The Fort Wood neighborhood is a historic district.An outdoor Civil War banquet highlighting a Chattanooga neighborhood's role in battles of the Civil War will be held Friday, Sept. 27, in the Fort Wood National Historic District.
The nonprofit Fort Wood Neighborhood Association will present the banquet, which will include music of the period and Civil War re-enactors. Following dinner, Daryl Black, executive director of the Chattanooga History Center, will give a 20-minute presentation, "After Chickamauga," detailing Fort Wood's role in the battles.
Also planned are free, self-guided walking tours of the historic neighborhood, which is near the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus. Prints of the original fort in Fort Wood will be available for purchase.
According to association members, the original fort was an earthwork stronghold constructed by Union forces in 1863 during their occupation of Chattanooga.
The Union Army of the Cumberland struggled with Confederate forces south of Chattanooga along the banks of Chickamauga Creek on Sept. 19-20, 1863. After an epic collapse on Sept. 20, Union troops retreated into Chattanooga, demoralized and beaten. Two months later, the decisive attack on the Confederate forces on Missionary Ridge began when signal shots rang out from the Union artillery at Fort Wood. The victory gained that day assured the collapse of the Confederacy.
The banquet will begin with appetizers and spirits at 6:30 p.m., followed by a three-course plated dinner at 7:15 p.m. It will held in a tent on the lawn at 850 Fort Wood St., one of the neighborhood's historic buildings, which now serves as business headquarters for Jay Robinson Real Estate. Tickets are $75.
For reservations, call 423-265-0771, ext. 100, or visit www.ChattanoogaPresents.com. For other information, visit www.historicfortwood.org.