Military Resource Center

1895 Civil War Encampment &

Dedication of Chickamauga Battlefield Park

Source: The Crete Democrat, Crete, Saline Co., NE

Volume XXI, no. 38

Wednesday 18 September 1895

 

From page 1, column 5 -

     LOUISVILLE, Ky., Sept .16 - So far as the veterans are concerned, the twenty-ninth annual encampment closed last night with as many attractions as on any other night of the week. The ladies, however, will continue in session to-day. Yesterday there were over 70,000 at the old Kentucky barbecue, and the last night the campfires were largely attended, with the principal events at Music hall, Phoenix Hill garden and National park. Among the speakers were Generals M. D. Wickersham, Samuel McKee, H. C. Russell, John H. Leathers and others.
     The veterans are going to other army events further south, and to the Atlanta exposition.
     General Lawler and staff leave Sunday night to spend the first part of the week at the national encampment of the Sons of Veterans, and the last of next week at Chattanooga, and the Chicamauga battle-field.
     Independence hall (sic) will be the permanent depository of all books, records and relics of the Grand Army. Past Commander Wagner of Pennsylvania, offered this famous old building in the name of the people of Philadelphia, at the encampment and it was accepted.
     Dr. J. B. Whiting of Janesville, Wis., was elected surgeon general by acclamation. Rev. E. J. Hill of New Jersey and the Rev. Thomas C. Iliff of Utah were nominated for chaplain-in-chief. The vote resulted in the election of Iliff.

From page 1, column 2 -

     CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., Sept. 17 - Under the guiding hand of the secretary of war, acting under the authority of congress, Chattanooga and the notable battlefields surrounding it have been prepared for a national event without parallel. Great throngs of veterans who fought against each other are crowding into the city to take equal part, under national enactment, in the dedication of fields which their prowess made memorable as a national military park, where in the movements and the achievements of each side have received impartial attention. As provided in the act of congress, Secretary Lamont has invited the attendance of the executive department of the government and the members of the supreme court, congress and its presiding officers, the lieutenant general of the army and the admiral of the navy, the governors of all the states with their staffs and the veterans of the contending armies. All are to be prominently represented. Nearly every surviving general of the two armies has sent notice of his intention to attend. The governor of every state which had troops in the action here responded favorably to the secretary's invitation. In a few cases the governors themselves will be prevented from attending, but their states will be officially represented.
     A joint committee of twenty senators and thirty members of the house will represent congress. The members of twenty-six state commissions who have been at work with the national commission in locating lines of battle of the troops of their respective states will attend. The Society of the Army of the Cumberland, of the Army of the Tennessee, the Grand Army of the Republic and the Association of Confederate Veterans will be present in unusual numbers. This official concourse is to be increased by a gathering of an army of visitors, already known to be so great that it will tax the capacity of the railroads centering here and the city to their utmost.
     The park whick is to be dedicated is of unusual dimensions. It extends with its approaches from Sherman heights, in Tennessee, six miles north of Chattanooga, to Glass Mill, in Georgia, a distance of twenty-two miles. The broad boulevard between these two points is owned in fee simple by the government as part of the park, and full jurisdiction over this, over the fifteen square miles of the Chickamauga field, and over many miles besides of other approaches has been ceded to the government by the states of Tennessee and Georgia. This central drive runs for eight miles along Braggs' line of battle on the crest of Missionary Ridge. It passes along the fronts of Sherman's army, Thomas' army of the Cumberland and the army under Hooker. It overlooks all the battlefields about Chattanooga, including Lookout mountain, and runs for twelve miles through the center of the fighting ground of the three days' battle of Chickamauga.
     The plan of the park is to restore the fields as nearly as possible to their condition at the time of the battle, to close all new roads and reopen and improve those used in the battles, over which the armies moved to and from the fields.
     The official dedication, under the auspices of congress and the secretary of war, will occupy the 19th and 20th insts., but exercises of a general character, which will be attended by most of the officials which are to arrive, will occupy the whole day of the 18th, and the evenings of the 18th, 19th and 20th.
     The Missouri dedication will occur on the 20th at Bragg's headquarters on Missionary ridge. The hours for Wisconsin and Pennsylvania depending on the closing work on their monuments.