Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 215, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 September 1913 — THE LARGE INTERESTS OF INDIANA STATE IN BATTLEFIELDS OF HISTORIC CHATTANOOGA [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE LARGE INTERESTS OF INDIANA STATE IN BATTLEFIELDS OF HISTORIC CHATTANOOGA

Chattanooga, Tenn. —The Grand Army of the Republic meets in annual encampment here September 15-20, the dates covering the sanguinary battle of Chickamauga, fought fifty years ago between the Confederates under Gen. Braxton Bragg and the Union forces under Gen. William S. Rosecrans. A reunion of survivors of the battle of Chickamauga will he held on Snodgrass Hill during the reunion, the date to be fixed later. This reunion was changed from Marion, Ind., to Chickamauga because of the National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic here in September. Chickamauga battlefield has been converted into a national military park, containing about 7,000 square acres. Through the park the Government has constructed 110 miles of macadam roadway, the roads following the lines of the old roads and trails that existed during the battle of fifty years ago. This park is connected with Chattanooga, ten miles distant, by a high-class boulevard and crest road over Missionary Ridge. Fort Oglethorpe, the largest army post in the country, is situated at the north entrance to the park, and is reached from Chattanooga by trolley cars and steam railroads. The Chattanooga battlefields contain 2,060 memorials, of marble and bronze, historical tablets and markers, the greater part of them being on Chickamauga battlefield. The fields have also seven observation towers, ranging in height from 60 to 80 feet, with spiral stairways to accommodate the observer. Taking the number of military organizations that each Northern state had in the battle of Chickamauga .as a basis of calculation, few states have greater interest in that field than Indiana. That state, in fact, had more troops in the battle than any state except Ohio, counting the organlzatlons represented in official reports. Ohio had 66 organizations in the battle of Chickamauga to Indiana’s 39. The Indiana organizations, with fifty-two guns, were as follows: Infantry regiments: The 6th, 9th, 10th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 35th, 36th, 37th, 38th, 42nd, 44th, 58th, 68th, 74th, 75th, 79th, 81st, 82nd, 84th, 86th, 87th, 88th, 101st.. Mounted infantry regiments: 17th, 39th, 72nd. Cavalry regiments: 2nd and 4th. Battalion: 3rd. Artillery batteries: 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 11th, 18th, 19th, 21st. All of these organizations were in the thick of the dreadful carnage of Chickamauga, and suffered severely in killed and wounded. The regiments that sustained the heaviest loss, however, were, the 10th, with an aggregate loss of 166 men; the 74th, with 157. Two Indiana regiments, the 68th and 101st, were the last to leave Snodgrass Hill, having been detailed to guard Gen. Brannan’s retreat from Snodgrass field. They threw their lines between Gen. Brannan and the Confederates, having orders to hold that position until Brannan’s troops had cleared the field fully ten minutes. Lieut-Col George W. Steele, now Governor of the National Soldiers' Home of Indiana, was in command of the l01st regiment, and the 68th was commanded in the battle by Col. Edward A King, although be was not at Snodgrass Hill, having lost his life earlier in the engagement while leading his regiment in a charge on Kelley field. The two regiments obeyed orders, protecting Gen. Brannan’s withdrawal to McFarland’s gap, in Missionary Ridge,

through which the army passed in the direction of Rossville, Ga., en route to Chattanooga. They sustained no loss in this service, although it was deemed a dangerous undertaking. Two months after the battle of Chickamauga Indiana regiments did desperate fighting at Missionary Ridge, and sustained heavy losses. Four regiments from that state sustained an aggregate loss at Missionary Ridge of 547 men. These regiments were the 15th, loss 190 men; 40th, 158 men; 100th, 114 men; 6th, 76 men. All four of the regiments sustained these losses while in the act of storming the ridge under Sheridan and Ewing. No serious engagement was fought by the Fourteenth Army Corps in the Tennessee campaign that did not witness the standards of Indiana on the firing line. The severest loss to the state at Chickamauga was sustained in the death of the brilliant and dashing Col. Edward A King, of the 68th regiment, who was killed in the carnage on Kelley field. He commanded the second brigade of Reynolds’ division, was conspicuous for dashing bravery, and his death was a loss to the service. A shell monument, erected by the state of Indiana, marks the spot where he fell. The state of Indiana has expended $38,000 memorializing the Chicka-mauga-Chattanooga battlefields. Her memorials consist of 39 monuments and 75 markers, all in the Chickamauga battlefield park. In addition to the King memorial, the state has erected a monument to the 72nd mounted infantry of Wilder’s brigade. A monument of like character has been erected to the 101st regiment, King’s division, Fourteenth Army Corps. The 22nd Indiana infantry, Twentieth Army Corps, under McCook, has been honored by its state in like manner. Regimental monuments, memorializing the valor of Indiana’s sons, are seen at various points on the battlefield, and each of these points saw desperate fighting during the slaughter of Chickamauga. The policy of the state in memorializing this battlefield seems to have been the erection of regimental monuments, somewhat similar in appearance and cost, and the result of this policy is a delightful group of monuments that does credit to the state. No visitor to Chickamauga’s historic field fails to observe Indiana’s memorials, as they have been placed at points of greatest interest throughout that battlefield. The field of Chickamauga is a glorious heritage, in which the people of the United States ought to take a greater interest. If the reader will search history for battlefield statistics, he will find that the slaughter of Chickamauga is unparalleled in the history of wars. Chickamauga was a two days’ engagement. More men were killed and wounded during those two days of carnage than were lost in the same length of time on any battlefield, American and European included. The aggregate loss for the two days was about 35,000, the Confederate forces sustaining a loss of about 800 in excess of the Union loss. The closing conflict at Snodgrass Hill, the crater.of Chickamauga, ranks with the greatest events of world wars in which human valor has been embalmed. The union troops under Thomas, Brannah, Gordon Granger and Steedman, and the Confederate troops under Gen. Longstreet, erected a monument to American valor at

Snodgrass Hill that does not suffer by comparison with any fields of glory. The battle of Chickamauga was a victory for Confederate arms, but barren of important results. Indiana’s troops played a conspicuous part in this carnage, and their glory is inscribed on marble and bronze throughout the field.

Among the commanders of various rank from the state of Indiana who upheld the standard of their commonwealth on these may be mentioned Generals Jeff C. Davis, Reynolds, Wilder, Crittenden, Grose, and others. They distinguished themselves at both Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge, two of the deadliest battles of the Civil War. However, if the reader desires to follow the fortunes of Indiana troops in the Civil War, a history of the Army of the Cumberland, and especially the Fourteenth Army Corps, will satisfy the desire. Brilliant leadership, hard and desperate fighting, and loyalty to the cause of the Union characterized the military .organizations from that state, from the battle of Stone's River through the fires of Chattanooga to Atlanta. No battlefields saw harder fighting or heavier losses during the war, and Indiana’s flag was on the firing line at each. The aggregate loss of the two armies on the Chattanooga battlefields was close to 60,000, killed, wounded and missing. Battlefields that have such an enormous loss to their account are of interest to the entire nation. If all the men that were lost, between Stone’s River, or Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Atlanta, Ga., are included in the account, the total reaches far above 100,000. The Chattanooga battlefields include Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, the engagement at Orchard Knob, and Missionary Ridge. These battles returned a total loss of about 50,000 men, divided almost equally between the North and the South, the Confederates, however, sustaining a somewhat greater loss than the Union Army. Missionary Ridge furnished the decisive victory for Gen. Grant. The defeat of Gen. Bragg in this battle opened a road into the heart of the South for the Union Army, and practically ended the war in the Southwest. There was, of course, much fighting from Chattanooga to Atlanta, as Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who had succeeded Bragg, was making his masterful retreat before Sherman. Kennesaw Mountain, was a deadly battle; so was Ringgold Gap, and other engagements. But the battle of Missionary Ridge struck the South a blow from which it could not possibly recover. Indiana had troops in all of these battles. Hundreds of her sons gave their lives on these battlefields for the preservation of the Union. They were at Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain Missionary Ridge, Ringgold Gap and Kennesaw Mountain, and in the carnage before Atlanta, all of which were battlefields tried men’s courage in the severest of tests. In view of this interest in the Chattanooga battlefields, the Indiana veterans will enjoy the National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic in September. Battlefield reunions have been arranged already for the of the Union armies. One of these reunions will be held on Snodgrass Hill, survivors of Chickamauga participating. Another will, be on Missionary Ridge of survivors that battle.