CatWalkChatt – Battle of Chickamauga revisited Host of events planned to commemorate 150th anniversary

It was mid-September 1863 when two great American armies — one uniformed in blue, the other in gray — clashed on the farms and woodlands of northwest Georgia in what turned out to be the last major victory for the Confederacy.

That the two days of fierce fighting came to be known for the creek that meandered across those killing fields is appropriate because Chickamauga, in the native Shawnee language, translates as “River of Death.”

Commemorating the 150th anniversary of that epic struggle of Sept. 19-20, 1863, the National Park Service is presenting a smorgasbord of events to illuminate what happened on the very ground where it happened and explain why it was important then — and now.

A number of extra special events are scheduled for this week.

Rededication of the Lytle Monument on Friday, Sept. 20

On this day, 150 years ago, Union Brig. Gen. William H. Lytle fell mortally wounded on the battlefield.

As a civilian, Lytle was a lawyer, politician and before the war had been a nationally recognized poet.

“He was often called the poet-warrior,” Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park superintendent Cathy Cook said.

Upon discovering Lytle’s body, a Confederate soldier who served with the slain general during the Mexican-American War guarded his body until it was claimed by Union troops.

His body was transported by soldiers from both forces back to Cincinnati, under a flag of truce, which was a rare occurrence as most men were buried where they fell.

When the national battlefield park was created, Lytle, along with other brigade commanders killed or mortally wounded at Chickamauga, were memorialized by three-sided pyramids of cannonballs. His fell into a sad state of disrepair, but on the 150th anniversary of his demise, a newly restored monument to this man of letters and of war will be dedicated. Parking for this ceremony that begins at 1:30 p.m. will be at the recreation field near Wilder’s Tower.

via CatWalkChatt – Battle of Chickamauga revisited Host of events planned to commemorate 150th anniversary.