Waging war on grime and crime in at historic battlefields

Local warriors will wage a two-prong campaign against grime and crime on Saturday.

As part of the annual Park Day, sponsored by the Civil War Preservation Trust, volunteers will engage in hand-to-hand combat against years of accumulated decay at the Chickamauga Battlefield and an illegal tire dump at Moccasin Bend.

“A lot of sites get overgrown during winter,” said Mary Koik, a spokeswoman for the national trust. “This is spring cleaning for our Civil War battlefields and historic sites and a great way to share interest in that heritage.”

This is the 11th year that the local battlefields, including the recently acquired Moccasin Bend property, have been part of this national event that this year will be held at more than 100 sites.

“Last year I painted cannons at Orchard Knob,” said Becky Browder, chairwoman of Friends of the Park. “It was fun, and I will definitely be out this weekend.”

Friends was formed in 1986 to support the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, the nation’s oldest and largest such park, and its members work year round to better the park’s many local sites.

“Working on Park Day give you a different view of the park and a deeper appreciation of what the staff deals with on a daily basis,” Mrs. Browder said.

Without proper maintenance, battlefields can “suffer from the ravages of both time and tourism,” Civil War Preservation Trust President James Lighthizer said when the list of this year’s projects was announced.

“Our goal is to spruce up these links to America’s past so they can be enjoyed by all,” he said.

Patrice Glass, volunteer coordinator with the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, said this year’s Park Day event will focus on the cultural aspect of local sites.

“At Chickamauga we have two projects,” she said. “Volunteers will clean the cast iron plaques found throughout the park that tell the story of the battle.”

The visitors center and administrative building stand on part of the former McDonald Farm at the intersection of LaFayette and Reed’s Bridge roads. Last year teams of volunteers started building a cedar split-rail fence to show the farm’s boundary.

The volunteers at Moccasin Bend will perform cleanup operations on ground where Union troops were garrisoned during the siege of Chattanooga. The area has become an illegal dump site for discarded car and truck tires, Ms. Glass said.

“We will provide all the necessary tools for this, our one big annual springtime work day,” she said.

The ability to muster more manpower for cleanup work is similar to “calling for the cavalry,” Ms. Koik said. “These volunteers are our shock troopers.”