You may walk several miles with Jim, and it may be a two-hour tour. Most of the other ranger-led tours are not as rigorous as those.”
They even offer a caravan tour. “If you show up at 2 p.m. you can follow a park ranger in your own car and you get out at three different stops on the battlefield,” he said. “There is minimal walking involved with that.”
They have more programs planned at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on September 18, 19 and 20th. “Since those are the actual days of the anniversary of the battle,” Young said.
He said the 11 a.m. tours involve minimal walking. The 2 p.m. tours are caravan tours. On September 21 and 22 they will have a living history group at the battlefield portraying the 96th Illinois Infantry near Snodgrass Hill.
Last year the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park had over 1 million visitors.
Plans are in the works for more anniversary tours for the battles that took place in November 1863 at Lookout Mountain, Orchard Knob, Missionary Ridge, and Moccasin Bend.
To learn more about the specific tours available visit: nps.gov/chch/chickamauga161.htm