Creating a positive, inviting image about a city or region can be a tough job. Many communities, to their credit, undertake the task. Chattanooga and other towns, historical sites and other attractions spend meaningful amounts of money and time to make their names known to a wide audience. It is almost always a prudent investment that holds the promise of a useful return. Often, though, recognition comes from unforeseen sources rather than carefully plotted and designed campaigns. Those unexpected events are all the more welcome for being so.
The Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, and be extension the entire tristate region, is the beneficiary of such positive exposure in the fall issue of Hallowed Ground. The cover of the award-winning magazine, published by the Civil War Preservation Trust, prominently features the Battle of Chickamauga and the related cavalry engagement at Reed’s Bridge. The interior pages offer an in-depth view of the battle and events, personalities and locales connected to it. Various sidebars enhance the presentation.
Lively writing by David A. Powell, attractive period and contemporary photos and superb maps provide solid history and an attractive introduction to the battlefield and its environs – including Chattanooga. The issue should find an audience among both those familiar with the topic as well as those in search of introductory information.
The magazine and its contents provide the kind of positive publicity that tons of money and well-executed publicity and advertising campaigns don’t often deliver. With a circulation of about 70,000 and a readership that might reach double or triple that, the magazine’s account reaches an audience with a highly developed interest in the Civil War. It should inspire them as well as students new to study of the war and others to consider the battlefield and surrounding communities as places worth an extended visit. That, of course, is one of the major goals of any promotional or advertising campaign.
It’s no accident that Chickamauga is featured in the magazine. “It was a hugely important battle,” says Mary Goundrey Koik, deputy director of communications of the CWPT. “We’d never done a major issue on Chickamauga and it was more than high time to rectify that.”