The Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, in partnership with the Chattanooga National Cemetery, invites the public to participate in a free torch light tour of the Civil War portion of the cemetery on Memorial Day, May 27.
Entrance to National Cemetery, Lookout Mountain in the background. Vintage postcard from 1906.
The tour will begin at the old cemetery entrance arch in the cemetery’s southwest section at 8:45 pm, will involve about a mile of walking over the rolling grass-covered grounds, and will last approximately 90 minutes.
Captured by the Union army in 1863, Chattanooga became the major hospital center for General William T. Sherman’s drive on Atlanta in 1864, and the hundreds of wounded who died of their battle injuries in those hospitals became some of the earliest interments in what is today the Chattanooga National Cemetery.
With subsequent re-interments of Union battlefield dead from Rocky Face Ridge, Dug Gap, and Resaca, the national cemetery, in many ways, is one of the largest Atlanta Campaign memorials.
National Military Park Historian Jim Ogden will feature graves and stories of some of the soldiers interred in the cemetery who died in the campaign that carried the war beyond Chattanooga and into the heart of Georgia.
Comfortable, supportive footwear, clothing appropriate for the weather, and water are recommended for this program. Additionally, flashlights used to supplement light from the reproduction historical torches, will be needed.
For more information about programs at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, contact the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center at 706-866-9241, the Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Center at 423-821-7786, or visit the park website at www.nps.gov/chch.