Chickamauga Battlefield: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, National Park Service

Styles, Sean; Goetcheus, Cari; Hasty, David

Chickamauga Battlefield, the largest of 17 subunits that comprise the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, is located in Walker and Catoosa counties of North Georgia. The battlefield was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil War, occurring in September of 1863. Encompassing 5,283 acres, the battlefield boundaries include most of the land where the significant fighting occurred. Chickamauga Battlefield is a significant landscape for its association with the Civil War battle, the establishment of the first national military park in America, and the continued commemoration and interpretation by the National Park Service (NPS). Lafayette Road, which bisects the battlefield from north to south and provides public access, was the main route between Chattanooga and southern points; the Battle of Chickamauga occurred largely because of the Confederates’ attempt to position the troops astride the road and block the Union Army’s access to Chattanooga. In addition to its significance as a battle site, many individual resources are associated with the creation and development of the park: monuments and markers, stone-lined drainage ditches, bridges, and the visitor center. These represent the battlefield’s contribution as part of the national military park, establishing precedents for historic battlefield preservation and land use. These features also reveal a great deal about landscape design in the 1890s through 1930s, including trends related to memorialization through sculpture and architecture. Many roads traverse the battlefield representing different eras of park history, including historic roads significant in the battle, Park Commission/War Department roads built in association with the park’s early development, and NPS roads. Although extant roadways still retain the general alignment of the battle roadways, the entire road plan and other improvements are representative of all periods of park development. The Chickamauga Battlefield retains a high degree of integrity of location, setting, feeling, and association relative to conditions during the 1863 battle. The area largely retains the spatial organization, topography, and natural systems of that time. This aids in depicting how strategy and results could have been influenced by the character of the surrounding landscape. Some notable changes include the loss of farmsteads, improvements to roadways, and alterations in patterns of land use. The vegetative habitats of Chickamauga Battlefield, an important characteristic of the landscape during the conflict, include dense forest, occasional open fields, and cedar glades. While some reforestation has occurred, the proportion of cleared space to forested areas still conveys the landscape character during the battle. Contributing resources associated with the commemorative development of the battlefield also maintain a high degree of integrity in location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. The buildings and structures include the Superintendent’s Residence, the Lee Dyer House/ranger quarters, and the Wilder Brigade Monument/observation tower. Of the 24 farmsteads that were present on the Chickamauga Battlefield in 1863, only three structures are presently being interpreted for their battle-era associations: the Kelly, Brotherton, and Snodgrass Cabins. All three structures were either partially or completely destroyed during the war, rebuilt by their owners after the war, and further repaired in the 1930s as part of the CCC program. The Dyer House was constructed in 1875, maintained by the War Dept., then renovated for use as a ranger residence in 1939.

Chickamauga Battlefield: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, National Park Service

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