Chickamauga and Chattanooga Administrative History

More than a quarter of a century passed before active interest was generated towards preserving the Chickamauga Battlefield as a commemoration of the events of 1863 in that locale. In the meantime, the Government had taken specific actions which would contribute to the establishment of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park as well as lay the foundation for other such parks. In 1880 Congress granted the first appropriation looking to preservation of an American battlefield. Fifty thousand dollars was allotted for surveying the ground at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and compiling data relative to troop movements there. Several years later another appropriation was made to mark Union army positions on that field. Public sentiment supported these efforts, and in the South there arose a call for similar action in that region. Professor Jonathan J. Tigert of Vanderbilt University expressed the prevailing view thusly:

The Federal Government, while participants and eye-witnesses are still living, might devise some simple and inexpensive, but still effective system of laying off and marking the important battle-fields of the Civil War, so as permanently to aid intelligent investigation by military students and visitors. . . . The advantages, not only to the general public, but to the future historian, would be incalculable. The changes effected in a few years are surprising. New dwellings are erected, old ones destroyed, fences are changed, woods cleared, pikes and roads opened, ditches and hedges are run, and the topography altered in many ways. Many of the battlefields of Europe. . . . are so marked with stones that the intelligent visitor finds no difficulty in connecting the battle with the field. Unless steps are speedily taken, on the part of our General Government, to mark the places of the special movements and events of our great battles, the limits and outlines of the fields will soon be lost beyond recovery. [4]

So far as the Chickamauga-Chattanooga grounds were concerned, the genesis of the move for preservation lay in the membership of a veteran officers' group, The Society of the Army of the Cumberland. In 1881 the Society held its annual reunion in Chattanooga. Fears were high among the veterans that there would be few old landmarks on the Chickamauga field to aid in their location of where important fighting took place. Their concern proved justified. "When we got there, there wasn't a man in the whole crowd that could tell a thing about it." [5] But little was done to rectify the situation until 1888.

In May of that year, two former officers who had served at Chickamauga visited the site. Former Colonel Ferdinand Van Derveer had led a brigade in the Army of the Cumberland under Rosecrans. Henry Van Ness Boynton had served at Chickamauga as a lieutenant colonel of the Thirty-fifth Ohio Infantry and had won a Medal of Honor for his gallant performance at Missionary Ridge, where he was badly wounded. [6] While touring the terrain at Chickamauga, the two men conceived the idea of turning the site into a military park. Boynton, Washington correspondent for the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, soon undertook a series of lengthy articles in which he set forth his ideas for "a Western Gettysburg," addressed chiefly to his fellow members of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland. [7] Extolling the virtues of preserving the Chickamauga site, Boynton wrote:

The survivors of the Army of the Cumberland should awake to great pride in this notable field of Chickamauga. Why should it not, as well as eastern fields, be marked by monuments, and its lines be accurately preserved for history? There was no more magnificent fighting during the war than both armies did there. Both sides might well unite in preserving the field where both, in a military sense, won such renown. [8]

Thus Boynton made a unique proposal--that the veterans of both sides share in the project. Gettysburg had only Union monuments and markers. In September, 1888, at the Society's meeting in Chicago, the first formal step was taken with adoption of a resolution appointing a committee to investigate the possibility of purchasing the ground at Chickamauga so that it could be preserved in a manner similar to the Gettysburg Battlefield.

Members of this committee appointed by retired General Rosecrans were Henry M. Cist, Charles F. Manderson, Russell A. Alger, Absalom Baird, and Henry V. Boynton, all retired officers. [9] Creation of this committee marked the inauguration of the Chickamauga Memorial Association as an adjunct to the Society of the Army of the Cumberland. "The project," wrote Boynton, "is based upon the belief that the time has fully come when the participants in the great battles of our civil war can, while retaining and freely expressing their own views of all questions connected with the war, still study its notable battles purely as military movements." [10] He continued:

Once established, and taken in connection with the scenes of deepest military interest about Chattanooga--where the grandest spectacular battles of the war raged for three days--these fields would soon become a point of national resort; and no better place to study the fighting powers of American soldiers, or to become possessed with a comprehensive knowledge of some of the most brilliant deeds of arms in the story of wars, can anywhere be found. [11]

Plans were made to incorporate the association under the laws of the State of Georgia. Eleven Union states had sent troops into battle at Chickamauga, along with all the former Confederate states and the border states of Missouri and Kentucky. Governors of the concerned states would be asked to serve on a board of directors. [12]

Coincidentally with the organization of the formal movement, the Government was trying to correct errors in its war maps of Chickamauga in conjunction with the publication of the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion series. In November, the War Department sent Captain Sanford C. Kellogg, a Chickamauga and Chattanooga veteran as well as the nephew of Major General George H. Thomas, to meet with veteran officers at the battlefield and to solicit their aid in determining correct troop positions. "Slight discrepancies" were reported between the maps and the recollections of the former officers. [13] Nonetheless, the joint effort was a valuable experience for all involved and provided important early Government linkage to the evolving memorialization project.

On February 13, 1889, the committee of the Chickamauga Memorial Association convened in Washington, D.C. Next day at the capitol the five members met with Captain Kellogg, General Rosecrans, and former Confederate generals William B. Bate, Alfred H. Colquitt, Edward C. Walthall, Joseph Wheeler, and Marcus J. Wright. All of the former Confederates, some of whom were now serving in Congress, subscribed to the objectives of the Chickamauga Memorial Association and agreed to cooperate in the formation of a Joint Memorial Battlefield Association. Shortly after this meeting Captain Kellogg agreed to solicit 100 prominent persons to serve as incorporators for the association, their selection from each state being made roughly proportionate to the state's representation at Chickamauga in 1863. [14]

Plans for implementing the Joint Chickamauga Memorial Association were consolidated in September, 1889, in a meeting of Union and Confederate veterans held in Chattanooga on the occasion of the reunion of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland. A local committee headed by Adolph S. Ochs led the proceedings, during which a committee of six was appointed to prepare an act of incorporation. Fifty veterans and civilians from each side were to be appointed to serve as incorporators of the joint association. In the course of the meeting, held in a large tent, Rosecrans, Boynton, and former Union Colonel and Brevet Brigadier General Henry M. Cist, among others, delivered stirring speeches to the crowd. Rosecrans called on the veterans for their support in a project "where men entitled . . . to . . . special veneration may have monuments erected to their memories, where the organizations who choose to do so can put up monuments to the heroism displayed . . . without criticism and with rather the feeling of comradeship." [15] Boynton got down to fundamentals: "We propose to go before Congress at its coming session and ask it to appropriate a sufficient sum to buy the entire field from Rossville Gap to Crawfish Springs. . . . This purchase . . . must be contingent on the State of Georgia ceding jurisdiction to the Government for the sole purpose of maintaining a National Military Park." The environs of Chickamauga, he said, served to elaborate the park's importance:

To our proposed Park, ending at Rossville Gap, the city of Chattanooga and its immediate surroundings, Lookout, Orchard Knob, and Missionary Ridge, properly attach themselves and enlarge the dimensions of our scheme and make it unsurpassed and unsurpassable as a place for interesting pilgrimages or military study. Here the natural features, which for all time will clearly mark the lines of battle, are such that scarcely anything is needed except tablets to mark the position of forts and headquarters, to complete it as an addition to the project we are here considering. The roads now exist leading from Rossville to the extreme north point of Missionary Ridge, and from Chattanooga to all other points of chief interest in the noted fields about the city. [16]

General Cist impressed upon the audience the purpose of the proposed park--not to honor one army, but both, "as a shrine for patriotic devotion for the future generations of American youth. . ." [17] To all of these speeches, and to the concept of the park in general, the crowd applauded enthusiastically. Next day, September 20, the Chickamauga Memorial Association was formally organized at Crawfish Springs at the south end of the battlefield amid a grand barbecue for some 12,000 people. After the feed, in the Baptist Church located on the battlefield, officers were elected. John T. Wilder became president of the association and Joseph Wheeler vice president. Marcus J. Wright was chosen as secretary and Joseph S. Fullerton as treasurer. Twenty-eight former officers of both sides were selected to serve as directors. [18] The elected officers agreed to accept the charter for the association on its completion. [19]

The charter of the Chickamauga Memorial Association was subsequently finalized and submitted to the Superior Court of Walker County, Georgia. [20] On December 4, 1890, the petition for charter was approved. The charter was to last twenty years. Membership in the association included the incorporators, the governors of the various states with troops at Chickamauga, the president and secretary of the Southern Historical Society, and the Secretary of War of the United States. (Following incorporation, voting membership was opened to all veterans and nonveterans for a lifetime fee of $5.00.) The objective of the organization was to preserve the battlefield and memorialize the valor of the soldiers who fought there. This was to be accomplished through "purchase, lease, devise, grant, or gift" of land, as well as the use of private property, "to erect and promote the erection . . . of suitable monuments and tablets." Future directors of the Chickamauga Memorial Association would be chosen from among its subscribers. [21]

In addition to the state volunteer organizations that served at Chickamauga, nine regular military commands participated in the fighting, and Boynton saw in their presence an opportunity to obtain federal assistance for the park. "The general government," he said, "will without doubt appropriate liberally, as it has done for the Gettysburg Field, to mark the positions of the regular regiments and batteries." [22] Because of the intense public interest shown in the project, the Association sought congressional aid in establishing the park. By this time, the scope had broadened to encompass not only the Chickamauga field proper, but Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and other significant component land features connected with the 1863 campaigns. [23] As envisioned by Boynton, the park would be under the control of the Secretary of War and would encompass the entire Chickamauga tract and approach roads, including those over Lookout Mountain and along Missionary Ridge. Actual authority in establishing Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, as Boynton conceived the name, would be vested in a commission to be appointed by the Secretary. With the aid of his numerous congressional friends, Boynton drew up a bill providing for these features. [24]

Boynton discussed the measure with members of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, then delivered the bill to Congressman Charles H. Grosvenor, former colonel of Ohio troops at Chickamauga, who in May, 1890, introduced it on the floor of the House of Representatives. [25] There it met minimal opposition. [26] The congressmen quickly saw the national import of Chickamauga. The field "has an importance to the nation as an object lesson of what is possible in American fighting; and the national value of the preservation of such lines for historical and professional study must be apparent to all reflecting minds." [27] Doubtless, too, they perceived the political meaning of the veteran-inspired legislation.

The bill (H.R. 6454) won speedy approval by the House Committee on Military Affairs. Chickamauga battlefield, amounting to approximately 7,600 acres, would be obtained through condemnation procedures, while the approach roads would be ceded to the federal government by the states of Georgia and Tennessee. [28] Following passage by the House in only twenty-three minutes, the Senate, seven members of which had fought at Chickamauga, considered and likewise passed the measure without opposition. On August 19, 1890, President Harrison signed into law "An act to establish a National Military Park at the battle-field of Chickamauga." A sum of $125,000 was made available through appropriation to implement the work. [29]

Significantly, the Congress in passing this legislation recognized "the preservation for national study of the lines of decisive battles . . . as a matter of national importance." [30] The action provided the foundation for the later classification of battlefields by the government in the 1920s and 1930s. It was the first piece of legislation authorizing the preservation of an American battlefield, preceding Gettysburg's enabling act by nearly five years. Most important, however, the act laid a basis for the concept of the national historical park in the United States. [31] From this concept future national battlefields, monuments, and memorials would owe much of their existence, for the legislation creating Chickamauga and Chattanooga laid the groundwork for historic site preservation in the country.

Section One of the act described the historical and physical dimensions of the park:

For the purpose of preserving and suitably marking for historical and professional military study the fields of some of the most remarkable maneuvers and most brilliant fighting in the war of the rebellion, and upon the ceding of jurisdiction to the United States by the States of Tennessee and Georgia, respectively, and the report of the Attorney-General of the United States that the title to the lands thus ceded is perfect, the following described highways in those States are hereby declared to be approaches to and parts of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park as established by the second section of this act, to wit: First. The Missionary Ridge Crest road from Sherman Heights at the north end of Missionary Ridge, in Tennessee, where the said road enters upon the ground occupied by the Army of the Tennessee under Major-General William T. Sherman, in the military operations of November twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and sixty-three; thence along said road through the positions occupied by the army of General Braxton Bragg on November twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and sixty-three; and which were assaulted by the Army of the Cumberland under Major-General George H. Thomas on that date, to where the said road crosses the southern boundary of the State of Tennessee, near Rossville Gap, Georgia, upon the ground occupied by the troops of Major-General Joseph Hooker, from the Army of the Potomac, and thence in the State of Georgia to the junction of said road with the Chattanooga and Lafayette or State road from Rossville, Georgia, to Lee and Gordon's Mills, Georgia; third, the road from Lee and Gordon's Mills, Georgia, to Crawfish Springs, Georgia; fourth, the road from Crawfish Springs, Georgia, to the crossing of the Chickamauga at Glass' Mills, Georgia; fifth, the Dry Valley road from Rossville, Georgia, to the southern limits of McFarland's Gap in Missionary Ridge; sixth, the Dry Valley and Crawfish Springs road from McFarland's Gap to the intersection of the road from Crawfish Springs to Lee and Gordon's Mills; seventh, the road from Ringgold, Georgia, to Reed's Bridge on the Chickamauga River; eighth, the roads from the crossing of Lookout Creek across the northern slope of Lookout Mountain and thence to the old Summertown Road and to the valley on the east slope of the said mountain, and thence by the route of General Joseph Hooker's troops to Rossville, Georgia, and each and all of these herein described roads shall, after the passage of this act, remain open as free public highways, and all rights of way now existing through the grounds of the said park and its approaches shall be continued. [32]

Three weeks after passage of the act, on September 8, Secretary of War Redfield Proctor appointed the National Commission. Its civilian members were Joseph S. Fullerton and Alexander P. Stewart, while its military representative was Sanford C. Kellogg. Fullerton was to serve as chairman and would conduct the negotiations regarding land acquisition. Stewart was placed in charge of construction. Kellogg, a regular army officer on active duty, was to serve as secretary of the body. Henry Boynton was appointed assistant in historical work. Duties of the Commission involved the opening and repair of roads for the park, the definite ascertainment of lines of battle, and the acquisition of property. Expenses were to be paid from the annual appropriation provided in the enabling act. [33]

Over the next few years these men dedicated themselves to the success of the park, acquiring land, building roads, clearing underbrush, and trying to accurately locate troop positions during the battles. Their efforts were not without difficulty, both in magnitude of the project and in the controversy it created. There was opposition to the park in some quarters, and the publisher of the Scioto Gazette in Ohio, for example, castigated the whole idea in editorials that charged land syndicates around the battlefield as bent upon profiting from the venture. [34] Furthermore, "it makes a true soldier's blood boil to think of having those battle fields covered with Rebel Monuments." [35] Organizations like the Society of the Army of the Cumberland tried to educate the public against such resistance with good result. [36]

The commissioners remained true to the purposes of the park. It was not intended for recreational use, but a theater for learning. Any aesthetic quality that pervaded the park would be well grounded in its meaning to thousands of veterans.

There will be no place here for the gaudy display of rich equipages and show of wealth; no place for lovers to bide tryst; no place for pleasure-seekers or loungers. The hosts that in the future come to the grand Park will come rather with feelings of awe or reverence. Here their better natures will be aroused; here they will become imbued with grand and lofty ideas; with courage and patriotism; with devotion to duty and love of country. [37]

Ongoing efforts were made to correctly locate positions on the field using maps prepared by Kellogg and elaborated upon by Boynton, Often the Commission would request groups of veterans, usually ex-officers, to come and assist in this task and in choosing designs for monuments. [38] In July, 1890, for example, the United Confederate Veterans staged their first annual encampment at Chattanooga and the veterans assisted in the locating of Confederate positions at Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and Lookout Mountain. [39] Sometimes disagreements developed among the veterans; when former Colonel John T. Wilder submitted a plan for a monument for his Indiana Troops to be placed in a selected position, it brought protests from other veterans from Wilder's home state. [40] On one occasion the Commission requested that members of the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Regular Infantry Regiments be ordered to the battlefield "to correct mistakes heretofore made in locating their positions." Captain Kellogg, who had earlier selected what he believed to be the correct positions formally protested their change even though members of the concerned units favored others. The majority of the Commission voted against Kellogg in marking the location. [41] Much difficulty was encountered in establishing the lines and positions of the various units largely because the foliage on the terrain had radically changed the appearance of the field from what it had been almost thirty years earlier. Since the war a thick growth of oak, elm, willow, and pine had fairly transformed the scene. [42] At the request of the Commission, an officer of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey was temporarily detailed to the park to assist in the locating of lines. [43]

One of the prime duties of the Commission lay in the acquisition of land for the park. The act of establishment authorized the United States to acquire title to the road approaches from the States of Georgia and Tennessee. The Secretary of War was authorized to mark the boundaries of the park once this was accomplished. He was further permitted to enter into agreements with landholders who desired to remain on their property under agreements whereby they could sell to the government then lease the land "upon condition that they will preserve the present buildings and roads, and the present outlines of field and forest. . . ." [44] The Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park was to consist of the following tract:

the area inclosed by a line beginning on the Lafayette or State road, in Georgia, at a point where the bottom of the ravine next north of the house known on the field of Chickamauga as the Cloud House, and being about six hundred yards north of said house, due east to the Chickamauga River and due west to the intersection of the Dry Valley road at McFarland's Gap; thence along the west side of the Dry Valley and Crawfish Springs roads to the south side of the road from Crawfish Springs to Lee and Gordon's Mills; thence along the south side of the last-named road to Lee and Gordon's Mills; thence along the channel of the Chickamauga River to the line forming the northern boundary of the park as hereinbefore described, containing seven thousand six hundred acres, more or less. [45]

Efforts made by the commission to obtain the required property proved to be frustrating, though not unsuccessful. Some years earlier a post of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) in Chicago had obtained options on much of the land at $25.00 per acre with an intent similar to that of the Chickamauga Memorial Association. The GAR members were unable to raise the funds needed to effect the purchase, however. In the meantime a railroad was built along the west side of the proposed park tract which increased the economic potential of the land.

Fruit and vegetable farms were established, and coal and iron ore were discovered to exist in the area. [46] By the time the commission undertook acquisition of the land, its value had risen considerably. Compounding the problem was the fact that more than 200 parties had to be negotiated with, many of whom lacked record titles. Moreover, some owners had traded tracts without recording deeds. Others had died intestate with their lands proportionately divided among family members without legal formality. Some records had been destroyed by fire years earlier and others had been lost at the time of the battle. Attorneys for the commissioners had a difficult time straightening out the land matter before purchase could even be attempted. [47]

Many of the landowners, aware of government interest in their land, now asked exorbitant prices. This necessitated the implementation of condemnation procedures through the U.S. Circuit Court. The proceedings often were lengthy and complicated, involving the appointment of appraisers to estimate the value of properties and the setting up of courts at Crawfish Springs to hear testimony on land values. Most landowners wanted at least $70 per acre for their property. Ultimately, under condemnation the government secured most of the battlefield lands. [48]

Purchase of the tracts began in 1891 and were highlighted by the visit of Secretary of War Proctor and a party of congressmen and military officials to Chattanooga in March. [49]

They were everywhere received warmly and hospitably. The many evidences of industrial prosperity were a surprise to nearly all the visitors, and an exceptionally good opportunity was afforded to obtain an intelligent understanding of the great battles through the admirable explanations of General Boynton, Colonel Kellogg, Major Davis, General Fullerton and others who took part in the battles, and have since made them a careful study. [50]

At the Commission's request, former Congressman Judson C. Clements, a Georgia lawyer knowledgeable about the battlefield area, was appointed by Proctor to examine all titles and to negotiate with the landholders. By May he had acquired approximately 1,400 acres despite encountering difficulties in completing his duty. [51] Throughout the proceedings, wrote Chairman Fullerton, "the most difficult object to surmount was the exaggerated ideas of values that had possessed the land-owners." [52]

Nevertheless, by autumn of 1891, land acquisition was proceeding relatively smoothly, with condemnation well underway. [53] A year later the commission could report that

after very tedious and expensive court proceedings, the Commissioners have succeeded in acquiring title for the United States to 4,236.82 acres of land on the battle field of Chickamauga, costing in the aggregate $126,814.52, or at an average of $29.93 per acre. There remains to be acquired about 1,000 acres, the title to which is in litigation on appeal from the appraisement already had, or the title deeds are being examined by the Honorable Attorney-General of the United States. [54]

The Commission reported that about 1,000 more acres were to be acquired, along with forty miles of road, to meet the requirements of the act establishing the park. [55]

Most of the land obtained thus far figured significantly in the battle and included such place names as Snodgrass field, Horseshoe Ridge, and Dyer field. By this time, the Tennessee legislature had ceded jurisdiction over the road approaches on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge and around Chattanooga. [56] Additions in 1892-93 thus included ground around Chattanooga, notably the sites of Bragg's headquarters on Missionary Ridge, Orchard Knob, the DeLong Place, and Sherman's earthworks. Total expenditure stood at $401,485.63 out of $575,000 appropriated by Congress. [57] Most land yet to be acquired lay at the north end of the designated park boundary. Fully nine-to-ten square miles of the battlefield were in government possession by the end of 1893. [58] Some property holders on Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain held out for such exorbitant prices that the commissioners in 1894 recommended that efforts to secure these lands be abandoned. [59]

Soon after the essential tracts were obtained the Commission proceeded to authorize the erection of seventy-foot-high towers at the location of Bragg's headquarters, Delong Place, and Tunnel Hill on Missionary Ridge. Another was planned for Orchard Knob. These structures, raised principally on the Confederate positions, afforded visitors and students unobstructed views of the terrain in all directions and constituted the first interpretive facilities to be located in the park. [60] At the same time, preparations were made for the War and Navy Departments to deliver to the park certain condemned artillery and other ordnance for use in marking the battlefield. [61] While most of the property central to the park was now in government hands, certain parties, including Boynton, continued to press for the inclusion of the area at the north end of Lookout Mountain, purchase of which remained contingent on the disposition of concerned owners to part with the tracts at reasonable prices. [62] Furthermore, as of 1895 no appropriations existed with which to effect such transactions. [63] In the meantime, laborers continued clearing brush and establishing roads in the area enclosed by the park. [64]

Another task of the National Commission lay in soliciting support for the park project from the twenty-eight states whose soldiers had fought at Chickamauga. The commissioners presented an appeal for participation to the legislatures in session or to the governors of the states, requesting that each state provide a commission to work with the National Commission toward establishing the park. First to extend the desired aid was Ohio, which had had the most volunteer units in the battles of 1863. In 1891, Governor James E. Campbell appointed a commission and the legislature responded with a generous appropriation of $90,000 for monuments to Ohio troops at the park. Minnesota, Massachusetts, and New York followed shortly with similar appropriations for the purposes of monumentalization. [65]

Throughout the months preceding and following enactment of the park legislation the community of Chattanooga remained well-disposed towards the project. A local judge termed the idea "one of the grandest ever conceived" and predicted "incalculable" advantages for the city. [66] The park would be easily accessible; Missionary Ridge could be reached in steam or electric cars for a fee of five cents, and cable cars and a broad gauge rail line went to Lookout Mountain. Since 1889 a railroad had been chartered to run from Ringgold, Georgia, to Chattanooga, via Chickamauga battlefield, and construction was to begin in the autumn of 1890. A branch line was scheduled to be built from Snodgrass Hill south to Crawfish Springs. [67] The park commission opposed the efforts to build railroad tracks across park land, however, and closely monitored any development with an eye towards condemnation proceedings should the line significantly threaten the field. Another railroad, the Chattanooga, Rome and Columbus, cut across two corners of the park but did not interfere with the designated battle lines. [68]

With rapid progress in the acquisition of land for the park, officials prepared to present the battlefield to the visiting public. In the spring of 1892 Secretary of War Stephen B. Elkins, who had succeeded Proctor, authorized the use of civilian fee-charging guides on the field. Camping was to be allowed only on permission of the park superintendent and in areas he might designate. Expenses for operating the park were to come from the rents charged occupants who chose to remain on their former property, from certain lands leased for agriculture purposes, and from fines levied against owners of straying cattle. [69]

Clearly, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park represented a concept that was most timely. The site drew increasing numbers of visitors during the early 1890s, and the presence of the park attracted mercantile traffic into Chattanooga. In September, 1892, the Society of the Army of the Cumberland convened its annual reunion at Chickamauga Park, where representatives of the Ohio and Pennsylvania state commissions also appeared. "Horses and vehicles" were available for touring the sites, and all attendees were requested to "register at the headquarters," located at the Park Hotel in Crawfish Springs and in Chattanooga. [70] While the National Commission maintained its offices in the War Department building in Washington, direct administration of the park became the responsibility of "a resident assistant superintendent, two guardians or rangers, a book-keeper, and a clerk. . . ." All were Civil War veterans. In addition, the park staff included two civil engineers and their helpers who were involved in road construction and in preparing topographical surveys of various properties. [71]

Development continued through 1893. Early in that year commissions for Tennessee and Minnesota were created and their members visited the battlefield helping to locate state troop positions and selecting sites for monuments. [72] Still more state commissions were appointed later. As work progressed in this regard, the National Commission issued regulations directing the placement of monuments and markers on the battlefield; essentially, all such structures required approval by the commission before they could be erected. [73] During 1893 several monuments to regular army forces were placed on the field, becoming the first of many formally erected. The first bronze interpretive tablets were also placed along the roads. [74]

Some administrative changes occurred in 1893. Under the new Democratic administration Daniel S. Lamont became Secretary of War. Lamont was sympathetic to the park idea and his "intelligent attention" along with the executive work of his Assistant Secretary, Joseph Dee, gave impetus to the park's establishment. [75] Another personnel change more directly affected events at the park when Commissioner Sanford Kellogg was detailed as military attache to the American Legation in Paris. Major Frank G. Smith, who had commanded a battery at Chickamauga, succeeded Kellogg. [76]

Direct control of affairs at Chickamauga was the duty of William Tillman, a former army officer. His principal assistants were Atwell Thompson, civil engineer in charge of construction, and Edward E. Betts, civil engineer in charge of topographical engineering and the erection of monuments. Laborers hired by the Commission were all Civil War veterans, with appointments equally divided between ex-Union and ex-Confederates. [77] In 1893 an additional $100,000 was appropriated by Congress for continuing the establishment of the park. [78] By the end of the year the Secretary of War could report the following:

The work of restoring the field to its condition at the time of the battle has progressed rapidly. Seventeen State commissions have been organized to locate the positions of State troops, and the national commission expects that the remaining nine States which had troops engaged in the battle will create commissions during the coming winter. Several State commissions have already visited the park and established the positions of the troops of their respective States. Ohio has appropriated $95,000 for monuments, fifty-six of which will soon be erected; Minnesota has appropriated $15,000 for five monuments, and during the coming session legislatures of other States are expected to take similar action. Seven granite monuments have been erected in memory of the regular troops engaged at Chickamauga, and five observation towers have been erected, offering comprehensive view of the field of conflict. [79]

In August 1894, $75,000 more was appropriated for continued work on the park. Particularly, this sum was to pay for road construction, the building of foundations for state monuments, and the purchase of lands at the north end of Missionary Ridge and near Glass's Mill. [80]

These items the commissioners were desirous of accomplishing soon, so that plans could be made for the formal dedication of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, already postponed a year in order that the park be as fully established as possible. [81] On advice from the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, it was agreed to dedicate the park on September 18 and 19, 1895, the thirty-second anniversary of the Battle of Chickamauga, Twenty thousand dollars was allotted for the ceremony. [82]

In January, 1895, at the behest of Secretary of War Lamont, Congress agreed to take part in the dedication of the park and nominated a joint committee to plan its participation. In March, a concurrent resolution announced the appointment of numerous Army and Navy delegates to attend the ceremonies. [83] By summer formal plans were in order. Invited participants would include the President, members of Congress, the Supreme Court, the Cabinet, and the governors of all the states. A general invitation was extended to survivors of the Battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga. The public was also invited. National Commission Chairman Fullerton was designated grand marshal and placed in charge of the proceedings. Fullerton was responsible for the procurement of all required services and supplies and managed the expenditures for the event scheduled to begin at noon on September 19 at Snodgrass Hill. On the following day attendees were to assemble under a large tent in Chattanooga to hear orations by leading battle participants. [84] Legislatures of the principal states, Georgia and Tennessee, also passed resolutions for their respective participation in the ceremonies, and the Tennessee National Guard was directed to hold its summer encampment at Chickamauga Park to coincide with the dedication proceedings. [85]

At the park, work proceeded earnestly. In March, 1895, another $75,000 was appropriated by Congress for "road work, memorial gateway and designs therefor, maps, surveys, iron and bronze tablets, gun carriages, [further] land . . . purchase. . . ," along with compensation for the two civilian commissioners and their sundry assistants. [86] In a summary statement Chairman Fullerton described the condition of the park preceding its dedication:

Under the act of Congress of August 19, 1890, establishing the park, and subsequent amendments, the Government has purchased, or proceedings are pending for the purchase of, over 6,000 acres of the Chickamauga field, embracing most of the heavy fighting ground and covering nearly ten square miles.

The State of Georgia has ceded jurisdiction to the United States over the Chickamauga field and the roads approaching it. The State of Tennessee has ceded to the United States the roads over Lookout Mountain through the battlefield, the road thence to Rossville, and from Rossville along the crest of Missionary Ridge to General Sherman's positions at the north end of Missionary Ridge. Historical tablets along these latter roads will set forth all the details of the three days fighting about Chattanooga. The Government has purchased Orchard Knob, the headquarters of Generals Grant and Thomas during the third day of the battle, the site of General Bragg's headquarters on Missionary Ridge, and has closed negotiations for the purchase of the north end of Missionary Ridge, and has authority from Congress for the purchase of the north point of Lookout Mountain.

Five observation towers of iron and steel, each 70 feet high, have been erected. Two of these are on Missionary Ridge, and three on the Chickamauga field. The monument of the Wilder Brigade, now being erected near the Widow Glenn's house on the Chickamauga field, is to be 110 feet high, and will also serve as a tower. . . .

The old roads of the battlefield have been reopened, new roads closed, and the work of restoring the fields to their condition at the time of the battle is rapidly progressing. Over 40 miles of the main roads of the field have been rebuilt in a substantial manner, and this branch of the work is nearly completed. [87]

Much time was spent by the Commissioners in meeting with the various state commissions to ascertain accurate locations for the erection of state monuments. [88] State interest in the park remained high. The Massachusetts commissioner visited twice in conjunction with the erection of that state's monument. New York's entire commission toured the ground on two occasions. The commissions of Pennsylvania, Texas, Louisiana, Michigan, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, and Minnesota all spent lengthy visits helping to establish troop positions and preparing to build monuments to their soldiers. [89] Many of the state commissions also arranged for their chief executives' attendance at the dedication ceremonies. [90]

Public interest in the Chickamauga Park mounted as the dedication approached. Henry V. Boynton, credited with the park idea, energetically promoted the project in the media, writing numerous columns for various publications, including the popular Harper's Weekly and The Century Magazine. [91] "The park itself is something entirely new in military history," he wrote, "and would be an impossible scheme in any other country." [92] Its dedication "is without parallel in the world's history." [93] Meantime, Chattanooga anticipated the moment; the city stood to benefit greatly from the presence of the federal park, and city fathers envisioned a profitable future. Editorialized The Daily Times:

As the city grows the park will be the more appreciated. . . . It will, we think, inevitably bring here a permanent military force, the site being in almost every respect ideal for the purpose, including means of quick transit of the troops to any corner of the country this side of the Rocky Mountains. We have many advantages over Atlanta, one of these being shown by the holding of Chattanooga by the federal army, while Atlanta was abandoned, as being of no particular strategic value. [94]

Thus, the community was cleaned up and the population was urged to extend all courtesies to city visitors. When the time arrived, more than seventy special trains were cleared into the railroad yards, and regularly scheduled trains were overcrowded. So great was the influx of visitors that tent cities were established around the city to accommodate them all. Makeshift restaurants were set up, and water fountains were placed at convenient spots. [95] Last minute preparations at the park included adding more cannon to certain gun batteries on the field, erecting rostrums for the state delegations at their respective monuments, constructing booths and stands on Kelly Field to serve food, and completing work on a well near the grandstand. [96]

On September 18 the dedication began. An immense throng assembled at Snodgrass Hill on the Chickamauga Battlefield to hear addresses from the dignitaries present. Members of The Society of the Army of the Cumberland staged their annual reunion to coincide with the events, and many members of the United Confederate Veterans also attended. Some 800 officers and men, composing twelve companies of United States infantry and artillery, three regimental bands, and a medical detachment, joined the celebrants in officially inaugurating the first national military park in the country. [97] The first day was spent in dedicating the eight state monuments already raised in the park, those of Michigan (Snodgrass Hill), Missouri (Brotherton's), Ohio (Snodgrass Hill), Illinois (Lytle Hill), Minnesota (Snodgrass Hill), Indiana (Cave Spring), Massachusetts (Orchard Knob), and Wisconsin (Kelly Field). That evening the reunion of the Army of the Cumberland commenced with some 10,000 members on hand. Many members of other Union societies attended the meeting, as did a great many Confederate veterans. Familiar orations were delivered by Mayor George W. Ochs of Chattanooga, Boynton, and Nebraska Senator Charles F. Manderson. Patriotic addresses won frequent applause for Army Commanding General John M. Schofield, Secretary of the Navy Hilary A. Herbert, and retired Major General Grenville M. Dodge of The Society of the Army of the Tennessee (Union), among others. [98]

Next day the Chickamauga field was dedicated at Snodgrass Hill with more than 40,000 persons attending. A forty-four gun artillery salute started the proceedings at noon. Later in the day a tactical exhibition was presented by the regular army units present. Distinguished visitors watched from the platform: representatives of the three branches of the federal government (the President did not attend), prominent officer veterans of the Union and Confederate armies, officials of the veteran societies, and fifteen state governors and their staffs. Vice President Adlai Stevenson delivered the opening remarks, and principal orations were given by former Union Major General John M. Palmer and former Confederate General John B. Gordon. Short speeches were then made by the several governors present. Many of the battle survivors spent the rest of the day trudging across the battlefield while attempting to locate by memory their old positions. That evening a general meeting of survivors of the Union Army of the Tennessee and the Confederate Army of Tennessee convened in Chattanooga. Several veteran officers addressed the group, including Major General Oliver O. Howard and former Lieutenant General Joseph Wheeler, with remarks provided by Colonel Frederick D. Grant, son of the late general.

On September 20, the regular troops paraded with the militia to lively martial airs through Chattanooga. Another salute was fired from guns at Orchard Knob, marking the opening of dedicatory exercises for the Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain, and Chattanooga parts of the park. In the afternoon, Mayor Ochs delivered an address in the tent in Chattanooga, followed by a speech of Representative Charles H. Grosvenor of Ohio. Stressing the patriotic emotion of the moment, Ochs called the park "the symbol of the nation's second birth,"

the holy ground where amity and reconciliation have erected in granite and in bronze the record of a country's heroes, a country now eternally and indivisibly reunited, a country proud alike of her sons, remembering that whether they died for that cause that was lost or fell for the cause that was won, they were all Americans, their deeds added brighter luster to American arms, and their achievements exalted American valor. [99]

Grosvenor touched upon the importance of preserving the park, reiterating the necessity

to remind those of coming generations of the heroic races from which they descended; to exhibit to them the enormous cost of the institutions bequeathed to them and placed in their keeping, and to forever appeal to those who are to come after us that they guard, protect, and forever cherish, imperishably and immutably, the results of the great war. [100]

Later in the day the Massachusetts monument at Orchard Knob was dedicated, and in the evening a joint meeting took place of Chattanooga Battle veterans of the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac. Principal speaker at this event was former Lieutenant General James Longstreet. [101]

With the dedication of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, the preservation of American battlefields was begun. Chickamauga was seen as the "pioneer park, as a historical memorial," and the model for similar programs at Shiloh, Antietam, Appomattox, and even Gettysburg, which only recently had acquired federal protection status. [102] As a direct result of the Chickamauga experience, the Secretary of War called for formalized procedures to govern the development of such parks:

It is important that Congress should early adopt and consistently pursue a fixed policy in regard to the marking of the battlefields of the civil war [sic]. If the plan of creating battlefield parks is to be impartially pursued on the scale adopted at Chickamauga and Gettysburg, it must embrace fifty places where important actions were fought, and will involve an expenditure of at least $20,000,000, with additional expenditures for maintenance that may reach $1,000,000 yearly. [103]

Notably in the case of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park several important policies were established. First, the protection of battlefields in their original condition became a prime government concern, and the practice of buying property with conditional leaseback provisions accelerated public acceptance of the concept of battlefield preservation. Second, the practice of obtaining specialized historical knowledge of the areas was promulgated with the hiring of veterans--both Union and Confederate--to serve on the appointed commissions, and by the use of trained War Department cartographers to help prepare maps for use in monumentalization and interpretation. And third, the involvement-- aesthetically as well as financially--of the affected states whose troops fought on the ground gave an important boost to the preservation concept. Members of the state commissions, many of them veterans of the engagements commemorated, gave freely of their time in helping to locate positions on the fields, while the states absorbed the costs of erecting monuments to their organizations in the battles. [104] Thus, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park set a precedent for the federal government's involvement in the area of battlefield preservation, an involvement that continues to aid in the promotion and interpretation of the country's rich military heritage.