If you go
› What: “A Tale of Two Coles: Robert and Thomas Cole at Chickamauga.”› When: 11 a.m.-noon Saturday, Oct. 15.› Where: Bessie Smith Cultural Center, 200 E. M.L. King Blvd.› Admission: Free.› Phone: 706-866-9241, 423-821-7786.› Websites: www.nps.gov/chch, www.bessiesmithcc.org.
Two perspectives of the Civil War will be explored in a program Saturday, Oct. 15, at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center.
"A Tale of Two Coles: Robert and Thomas Cole at Chickamauga," the story of parallel but vastly different lives and battlefield experiences, is presented in partnership with the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.
Historians say Robert Cole was born the son of wealthy slaveholders in Huntsville, Ala., their wealth made possible through the labor of the people the family enslaved, including Thomas Cole.
"Robert and Thomas were around the same age, grew up in the same household, found themselves in the midst of the fighting at Chickamauga and both left behind accounts of their experiences during the Civil War," according to a news release.
Robert Cole served as an officer with the 4th Alabama Infantry during the Battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga. Years later, he published a memoir of his experiences.
Omitted from his memoir, however, was that on the other side of the battlefield stood Thomas Cole. When the Union Army moved through Huntsville, Thomas escaped from bondage and followed the army into the Battle of Chickamauga, where he assisted a Federal artillery battery. He described his experiences of the Battle of Chickamauga to a Works Progress Administration interviewer in the 1930s.