Chickamauga Battlefield

[peejman]

The wife and I were in Chattown visiting my folks for the weekend.  We managed to get sunday afternoon free and my wife suggested we visit Chickamauga Battlefield.  I thought that was a fitting destination for the Memorial Day weekend.   :usa: 

 

Having grown up in Chattanooga, I've been there a bunch.  But that was a long time ago before I had much interest in such historical things.  Unfortunately we didn't have but a few hours to look around.  There's a ton of stuff there so we tried to hit the high points. 

 

As luck would have it, we arrived just in time for the last cannon demonstration of the day.  They fired the 12lb'er twice.  Love the enthusiasm in the command to FIRE! 

 

Love the echo reverberating across the open fields.  They told us this is about 50% of the typical amount of powder used to fire these.

 

Cannons frickin ROCK!  :rock:

 

http://youtu.be/bDVKnEQZVBg

 

 

http://youtu.be/h5vJFi0CqBI

 

 

Then there's an absolutely spectacular period gun collection in the visitor's center.  It's beyond amazing!   :drool:   There's 6 rows of guns on display like this...

(note that the building is posted)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saw plenty of stuff I'd never heard of before...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Cool double musket...

 

 

 

 

SBR, 1795 style...

 

 

 

 

Don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to get stuck by that....   :ugh:

 

 

 

 

The ranger on duty told us that they'll be having a large reenactment in the fall for their 150 year anniversary celebration.  They're expecting 10,000 reenactors.  We've put that on our calendar. 

 

 

They've also got a cool cell phone driving tour.  You drive around following the signs and call a number they give you.  You enter your location and you get a narrated account of what went on in the battle in that area.  I thought that was a pretty cool idea.  There's monuments literally everywhere, one could spend hours (days?) looking at and reading all of them.   I'd love the have the opportunity to nerd-out and check it all out in depth.  And since we like talking about bicycles so much here, note that the whole park is very bicycle friendly. 

 

:up:

[peejman]

Link to the park.... http://www.nps.gov/chch/index.htm

[quesogrande]

nice post- thank you

[Guest PapaB]

The wife and I went there last year for a day. We plan on returning later this year. Incredible historic info and those guns were worth a couple of hours themselves. The skills and artistry of the early gunmakers always amazes me.

[viscero]

Very nice!  Want to take the wife there some day.  I went there once in my youth with my boy scout troop and we hiked nearly every trail they had.  Still remember what an awesome experience that was.

[Spook]

Thanks for the post. Wife and I plan a visit this fall also.

[DaveS]

We will be there in the fall with our guns for the 150th. We had 2 guns in Nashville yesterday firing at the Springhill Cemetery. We do a lot at the Stones River battle field also.

Glad you enjoyed it.

 

We are recruiting by the way. We have six guns we need to man!

 

Dave S

[JAB]

Growing up, my paternal grandparents as well as my maternal grandfather and step-grandmother all lived (within about a mile and a half of each other - maybe less) on Lookout Mountain. The way we would go to visit them usually involved getting off the Interstate at the Rossville Boulevard exit and going through the Chickamauga Battlefield.

 

When I first got my Mustang a few years back (it was used when I bought it) I went on a kick of wanting pics of it in some of my favorite places. One was Cades Cove. Another was at different sites in the Battlefield. My favorite of those was one that I took of it parked in front of the visitors' center when there was no one else there (almost like the VC was my house and the Mustang was sitting in the driveway.)

 

Edited May 30, 2013 by JAB

[bigbabysweets]

We will be there in the fall with our guns for the 150th. We had 2 guns in Nashville yesterday firing at the Springhill Cemetery. We do a lot at the Stones River battle field also.
Glad you enjoyed it.

We are recruiting by the way. We have six guns we need to man!

Dave S

Recruiting you say? What would I need to have/do to join in on the fun?

[DaveS]

Recruiting you say? What would I need to have/do to join in on the fun?

Nothing to start out with. Eventualy a uniform. We have enough loaner gear to get folks in the field.

 

Dave

[bigbabysweets]

I'be thought about doing this for years. I love history and learning how things used to be done. My wife is the exact opposite. I'd definitely be interested in learning more!

[peejman]

We will be there in the fall with our guns for the 150th. We had 2 guns in Nashville yesterday firing at the Springhill Cemetery. We do a lot at the Stones River battle field also.

Glad you enjoyed it.

 

We are recruiting by the way. We have six guns we need to man!

 

Dave S

 

 

Sounds like fun.  Wish you were closer (and wish I had some free time) ....