GA -- Chickamauga Natl Military Park -- Visitor Center:
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Description of Pictures: The temporary exhibits were on commemorating the war.
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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.
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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
CHICKC_161110_03.JPG: A Military Park is Born
In 1865, as surrendered Confederate soldiers journeyed home from faraway places like Appomattox Court House in Virginia and Bennett Place in North Carolina, feelings of sadness, anger, and contempt for the victors, were still very much alive in the hearts of the vanquished.
In order for those participants so affected by the desolation brought on by Civil War, a war which ravaged the country by prematurely extinguishing over 620,000 American lives, veterans from both sides created safe havens of remembrance. For example, ex-Confederates organized the United Confederate Veterans Association (UCV), while their Union counterparts created organizations like the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) and the Society of the Army of the Cumberland. These organizations became the vehicles for reconciliation of over twenty-four years of continued separation and anxiety between the nation's two sections.
However, a change was on the horizon, and in 1889, the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, made up of Union veterans who fought in the battles of Shiloh, Stones River, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and others, extended an olive branch across the Mason-Dixon Line to their Southern brothers. Upon deciding to hold their reunion in Chattanooga, Tennessee, members of the society invited Southerners to join them in attending a large barbeque feast held at Crawfish Spring (present-day Chickamauga, Georgia).
From this gesture, advocates sprung fort supporting the creation of a National Park that would honor the sacrifices of soldiers, North and South, yet often overlooking the real cause of the war. In less than year's time, veterans, who were now congressmen and senators in Washington DC, passed legislation creating a Park that would help heal the still festering wounds of war. As a result of this joint effort, spearheaded by veterans, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park was established, becoming the first of its kind in United States history. Although the veterans have long since creased to walk these hallowed grounds, their memories remain alive through their writings, the monuments they erected, and through the people who continue to tell their stories of bravery and sacrifice.
CHICKC_161110_08.JPG: Listening to General Rosecrans speak at the reunion at Crawfish Springs in 1889
CHICKC_161110_40.JPG: This United Confederate Veterans Chaplain General's coat was worn by Reverend Jonathan Waverly Bachman of Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was a Presbyterian minister in the city for over 50 years and served as Chaplain General for the United Confederate Veterans.
CHICKC_161110_48.JPG: Lead minie ball found embedded in a tree that was located just outside of the National Military Park. The catalog record states that the minie ball was found by JH Beaver while he was cutting shingles sometime in the late 1800s. You can see how the minie ball traveled into the tree and how the tree grew around it. For many years after the Battle of Chickamauga, sawmills in this area refused to accept wood cut from the battlfield. The bullets and artillery shell fragments embedded in the trees damaged the saw blades. This artifact was donated to the National Military Park in 1963.
CHICKC_161110_55.JPG: Bayonet found by Mrs. Roark in Chickamauga, Georgia after the Battle of Chickamauga. Someone in the family bent and flattened the blade and it was used as a sugar cnae knife. Mrs. Roar's son donated the knife to the National Military Park in 1973. The town of Chickamauga is located just south of the battlefield.
CHICKC_161110_57.JPG: Found on Chickamauga Battlefield
or
What's In Your Backyard?
If the Smithsonian Institution is considered the nation's attic, then national parks can be considered the nation's backyard. Many of the artifacts we have in our collection were found within the boundaries of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park however, the battles that the park commemorates were fought over a much larger area. Since the time of the battles, people living in this area have been finding Civil War artifacts on their property and have donated the artifacts to the park. Sometimes artifacts related to the battles are found in other parts of the country and donated to the park. Sometimes they are even rescued from the trash! See what we found in the nation's backyard... do you know what's in yours?
CHICKC_161110_60.JPG: This is an eagle breast plate that came form the cartridge box shoulder belt of a Union soldier. It was found inside the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport in June 2005. The Transportation Security Administration was conducting a routine security sweep of the area and found the breast plate. Speculation is that someone found it in the Chattanooga area and had second thoughts about going through airport security while carrying the plate.
CHICKC_161110_65.JPG: Landmarks and scenic views in and around Chattanooga and of the battlefields. 1904
CHICKC_161110_68.JPG: A guidebook with photographs and maps describing the battles fought along the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway and Western & Atlantic Railroad from north of Chattanooga allt he way to Atlanta, published by the Railway. 1928.
CHICKC_161110_71.JPG: A guidebook written by Captain J.C. McElroy of the 16th Ohio Infantry, no date.
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
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