Hammond Times, Volume 7, Number 304, Hammond, Lake County, 12 June 1913 — Page 8
Monuments on Chattanooga
B
Battfields
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ng From Left to Right Top Row: Maryland Monument on Orchard Knob; Georgia Monument in Chickamauga Park; Illinois Monument on Missionary Ridge; South Carolina Monument In
Chickamauga Park. Second Row Ohio Monument on Missionary Ridge; Carnes' Battery in Chickamauga Park; Iowa Monument on the Side of Lookout Mountain near the Cravens House. Third Row Snodgrass Place in Chickamauga Park; Brotherton House on Chickamauga Battlefield; View of Snodgrass Hill, Chickamauga Park. CMelkaininiaiiiiicnja aunwffl Gcftfly sttotmipe Gdpmmpaoipcdl
OFFICIAL FIGURES GIVE HONOR TO CHICKAMAUGA
Group of Monuments and Historic Points of Interest on Chattanooga's Battlefields Made Glorious by the
World's Greatest War- Here Are Erected Lasting Tributes in Marble and Bronze by a Nation to Its
Heroic Soldiery. (By J. Q. Rice, for Publicity Committ ee, Chattanooga Reunion Association.)
Of comparatively recent years more or less friendly rivalry has existed between the various writers who have turned their attention to the battlefields of Chickamauga and Gettysburg, the rivalry being as to the relative importance of each battle, the percentage of loss of each and the number of memorials erected on those fields of glory. It is not surprising, therefore, that this rivalry has shown itself, fifty years after the battles, clothed in new garments of speech, but containing the same arguments. July 4 there is to be a reunion on the field of Gettysburg of both blue and gray, the government bearing the expense of all veterans engaged in the battle and desire to attend the reunion. The Confederate veterans hold their reunion at Chattanooga May 27-29, Inclusive, this being the semicentennial year of the great battles fought in and around the Mountain City. Champions of Gettysburg are busy with their pens, arguing that high tide of battle was reached on that historic field and claiming more monuments and markers for Gettysburg than any other battlefield In the world. All of this is good, because it creates interest in fields of glory and immortalises American valor. Chattanooga would not rob Gettysburg of the least of its glory. There was enough there for all concerned, but Chattanooga does not
concede that Gettysburg was a harder-
fought battle than Chickamauga. or that
the field of Gettysburg contains a greater
number of monuments, historical tablets,
markers and other memorials than the
battlefields round this city.
President Lincoln, in his memorable speech at Gettysburg, set aside that
field, to all intents and purposes, for
special care of the government Mil-
lions have been poured out by the national government and state governments for the -dornmert of the field with monuments and othor memorials. Perhaps more money has been spent at Gettysburg in beautifying landscape and embalming valor in marble columns, but Chattanoojra beats Gettysburg In both number of memorials and per cent, of casualties In battle. The per cent, of casualties at Gettysburg was 20; at Chickamauga it was 33. Gettysburg, according to official figures, has. all told, about 1,600 memorials on her field. The official figures of the Chattanooga-Chickamauga National Park commission. ' published herewith, show that this field has more than 2,000 memorials Gettysburg beats Chattanooga in costly monuments, but not much. This field has monuments to the number of a little under 300. Gettysburg has 460. Counting everything on both fields that can be included under the bead of "memorials." Chattanooga is about 400 ahead of Gettysburg.
The roar of battle at Gettysburg was
heard around the world. The roar at
Chickamauga shook the earth. Daring
and bravery reached high tide at Gettysburg with Pickett's immortal charge.
but high mark for dogged fighting and
casualties in war was set at Chicka-
mauga. War historians agree that, for one day's fighting, the per cent, of casualties at Sharpsburg or Antletam is the largest in the history of wars, and
that for two days' fighting Chickamauga has that distinction. The late Gen. John
B. Gordon, beloved Georgian, distin-
guished in peace and in war, wrote as
follows of Chickamauga:
"An American battle that surpassed in its ratio of carnage the bloodiest conflicts in history outside of this country ought to be better understood by the American people. Sharpsburg, or Antletam. 1 believe, had a larger proportion of killed and wounded than any other single day's battle of our war, and that means larger than any in the world's wars. Chickamauga, however, in its two days of heavy fighting brought the ratio of losses to the high-water mark. Judged by percentage in killed and wounded, Chickamauga nearly doubled the sanguinary records of Marengo and Austerlltz; was two and one-half times heavier than sustained by the Duke of Marlborough at Malplaquet; more than double that suffered by the army under Henry of Navarre in the terrific slaughter at Coutras; nearly three times as heavy as the percentage of loss at Solferino and Magenta; five times greater than that of Napoleon at Wagram, and about ten times as heavy as that of Marshal Saxe at bloody Racoux. Or, if we take the average percentage of loss in a number of the world's great battlesWaterloo, Wagram, Valmy, Magenta, Solferino, Zurich and Lodi we shall find by comparison that Chickamauga's record of blood, surpassed them nearly three for one."
Gen. Gordon Is dead and gone; his elo-
quent lips no longer sing the praises of the Confederate soldier; his pen has
ceased to combat prejudice, but his elo-
quent description of the great battle of Chickamauga on the soil of his own beloved state will live as long as people
take an interest in good literature and
State Monuments, Markers, Tablets and Batteries. (Compiled by Col. Baxter Smith, Assistant Secretary ChattanoogaChickamauga National Park Commission.) The following table shows the number of memorial monuments and markers of marble, granite and bronze, erected in the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National park. Guns mounted on carriages in battery in Chickamauga park: 44 Union batteries 109 guns 20 Confederate batteries 96 guns In Chattanooga. Lookout mountain. Missionary ridge and Orchard knob: 10 Union batteries 20 guns 10 Confederate batteries ..20grros Total 245 guns Bronze historical tablets. Chattanooga 1 Army and corps headquarters shell monuments 1 Memorial shell monuments, brigade commanders killed: 6 Union, 4 Confeedrates. total - Historical tablets "St Distance and locality tablets 860
I Chattanooga
Chickamauga
Park
and vicinity
IMon,u- Markers! Monu- Markers ments fj ments ' Alabama 1 I Connecticut 1 Florida 1 Georgia 1 u Illinois 87 88 18 18 Indiana I 89 75 Towa 8 Kansas 1 2 J Kentucky 1 " Maryland Massachusetts i Michigan 10 U 8 Minnesota J Missouri 1 . i New Jersey J New Tork , r. , Ohio W ' J " 0 Pennsylvania ' J 8 ' Tennessee Wisconsin ' 8 1 2 South Carolina :? Total 1T2 9 60 112
United States, 9 granite to U. S. regular troops. Twenty-three shell monuments. Landrum, one Carnes battery, one Iron observation towers. 70 feet high to observatory, Ave Wilder's monument observation tower, 85 feet high, one. Boulevards and avenues, 105 miles completed. Number of acres In park. 6,965. Erected by Ladles Memorial association. Montgomery, Ala. t. bo dedicated durlnar Confederate reunion. May, 1913. In course of erection; to be dedicated during Confederate reunion. May. 191S.
entertain respect for American valor. It I enced somewhat by early associations in la possible that Gen. Gordon was lnflu- I his estimate of Chickamauga. His fa
ther's home was not far from this field,
and as a boy he fished in Chickamauga river, hunted in the woods that covered
the plain, and passed back and forth
with his father through the now historic
community. However, no contemporary writer on war topics during Gen. Gor
don's lifetime successfully disputed any
statement he made concerning that great
battle. He passed to his reward firm
in the belief that among the great bat
tles of history Chickamauga was entitled to first place In point of deadly car
nage, percentage of loss and heroic cour
age on the part of the forces engaged
in it
The Field Today. Chickamauga today has that quiet
which belongs to all great battlefields. The visitor to the historic field or the casual passerby is Impressed with the improvements that have been made.
Hundreds of memorials dot the field and engage the attention of the thoughtful. Snodgrass hill, where Gen. George H. Thomas checked in the federal army
what at one time was a disgraceful rout and made himself "the Rock of Chickamauga" in history, is covered with monuments and other memorials. One feels that he treads upon hallowed
ground at this spot. If the visitor be a dreamer he hears the roar of battle and witnesses the clash of the contending legions aa they cheerfully pay the last measure of heroic devotion with their lives. It is a melancholy thing to contemplate brave men giving freely their lives that valor may by chiseled into marble years later. These monuments, historical tablets, markers and observation towers on the battlefields of Chattanooga, and especially on the field of Chickamauga, outnumber the memorials on any battlefield in the world, if the decision of men who have made the topic a special study is based on fact. They agree that the United States leads all countries in the matter of memorializing battlefields. That is to say, in erecting monuments, tablets and markers on its battlefields the American republic spends more money than any other nation on earth. And if the data secured through official channels concerning Gettysburg and Chattanooga is to be relied on as ending the argument, then Chattanooga
leads the world In this homage to valor and courage. Col. John P. Nnicholson. chairman of the Gettysburg National Park commission, has furnished some newspaper writers recently with data covering the memorials at Gettysburg. Various totals are deducted from these data, but none are higher than 1.700 and none lower than 1.600. The same kind of data supplied to newspaper writers during the present month by the secretary of the Chlckamauga-Chattanooga National Park commission and by Capt. J.P. Smartt, historian of the park, place the total number of memorials on 'the Chattanooga fields at about 2,000. This estimate of the number of memorials at Chattanooga Includes nothing in the National cemetery. The Coming Reunion. The visitor to the Confederate reunion here on May 27-29 will have a splendid opportunity to view these fields and enjoy the associations that surround the great battlefields. These fields have been reclaimed and beautified against odds that at times seemed insurmountable. But Confederate and fed
eral united In the work and the results are written in the hundreds of handsome monuments, historical tablets, markers and observation towers that beautify mountain, ridges and valleys and stir patriotism in every soul ' The south has a greater interest in Chattanooga's battlefields . than in all others combined. If the section of the United States that lies south of the Ohio river ever has a field where coming generations may study American valor with object lessons before them. it must be at Chattanooga. The heroic exploits of federal and Confederate are being preserved here in imperishable marble and bronze, and the record must always be elevating, to generations yet unborn. The national government and the governments of the states of the Union, now that sectionalism has run its course and disappeared forever, are uniting their wealth and brain to beautify these fields. As the years pass, as generations come and go, these fields with their monuments and historical tablets will contribute much to the pride and the glory of the American nation.