Audio clip
Sam Weddle
Grant Girvin, 12, spent the last Saturday of his spring break at the Chickamauga Battlefield doing volunteer work along with about 50 others who braved dreary weather to help preserve the nation’s first military history park.
Grant and his father, Gary, came from Indianapolis, Ind., to participate in the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park’s 11th annual Park Day.
“It is kind of a vacation, but also you know you are doing something right on your vacation,” Grant said.
Volunteers range from children to senior citizens. Grant’s group worked to build a fence at the battlefield, while others did restoration and clean-up work at other locations.
One volunteer said there was “a madness to the method,” and Park Ranger Sam Weddle said the work at the battlefield went more smoothly than he could have imagined.
“These are people that, in general, don’t do things together and haven’t met each other before,” Mr. Weddle said. “With the minimum amount of instruction that was given, in about 10 minutes time, this group of about 40 or 50 people had this thing figured out.”
Mr. Weddle said park officials had been thinking about the fence project for a decade, but did not have the resources to make it happen. Despite the cool rain, Park Day turnout was the biggest group of volunteers ever, working to restore the look of the battlefield at the time of the Civil War.
“We don’t put these types of features here unless we have some historic evidence,” Mr. Weddle said. “It gives the visitor a better feel, intrinsically, that this was an active farm area when the battle occurred.”
Mr. Weddle said there were 19 families living in the vicinity of the two-day battle in 1863. For most, their lives and farms were destroyed by the Civil War.
The families would have had fences and animals, and Mr. Weddle said park officials will continue to work to make the battlefield more than just a “nicely landscaped park.”
Mr. Girvin and Grant said they are interested in the history that the park preserves, and some of the monuments in the battlefield are dedicated to soldiers from Indiana, which provides additional attraction.
Mr. Girvin has a degree in U.S. history, and his interest sparked that of his son, too. The teen, who aspires to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, admitted his appreciation for history may not be typical for members of his generation.
“It is just cool to preserve what happened in the nation’s history,” Grant said. “That way people in the future generations can enjoy the same stuff we do.”
Sam Patterson and his son Josh, 14, also made a long trip to volunteer — from Douglas, Ga.
Mr. Patterson has volunteered once before on Park Day, he said. He and his son are interested in Civil War history also and have ancestors who were among the thousands who fought on the grounds the Pattersons worked to preserve Saturday.
Rossville resident Ray Campbell said he helped the park Saturday because the park helps his church, Oakwood Baptist, host Easter in the Park each year. About a dozen Oakwood Church members volunteered, Mr. Campbell said.
“I wouldn’t say it is all that much fun,” Mr. Campbell said. “I just like to give back.”
Mr. Weddle said volunteer work is priceless, because the park’s staff is not large enough for them to do it alone.
“With our entire staff, if we shut the entire park down and didn’t do anything else, we don’t have this kind of people,” he said.
