The city of Chickamauga’s annual commemoration of a Civil War battle that gave the town its name and of a picnic that led to the creation of the National Military Park network will take place Saturday, Sept. 15.
This living history event will be held at Crawfish Spring, the artesian spring that gave the town its name at the time of Battle of Chickamauga in 1863, and on the grounds of the Gordon-Lee Mansion.
The circa-1840’s home served as a hospital for Union troops during the war and was the scene in 1889 of the “Blue-Gray Barbeque” which is considered one of, if not the greatest, barbecues in American history.
It was on the same Gordon-Lee Mansion grounds that about 14,000 veterans, both Confederate and Union, of the Battle of Chickamauga gathered on Sept. 20, 1989, to share a meal, smoke a pipe of peace and lay the groundwork for what would become the nation’s first and largest national military park.
“The peace pipe stems were made from reeds cut at Crawfish Spring and the pipe bowls were carved from wood taken from the battlefield,” Chickamauga City Manager John Culpepper said.