Chickamauga and Chattanooga Administrative History

Besides the monuments, numerous markers and tablets were erected at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. Rather than simply memorialize a unit's or individual's participation in the battles of 1863, these structures clearly informed visitors about the history of the area and are thus more properly considered interpretive devices. According to the 1890 act establishing the park, the lands were set aside "for the purpose of preserving and suitably marking for historical and professional study the fields of some of the most remarkable movements and most brilliant fighting in the war of the rebellion. . . ." [1] The Secretary of War therefore received authority to "ascertain and mark all lines of battle . . . to clearly designate positions and movements . . . connected with the battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga." [2] The procedures and programs for accurately conveying information to the public have all derived from this foundation of knowledge laid down during the park's early history.

Even before Congress established the park efforts of concerned individuals were directed towards correctly locating positions on the field. Henry V. Boynton and Sanford C. Kellogg were particularly interested in this project, and the latter was deeply involved in the preparation of War Department maps of the Battle of Chickamauga from which the identification of sites might logically follow. [3] Draft copies of the maps were made available to interested veterans who might visit the park and note any discrepancies with their recollection of events. When published early in 1890, the maps proved immensely popular with veteran groups. [4] (Eventually disputes arose over various locations on the maps that largely accounted for Kellogg's early departure from the park.) In May, 1890, a Blue and Gray reunion was held at the battlefield, one of the purposes of which was to settle questions over troop positions before any markers or monuments were raised. A formal committee on locating Confederate lines was organized by the Nathan Bedford Forrest Camp of United Confederate Veterans in Chattanooga under the leadership of its commander, Captain Joseph Shipp. Between May and July, 1890, this committee, in conjunction with aid from local GAR Post No. 2, worked to locate lines and solve perplexing questions about troop movements. [5] Soon after passage of the park legislation Historian Boynton began arranging for the manufacture of 200 iron tablets, "4 feet long by 3 feet high cast in sheet iron with raised white letters on a black background," which were to contain information on "every organization on both sides from the corps to the smallest regiment or battery. . . . " [6] Henry Boynton detailed the preparation of these tablets:

The historical tablets are of iron with the lettering cast as part of the plate. They are each four feet by three. They are of several classes--as, those for army headquarters, corps, divisions, and brigades. The first named show the corps which make up the armies with their commanders; the corps tablets show the divisions and their commanders; the division tablets show the brigades which compose them and their commanders; while the brigade tablets carry the organization to the individual regiments and batteries and their commanders in the battle. There are also staff tablets of uniform size with the others giving the names of the respective staff officers. The historical tablets each present from 200 to 300 words of text setting forth in condensed yet comprehensive form the movements at the points where they are erected. Both sides have equal attention in the erection of these tablets. The only distinctive mark is the letter "U" for Union in the upper right hand corner, and the letter "C" for Confederate. [7]

At the annual meeting of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, the organization which had spawned the Chickamauga Memorial Association, Commission Chairman Joseph S. Fullerton summed up the work marking the field:

We have been studying, and our historian has been studying, the positions of the troops. We have been on the field many times and I shall go down there next week to have certain lines determined. I think we have got the lines now fixed beyond dispute. We shall be able to show the position of every corps, every division, every brigade, every regiment and every battery on both sides. It is very extraordinary that we have been able to do this, but we have been able to do it by reason of the condition of the field. The fields and woods are just as they were when the battle was fought. . . . We have prepared tablets of bronze iron to be placed over the whole field. [8]

To further ensure accuracy in placement of markers, the different state commissions were urged to participate in the on-site investigations. [9] Ohio responded first, appointing its commission in May, 1891. Its members visited the park in May, 1892, and again in September of that year in conjunction with the annual encampment of the Army of the Cumberland held at Chickamauga. [10] At the reunion hundreds of veterans traversed the fields, read the prepared tablet texts, and aided significantly in the correct determination of positions. [11] By late 1892 the tablets were ready for erection; they described the battle action of Wauhatchie, Brown's Ferry, Orchard Knob, Missionary Ridge, and Lookout Mountain, plus the several days' engagements at Chickamauga. [12] Further interpretive aids to be constructed at the park included two relief models--one of Chattanooga, the other of Chickamauga--a number of steel observation towers, and positioning of condemned cannon at points historically occupied by artillery units during the fighting. Pyramidal monuments of old mortar rounds obtained from the War and Navy departments were to be raised at the sites where brigade leaders had been killed. [13] At the end of 1892 the National Commissioners could report that after "two years careful study . . . the fighting lines of all Divisions on each side have been ascertained with sufficient accuracy to justify the erection of historical tablets. . . . Many of the Brigade positions . . . have been definitely determined, and all of them are approximately ascertained." [14]

During 1893 the State of Ohio erected fifty-three historical tablets in the park relating to the action of her troops thirty years before. Other states now took an active role in developing the battlefields and many newly appointed commissioners visited the park, further helping to correctly locate troop positions there. [15] Occasionally their visits caused controversy; one of the most prolonged grew out of the claim of former Brigadier General John B. Turchin that his infantry brigade of Indiana and Ohio troops, and not Colonel Ferdinand Van Derveer's, had assaulted the Confederate position at the DeLong place on Missionary Ridge during the Battle of Chattanooga. On the basis of other first-hand evidence, however, the Commission and the War Department refused to credit Turchin's assertion. [16] In 1893 Henry Boynton compiled handbooks and maps for the use of visiting state commissions, and he continued his work with the historical markers. That year the iron tablets were cast by the Chattanooga Car and Foundry Company for $2.87 each. [17] The same firm furnished seventy iron gun carriages at $70.00 each, while the Commission requested from the War Department seventy-four condemned cannon tubes and 2,500 eight-inch shells for marking battery positions. [18] In December, 1893, the Commission adopted the regulations governing the erection of "monuments, tablets, or other markers." All such structures would be raised subject to the approval of the Secretary of War. [19] In 1894 New York State announced its intention to erect, besides its memorials, markers to the New York units and soldiers similar to those of other states. [20] Despite the newly-conceived regulations, it appears that the National Commission failed to adequately control the proliferation of state markers and monuments that occurred in the 1890s. Nonetheless, the campaign for accuracy in positions continued in 1894 with the appointment of a committee by the Society of the Army of the Potomac to aid in site identification at the park. [21] An attempt to locate the lines of South Carolina troops was temporarily frustrated when the governor's representative for that purpose "partook too freely of intoxicants." The governor generously offered to provide another veteran. [22] Work on the various states' locality markers was long and tedious, for a given unit's position at different times of the fighting had to be determined as precisely as possible. Ohio used granite markers three feet high by fifteen inches square to designate its troops' positions, while Indiana chose to use bronze markers. [23]

As the dedication of the park approached in 1895 more and more interpretive markers were erected. Besides the tablets, some 150 granite markers were to be in place on the field. In addition, the city of Chattanooga gave permission for monuments, markers, and tablets to be raised within the municipal limits. [24] More work was completed in locating troop positions, and in one case, that of Indiana, some questionable sites were reconfirmed by on-ground investigations of the state and National commissions. [25] By the time the formalities opened in September, five states had erected ninety markers. They were Ohio (fifty-three), Michigan (twelve), Wisconsin (five), Kansas (two), and Missouri (eighteen). Two hundred twelve iron historical tablets were in place, raised by the War Department through the National Commission. [26] In addition, distance markers and locality tablets were placed at crossroads and at prominent battlefield landmarks, such as houses, to further orient visitors. [27] And eight pyramidal monuments built of condemned artilleryshells were all in place, as were 100 of the 400 or so cannon received to mark the positions of batteries in the fighting. [28] The mounted guns, wrote Boynton, "are also of the same pattern as those which composed the several batteries." [29] So far as the observation towers were concerned, the Commission had originally selected seven sites for the structures, had contracted for six at $5,000 each, but only five had been built. Completed and delivered in 1893 by Snead and Company Iron Works of Louisville, Kentucky, the towers when erected late that year stood seventy feet high and measured sixteen feet square at the base. Three of them stood on Chickamauga Battlefield; one was near Hall's Ford where the Confederates assembled for the first day's battle, another was situated west of Reed's Bridge near where the fighting started, and a third was located at Snodgrass Hill. The two remaining were erected on Missionary Ridge, at the Bragg and DeLong reservations. [30] Subsequent to their erection such interpretive information as site names and distances were painted on signboards attached to the platforms. [31] To promote the park, a number of privately published guidebooks appeared beginning in 1895 for sale to visitors. Most of them locally produced, these paperbound souvenirs were heavily illustrated and contained minimal text. [32]

The work of establishing the park went on beyond the dedication. In 1896 and 1897 more guns were mounted in battery positions and additional marking of the lines occurred. The Commission adjudged several minor differences over its decisions, and also dealt with the Turchin controversy. [33] Generally, the members were pleased with their performance in locating the lines. "The battle field positions," remarked Fullerton, "are now so correctly marked that I am satisfied that not one of them on the fighting lines is as much as ten feet out of place." [34] Yet the work of the National and state commissions in completing the marking of lines was delayed in 1898 with the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. More than 50,000 troops assembled at Chickamauga Park, and it became impossible for the state commissioners "to get on to the ground to put the markers in position, because of the fact that camps were located and occupied on the very ground where most of the markers were to be placed." [35] In 1899 historical tablets were prepared for erection at Point Park and Missionary Ridge and in Chattanooga. More iron carriages were manufactured and shipped to the park so that by year's end 237 guns stood in thirty-eight Union and forty-eight Confederate positions. The historical tablets totaled 554, and distance and locality markers numbered 448. [36]

In October, 1900, the park was visited by more than 100 Civil War veterans who had fought at Chickamauga and Chattanooga. At the Commission's behest, they carefully inspected all markers and indicated on specially prepared forms where the texts might be inaccurate and the locations in error. [37] "While the ranks of the veterans of these fields have sorrowfully diminished," wrote Boynton, "enough remain to inspect and intelligently correct all errors, and thus assist . . . in insuring historical accuracy in the restoration of the notable fields. . . ." [38] More historical tablets ware erected during the year, along with guns for six artillery batteries, including two at Point Park and two in Chattanooga. [39] A few pieces of the ordnance were exchanged for other types at Shiloh National Military Park. [40] By the end of 1901 Chairman Boynton reported that:

There are now erected on the Chickamauga field 109 field guns, mounted on iron gun carriages to imitate the patterns in use during the civil war, marking 44 Union battery positions, and 94 field guns, similarly mounted, marking 39 Confederate battery positions. At Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and Orchard Knob there are 20 gun carriages marking 10 Union batteries, and 25 gun carriages marking 10 Confederate batteries, with two mountain howitzers mounted at park headquarters, making a total of 250 guns mounted. [41]

Still more guns were later mounted along Crest Road together with additional state and federal historical markers which were placed over its eight-mile length. [42] Other interpretive aids included the finally-completed Wilder Tower Monument, which was turned over to the park for use as an observation tower, and the relief model of the battlefields of Chickamauga and Chattanooga. The latter, planned for several years, was started in 1901 by Edwin E. Howell using survey data provided by Park Engineer Betts. [43] When completed in 1905 the relief map was assembled in the Commission offices in Chattanooga. [44]

In 1904 one of the obsolete unmounted cannons in the park was donated to a G.A.R. post in Nelsonville, Ohio. The Commissioners sent forty-nine more for use at Gettysburg National Military Park. But more ordnance of specific calibres was acquired during this period, too, to correctly mark Union earthworks and Confederate positions in Chattanooga. Other batteries were shortly marked with howitzers and Parrott guns at Point Park and Cameron Hill. [45]

Beginning in 1906 a major task proceeded in the correction and revision of some of the texts and positions of markers and monuments on the different battlefields. This project, supposedly conceived by Boynton, was directed by his successor as chairman, Ezra A. Carman. Carman described the relocation of several monuments and markers:

The work of removing monuments which were out of position in the Poe field has been accomplished. The Ninety-second Illinois monument and markers to the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Indiana batteries were removed and placed on new foundations in the Brotherton field, and the marker of the Seventh Indiana Battery was removed to Dyer's Hill, north of the Dyer house. Six gun carriages, with their guns, being two for each of the Seventh, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Indiana batteries, were removed from the Poe field to the Brotherton field line. [46]

Many of the changes that occurred during Carman's chairmanship met heated opposition, especially those that ran against the decisions of his predecessors, Boynton and Fullerton, both of whom were deceased. Likewise, the Commissioners were criticized for refusing to make adjustments in certain troop positions that they felt were unwarranted. These included the relative positions of monuments and markers for Turchin's and Van Derveer's brigades and for the Second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, all of which had assaulted Missionary Ridge in 1863. The War Department in 1907 approved the majority report of the Commission which ruled against any removal of the concerned monuments. [47] But following Carman's death the controversy rekindled, and the Commissioners, cognizant of local support for the Boynton-Fullerton positions, decided not to proceed with the changes urged by Carman. The Commissioners recommended that "no further action be taken . . . and that no changes of monuments, markers or tablets, or of the location of monuments, markers, or tablets be made. . . " [48] One victim of the controversy was Commissioner Wilbur J. Colburn, who had disagreed with Commissioners Grosvenor and Cumming and had filed a minority report over the markers question with the War Department. Former Colonel John T. Wilder was appointed Colburn's successor. [49]

Meantime, further improvements were made at the park. Contracts for cast-iron historical tablets, distance-locality markers, and gun carriages were let with firms in Hagerstown, Maryland, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1908, 1910, 1911, and 1913. Most of these were erected on Chickamauga Battlefield, Lookout Mountain, and Missionary Ridge. [50] In 1910 the tablets for the Fifth and Twenty-ninth Ohio regiments were removed from Missionary Ridge to the Cravens tract on Lookout Mountain. Likewise, Bledsoe's Confederate Missouri Battery was relocated from near the Brotherton House to a point one-half mile northeast of Viniard's. [51] In 1914 the Commission requested that all monuments and markers be photographed so that a file of correct inscriptions might be managed. [52] Few markers and tablets were erected after that. Four years later, when the park was inspected during World War I, War Department personnel observed that the battlefields had been preserved to facilitate the telling of their story "Any changes, either in the topography of the fields or the extent of the woodlands would tend not only to confuse a student of history but would no doubt, in some instances, make the inscriptions on tablets and monuments meaningless." [53] As of that time park interpretive structures consisted of 245 mounted guns in batteries, 638 iron historical tablets, 360 distance-locality markers, 61 bronze historical tablets, 14 shell monuments designating Army and Corps headquarters, and 9 shell memorial monuments. [54] Visitors to the park could tour the battlefields over the several available roads and could gain overviews from any of five seventy-foot-high observation towers or the eighty-five-foot stone Wilder Tower. [55]

During the post-World War I era the War Department administration of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park turned more towards providing subjective interpretation of events on the battlefields. Whereas earlier efforts had been directed towards the physical erection of markers, monuments, and towers in establishing the park, beginning in the 1920s and 1930s a new thrust was apparent. War Department regulations called for implementation of guide services in all national military parks "to assist visitors in visualizing the positions and movements of troops . . . thus enabling them to appreciate fully and quickly the magnitude of the struggles which took place on the battle field." [56] Park superintendents and employees were instructed to cater to the interpretive needs of visitors and "to place all the facilities at their command at the disposal of visitors for observation and study of everything connected with the parks and . . . be prepared to explain fully all details concerning the movement of troops, monuments, and other factors of the activities." [57] The directive was especially timely at Chickamauga-Chattanooga where in 1923 the thirty-year-old observation towers, had been declared unsafe and closed pending their repair or removal. Two of the towers on Chickamauga Battlefield were soon dismantled, one in 1925, the other in 1932. [58] To facilitate the new guide service program at the park the War Department in the latter year published several pamphlets relating to the history of the Civil War campaigns. [59]

The new interpretive trend begun by the War Department gained impetus after the August 10, 1933, transfer of the park to the administration of the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior. Under the National Park Service the recently-instituted guide service was expanded to include CCC personnel, so that by 1934 "twenty-four young college-trained men, who have made a careful, systematic study of the history of Chattanooga and the surrounding battlefields," were employed at Point Park, Chickamauga Park, and other sites in the area. "They are now daily conducting scores of tourists through the parks, explaining the true significance of the points visited and making the trip both pleasant and educational . . . ." In conjunction with this program was one involving Federal Emergency Relief Administration personnel to contact area schools and arrange guided bus tours for field classes on the battlefields. [60]

The "ranger historian" service, eventually discontinued in 1938, was directed by Park Historical Technician Herschel C. Landru, who also aided in the development of plans for a museum to be located in the Administration Building under construction in the park in 1935. With the assistance of National Park Service museum specialist Carl P. Russell, provisions were made for housing exhibits and presenting lectures in the new building, which would also include a history library. Exhibits in the second floor of the museum would be arranged to enable visitors to "visualize the equipment, living conditions and clothing, as well as armament used during the Civil War." [61] The exhibits were approved and in process of preparation during 1936. In the lobby of the new building was placed a large relief map showing all of the military operations in and around the park area. [62]

Further development of Point Park on Lookout Mountain took place in the late 1930s with the construction of the Ochs Museum-Observatory there. The project occasioned difficulty; cracks in the rock necessitated construction of a special foundation, and area residents complained that the work would irreparably damage the mountain. Eventually the unions demanded that all the labor be by union men. The project ran out of money for a time and the inspecting architect resigned, and to insure CCC participation the program had to be split into construction and landscape work. Yet in 1940 the Ochs Museum-Observatory opened for public visitation. [63] Lookout Mountain thereafter became the focal point of park interpretation and visitors were urged to go there first to receive initial orientation to all the park battlefields. [64] Temporary exhibits were installed in the museum room of the building, while four battlefield maps and a TVA exhibit were placed on the terrace. [65] To augment the visitors' experience, two historical leaflets were devised, one relating to the Chattanooga aspects of the park, the other to those at Chickamauga, and were issued, respectively, at Point Park and the Administration Building. [66]

In 1940 the basic guided interpretive tour procedures used at the park came under criticism by visiting National Park Service officials:

At Chickamauga the old amateur system is still in use. The guide endangers his life by "hopping" a ride with a stranger and usually a very poor driver, and upon descending from the automobile everybody does likewise. The results make for disorganization, waste of time, and often embarassing situations following personal questions and "wise-cracks" on the part of the visitor.

Recommendations for improvement included the preparation of larger lecture maps and more informative exhibit labels. [67] During the year automobile caravan tours were given at the park, and in 1940 the National Park Service, assisted by the Works Progress Administration, also planned the Atlanta Campaign Markers project, consisting of erecting a series of roadside markers highlighting Civil War action between Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee. The project, carried out over ensuing years, significantly added dimension and perspective to the park's program of interpretation. [68]

Several developments occurred in the 1940s. Following a dispute between the local park authorities and commercial guides over the latter's exclusion at Point Park, officials agreed to remove an objectionable entrance sign and allow the commercial guides to turn their visitors over to park guides for the tour of Point Park. [69] The guide dispute caused considerable rancor between the National Park Service and the City of Chattanooga. Another difference arose over the park's decision to raze the two old observation towers on Missionary Ridge. After considerable local opposition which at one point brought intervention by Representative Estes Kefauver, the demolition proceeded early in 1941. The towers, taken down by CCC workers, were transferred to Fall Creek Falls and Otter Creek for use as five lookout posts. [70] The final tower, on Snodgrass Hill, was dismantled in 1947. In recent years it had been used as a fire lookout. [71]

As the threat of war loomed in Europe, attempts were made in a series of guided tours to interpret the park story for army draftees from Fort Oglethorpe and to correlate the Chickamauga-Chattanooga experience to current matters regarding national defense. [72] There remained problems with the interpretive program, however. When Acting National Park Service Director Arthur E. Demaray visited the park he noted that the orientation lecture, then delivered in the entrance hall of the Administration Building, was a failure, largely "because of constant interruptions from visitors and from people entering through this room. . . ." [73] He urged that the exhibit room, as yet incomplete, be temporarily used for lectures. [74] To aid in guiding large groups on the field amplification equipment was installed on a Ford coupe in 1941 and, wrote Assistant Historical Technician George F. Emery, "resulted in a considerable improvement of our services." [75]

The public lecture and guide service continued at both Point Park and Chickamauga Battlefield Park. [76] Meantime, a situation arose over certain cannon used to interpret features of the Chickamauga-Chattanooga battles but positioned outside the park boundaries. In 1940 a number of surplus guns had been transferred to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park and to Fort Pulaski National Monument. [77] Thirty other guns were located on private property along Crest Road marking the positions of some of the Confederate batteries. When Crest Road was improved during the 1930s many cannon supposedly were moved. They were again relocated when homes were built on the heights of Missionary Ridge. In Chattanooga guns positioned decades earlier were moved as business and residential areas expanded so that by 1941 most of the historical positions were questionable and had lost their integrity. "In some cases," wrote Emery, "the guns in place have actually been reversed and instead of commanding the ground beyond the intrenchments, they face the positions occupied by the defenders." [78] Superintendent Dunn, however, concluded after examining the record of the old Park Commission that all the guns were in their correct locations. "We . . . fail to find a single instance where a gun has been moved from its original position. . . . If to the casual observer . . . a few of the guns appear to have been placed so as to be in keeping with a decorative scheme of landscape and are serving only ornamental purpose, this is purely coincidental." [79]

In 1946 personnel from the Washington and regional offices inspected the park and made recommendations for an improved and expanded interpretive program to include upgrading the museum displays in the Administration Building, visitor center and installing trailside exhibits at Snodgrass Hill, Chickamauga Creek, and other selected points. [80] These latter exhibits were completed early in 1948 and were placed at Battle Line Road, the Brotherton House, and Snodgrass Hill. A mimeographed booklet for a self-guided short tour of Chickamauga Battlefield was also prepared. The self-guided tour was finished in 1949 when the asphalt roads were marked with yellow arrows and lines to aid tourists. [81] Meantime, Assistant Museum Curator Paul Hudson completed a prospectus for new exhibits for the museum and maps were finished showing Union and Confederate movements around Chickamauga. Guided tours of the battlefield remained popular with visitors as were the orientation talks given at the Administration Building. [82]

The Ochs Museum-Observatory closed for repairs in 1948 and its exhibits were removed. In 1950 temporary exhibits were installed there, followed two years later with permanent displays. "These exhibits," reported Historian John O. Littleton, "serve as a branch museum . . . to the one at Chickamauga Park and take up the story where the Chickamauga story ends." [83] Electric maps, planned since 1947, were placed in the orientation room of the Administration Building and, despite occasional problems, proved conducive in lectures to school and other groups. Museum exhibits were also installed in the newly renovated balcony room of the visitor center. Historian Littleton aided in research and planning of the electric maps, revision of the interpretive brochures, lengthening of the tour road, and marking of the John Ingraham grave site. [84] Subsequently, Historian James R. Sullivan prepared a historical handbook and historical base maps for the park. [85] In 1954 a new museum wing was built on the rear of the Administration Building. This provided exhibit space for the newly acquired gun collection donated by Claud E. and Zanada Fuller. The Fuller collection, one of the finest collections of antique long arms in the world, was installed in June of that year and formal dedication ceremonies followed at the park on July 4. [86] Most interpretation of park resources continued to be accomplished through the guided tours, orientation lectures, and the various museum exhibits. In November, 1959, a car caravan tour of Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and Lookout Mountain took place, perhaps the first of its kind in the park's history. [87]

Several innovations to the park interpretive program occurred in the 1960s. While lectures remained popular orientation devices for visitors, guided tours of the park declined in frequency. In 1962 a park interpretive prospectus was completed calling for revision in the self-guided tour and several field exhibits. The tour was improved by making the Glenn-Kelly road one-way, preparing new interpretive signs, and drafting a new tour booklet. [88] Technicians from Washington installed an automatic electric map audio-visual program, while an artillery display was arranged outside the Administration Building and new aluminum and glass interpretive signs were placed at Point Park. Audiovisual programs were also planned for Point Park. Plywood troop position maps were placed on the Chickamauga Battlefield, along with concrete informational and directional markers. [89] Surplus cannon and iron carriages were transferred to other National Park Service areas. [90] Also during 1962 the Cravens' House was opened on a limited basis for public visitation under a cooperative arrangement with the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities, and attempts were made by park interpretive personnel to increase public contacts at visitor concentration points on the battlefield, such as at Wilder Tower, Snodgrass Hill, and the Brotherton House. [91] As a visual improvement, the old cast-iron markers erected decades earlier by the Park Commissioners began receiving new paint, blue for Union and gray for Confederate, in "a refreshing improvement over the tired and hard-to-read signs of old." [92]

For the centennial observance of the Battle of Chickamauga, park personnel inaugurated a Historical Battlefield Trail for hikers in May, 1963. Several hundred boy and girl scouts attended the opening of the Historical Battlefield Trail. Other hiking trails of varying distance were planned for other parts of the park. [93] A "simplified seven-stop auto tour," utilizing large orientation plaques to aid visitors' perception of the Chickamauga battle action, was also initiated together with several audio-visual public address systems to further promote comprehension of the events. Refurbished exhibits in the Ochs Museum complemented the new tours. [94] A short time later an audio station, containing a repeating taped message, was placed in the museum. [95] In 1964 exhibits were installed on Signal Point interpreting the role of communications during the Civil War. That year also saw the addition of firing demonstrations utilizing Civil War period rifle-muskets in the interpretive program at Chickamauga Battlefield. [96] The popular rifle firings were later presented by park rangers at Cravens' House on Lookout Mountain, too, in conjunction with lectures about the fighting in that area. [97] Plans were drawn for developing Sherman Reservation on Missionary Ridge to include erection of a contact station, new orientation displays, and assignment of a ranger there to assist in interpreting the area to visitors. [98]

In 1966 and 1967 the interpretive facilities at Signal Point were improved with completion of a shelter and an overlook wall, both with exhibits. A large-scale program of military history lectures was prepared and delivered to ROTC cadets at Tennessee Tech University by Park Historian Hobart G. Cawood and Park Guide Kenneth Dubke. [99] Plans got underway for a long-needed visitor center at Point Park. Activities in 1968 consisted of the planning of restoration of historic trace roads to their Civil War era appearance, and the start of twice-daily artillery demonstrations using cannon in Point Park to show visitors how ordnance was maneuvered and discharged in 1863. [100] In 1969 a slide program replaced the electric map at the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center in the Administration Building. [101]

The diverse features of the interpretive program were consolidated into more systematic presentations during the 1970s. New tour guide brochures were prepared, including a folder describing the use of artillery. [102] More hiking trails and automobile tours were opened in 1970. The Confederate Battle Line Trail was inaugurated in January with more than 1,000 boy scouts attending, while a new "Pyramids of Chickamauga" automobile tour of the various park monuments also was started. Together, the hiking trails and motor vehicle tour were designated the Chickamauga Memorial Trail. [103] More group tours were held, and at least one automobile caravan guided tour took place in 1971. In 1972 a number of volunteers enabled the park administration to station interpreters at many more sites. These Volunteers in Parks sported Civil War period dress in their contact with visitors. More "living history" programs were developed, including refinements to the rifle-musket-firing demonstration to include Civil War uniforms, and establishment of a nineteenth century farming exhibition at the Brotherton House. [104] In 1972 the Kelly, Snodgrass, and Brotherton cabins were opened for public visits and living history demonstrations were presented. Superintendent Donald Guiton explained that "this was not a park at the time of the battle, this was pioneer farmland where 24 families lived, moved and had their being. Along with preserving the battlefield, we should also be preserving some remnants of how these people lived, the lifestyles that were a part of it." [105]

This innovative interpretation continued through the rest of the 1970s, much of it coordinated by Chief Park Historian Edward Tinney and his staff. In 1973 the park acquired from Fredericksburg National Military Park a Model 1819 "walking stick" cannon that had been used at Chickamauga in 1863 and which added to the park's fine collection of Civil War ordnance. Living history programs took place daily and were augmented by the arrival of several Civil War reenactment groups who practiced drill and recreated camp life at the park. Bicycle tours of Chickamauga battlefield, conducted by park rangers, became popular with visitors from Chattanooga and environs. [106] So did the evening lectures at Point Park by local Civil War Historian Gilbert Govan. Special audio-visual programs on environmental education were also presented, and a sound and slide show was installed in the contact station on Lookout Mountain. In 1974 a living history program was instituted at Point Park; park rangers attired in Union and Confederate army uniforms presented a program highlighting the everyday life of the common soldier. [107] At Chickamauga Battlefield, an 1860-1880 period log cabin was donated, while split rail fencing was erected around the other three historic houses to affect period atmosphere. [108]

In recent years the trend of the park's interpretation away from a purely military theme has become pronounced, making it occasionally difficult to distinguish between interpretive and recreational features. In 1975 a living history farm and sorghum mill was started near Snodgrass Hill, meant to complement the more traditional audio-visual presentations and live firing demonstrations that still occurred daily. [109] At Point Park the soldiering demonstrations remained popular, attracting some 337,000 visitors during the year, while below at the Cravens House young ladies gave demonstrations of period needle-point, cooking, butter churning, and other facets of mid-nineteenth century living. One popular program was "Pioneer Days," held in 1974 and 1975 wherein hundreds of children from youth centers around Chattanooga were brought in to tour, hike, bicycle, make candles, and watch the history demonstrations. Evening programs continued at Point Park and a series of bicentennial films about the American Revolution was presented. Another program held occasionally on weekends dealt with aspects of "limited impact camping," while presentations relating to the battlefields were delivered before school groups and clubs, and several off-site programs were given. This latter interpretation of park features was facilitated by Volunteers in Parks personnel. [110]

In 1976 the living history encampment of different groups of uniformed Civil War enthusiasts was repeated and drew an estimated 10,000 visitors to the park in one weekend. An artillery demonstration, in which a number of rangers performed the function of loading and firing a 10-pounder Parrott gun, also proved popular to tourists. The "soldier life" demonstrations of seasonal rangers garbed in period military attire, continued at Point Park, as did those highlighting mid-nineteenth century cultural activities at Cravens House. [111] Similar activities took place in 1977 and 1978, with living history programs receiving much impetus in the establishment of a special "area" around the Snodgrass House. Here daily programs consisted of firing demonstrations and interpretive talks on the respective roles of infantry and artillery troops in the Civil War. From the house seasonals also interpreted civilian life of the period. [112] In 1979, 1980, and 1981 the living history program included flag signaling and playing of musical instruments as part of the routine of military camp life. During the former year the park began providing rental cassette tapes and players for use on automobile tours. Added attractions in 1979 included formal presentations on the Civil War sutler and the U.S. Sanitary Commission. Through the summer of 1981 noted Civil War authority James W. Livingood delivered a series of three lectures at Point Park. A new feature in 1981 and 1982 were the Memorial Day artillery battery demonstrations utilizing three or four cannon manned by the park staff, the volunteers, and personnel from related park areas in a mutually beneficial interpretive training course. [113] Programs such as this helped redirect the interpretive program to address the themes of Chickamauga and Chattanooga Military Park envisioned in its enabling legislation nearly a century ago.