Reconciliation and Reunions - Chickamauga National Battlefield - Chickamauga, GA - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

County of sign: Catoosa County
Location of sign: Lafayette Hwy & Post Rd., Visitors Center Chickamauga National Battlefield
Sign erected by: National Park Service

Marker Text:

RECONCILIATION
and REUNIONS "In 1889, 26 years after the bloodiest two-day battle of the Civil War, veterans met again at Chickamauga by the "River of Death," in a grand reunion of the two once-hostile armies.

Twelve thousand people attended the 1889 reunion barbecue at Crawfish Springs. Their meeting formally launched the effort to preserve and memorialize the battlefield at Chickamauga as a "shrine for patriotic devotion for the future generations of American Youth."

It took great men to win that battle, but it takes greater men still, I will say morally greater, to wipe away all the ill feeling which naturally grows out of such a context. ` ~ Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans, USA, September 1889

---

The Campaign for Chattanooga
There had been a lull in the war in Middle Tennessee for six months. Since the Union army's New York's victory at Stones River near Murfreesboro, the Federals had remained in winter quarters while the Confederates rested behind their Duck River defense line.

Restless for action, the Lincoln administration pleaded with and prodded the Union commander, Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrnas, to move. Rosecrans resisted, arguing he needed more food, more men, more ammunition, more animals, and more cooperation from Union forces to his left and right. "I believe the most fatal errors of this war," Rosecrans argued, "have been in an impatient desire of success, that would not make time to get ready."

Finally, in late June 1863, Rosecrans conducted a brilliant flanking maneuver that forced the Confederates to abandon virtually all of Tennessee - except Chattanooga.

Group that erected the marker: National Park Service - Department of the Interior URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link] Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: 3370 Lafayette Rd., Fort Oglethorpe,, GA USA 30742

Visit Instructions:
Take a picture of the marker, preferably including yourself or your GPSr in the photo. A very detailed description of your visit may be substituted for a photo. In any case please provide a description of your visit. A description of only "Visited" or "Saw it while on vacation" by anyone other than the person creating the waymark may be deleted by the waymark owner or the category officers.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.