Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 199, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 August 1913 — G. A. R. ENCAMPMENT AT CHATTANOOGA, TENN. [ARTICLE]

G. A. R. ENCAMPMENT AT CHATTANOOGA, TENN.

Sham Battle Among Events Prepared for Entertainment of Veterans Next Month. Chattanooga, Tenn., Aug. 20 The program of entertainment for the 47th annual encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, to be held here Sept 15-20, is about complete, and it is one of the most atamauga battlefield, concluding at a city entertaining the union veterans. ■ Chief among the events is a sham battle to be fought between regiments of the regular army on Chicka maugua battlefield, concluding at historic Snodgrass Hill. This event has been arranged for the entertainment of the old soldiers, primarily; but it will be of interest to all visitors. The Chattanooga encampment association believes that it will be more enjoyable for' the, old soldiers, to make them the spectators of a sham battle rather than the actors. The most spectacular feature of the program will be the reproduction of the “Battle Above the Clouds” in fireworks. This spectacle, of course, will be staged on Lookout mountain, nearly 2,500 feet above the sea level and fifteen hundred feet above the valley in which Chattanooga is situated. It will be one of the greatest fireworks spectacles ever seen in the United States and will be visible for a hundred miles in all directions. Signal fires will be lighted every evening on Signal Point, north of the city, reproducing signal fires that burned there during the Chattanooga campaign in 1863. These bonfires will be plainly visible from the city, as they were during the war. Signal mountain can be reached in thirty minutes from the city by trolley cars and automobiles.

A collision between two passenger trains at Warner park, just east of the residential sections of the city, is another important number on the amusement program. Two passenger trains, going at the rate of forty miles an hour will col lide on a straight track in front of the spectators in a large grandstand. Warner park Is the largest children’s playground in the southern states, has a railway track run ning along one side of it, and is splendidly adapted in every way for the exhibition.

A steamboat reception and dinner to visiting officials of the G. A. R. will be an enjoyable event in the encampment The visitors will be taken tor an excursion by prominent people and given a reception on the Tennessee river. Hydroplane flights will also be given daily on the river during the encampment. Another attractive exhibition to instruct and entertain the visitors will be a model device reproducing the Panama canal. This model of the big ditch is large enough to permit the passage through a canal of a good sized, miniature steamboat. The purpose of the model is to show how large, ocean-going vessels will be floated through the Panama canal. There will be a number of regimental and brigade reunions during encampment week, of interest largely to old soldiers. Wilder’s brigade will hold a reunion, as will also the Army of the Cumberland. Many of the regiments that fought in the Chattanooga battle will hold reunions. Battlefield reunions are also being arranged by a special committee. These reunions will be for survivors of each battle fought here and will be held on the battlefields. The battlefields included are Chickamauga, Lookout mountain and Missionary ridge, ach field to have a reunion day.