In 1865, as surrendered Confederate soldiers journeyed home from faraway places such as Appomattox Court House, Va., and Durham, N.C., feelings of sadness, anger, and contempt for the victors were still very much alive in the hearts of the vanquished.
Veterans affected by the desolation brought on by Civil War, which ravaged the country by prematurely extinguishing hundreds of thousands of American lives, created safe havens of remembrance. Ex-Confederates organized the United Confederate Veterans Association (UCV), while their Union counterparts created organizations such as the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) and the Society of the Army of the Cumberland. These organizations became the vehicles for the reconciliation of over 24 years of separation and anxiety between the nation’s two sections.
In 1889, the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, made up of Union veterans who once fought in the battles of Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and others, extended an olive branch across the Mason-Dixon Line to their Southern brothers. Upon deciding to hold their reunion in Chattanooga, members of the society invited Southerners to join them in attending a large barbecue feast held at Crawfish Spring (present-day Chickamauga, Georgia).
From this gesture, advocates sprung forth supporting the creation of a national park that would honor the sacrifices of soldiers, North and South, yet overlooking the real cause of the war. In less than a year’s time, veterans, who were now congressmen and senators in Washington, D.C., passed legislation creating a park that would help heal the still festering wounds of war. As a result of this joint effort, on August 19, 1890, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park was established, becoming the first of its kind in U.S. history.
Five years later, on September 19, 1895, veterans, their families, and other patriotic Americans traveled to Chickamauga Battlefield from all corners of the country to dedicate the ground hallowed by their loved ones’ sacrifices 32 years prior.