Mark Thrash never officially served as a soldier, but his life is as storied in the annals of the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park as many who saw action in the Civil War here.
Now, just in time for Memorial Day, a new exhibit in the Visitor Center of Chickamauga Battlefield will trace the saga of his life from slave to soldier’s servant to gravedigger to park laborer to venerable storyteller for 21st-century Civil War buffs.
Rumored to be more than 120 and the nation’s oldest man, oldest pensioner and oldest voter when he died in December 1943, Thrash had been widely celebrated the last decade of his life with local and national news stories, radio broadcasts, and various parties and presentations.
Park information acknowledges “almost everything about [his] life is shrouded in mystery and memory” but says “it is somewhat irrelevant how many of his stories are true” because he “promoted the preservation of this park, and inspired people to care about this place.”
What is known to be true, according to various accounts, is that Thrash was a bodyguard for Gen. Henry V. Boynton, chairman of the committee that oversaw the development of the park; moved to a cabin in 1892 that would later be part of park grounds; became employed first as a stableman by the park in 1893; retired in 1921; and lived in the two-room cabin — ultimately with his fifth wife — until he died.