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Living history: Re-enactors relive 1863 Battle of Chickamauga

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Staff photo by Allison Kwesell--Union troops charge away from Confederate troops during the Battle of Chickamauga's 145th anniversary reenactment on Saturday. The celebration will conclude today with the Battle of Snodgrass Hill at 2 p.m.

By Laura Galbraith

lgalbraith@timesfreepress.com

Justin Rodgers stumbled around the field after the Battle of Reed’s Bridge, looking exhausted and sporting a bloody bandage over his left eye.

“The Union soldiers shot my eye out! Do you think Betsy will still marry me?” he asked as people walked past him.

Mr. Rodgers, 24, was not really hurt. Instead, he was trying to illustrate one of the many dangerous outcomes a soldier faced when fighting in the Civil War.

“Luckily, (the bullet) just grazed my eye and took it out instead of killing me, so I’ll be able to fight another day,” said Mr. Rodgers, a Confederate soldier re-enactor from Crossville, Tenn. “In the Confederate Army, as long as you kept your teeth intact and your limbs, you were good to go.”

This year’s annual Battle of Chickamauga re-enactment on Saturday commemorated the 145th anniversary of the battle, an 1863 Confederate victory and one of the bloodiest battles in Civil War history. Taking place Sept. 18 through Sept. 20, the battle claimed about 34,000 lives, according to historical records.

Tens of thousands of people, including many from overseas, are gathered over the weekend at McLemore’s Cove in Walker County, Ga., to see the battle come alive before their eyes.

The event was definitely not on a small scale. Hundreds of booming cannons left many people covering their ears. The thunderous blasts also shook the ground so hard, many car alarms were set off.

Male and female re-enactors of all ages dressed is the traditional 1860s fashion and posed for pictures with visiting families. Not only were there soldiers, as might be expected, there also were hundreds of “sutlers” who used to set up camp around battlefields, Many sutlers were there to sell items to the soldiers, but some were members of the soldiers’ families.

During the re-enactment of the Battle of Reed’s Bridge — a portion of the fighting that took place on Sept. 17, 1863 — a commentator on loudspeaker described what was happening on the battlefield. As the Confederate army crossed the bridge and met the Union soldiers, the battlefield became a sea of blue and gray coats. Officers on both sides yelled out orders from horseback, cries and yells from both Union and Confederate soldiers sounded and spectators cheered on eagerly.

Paul Kinsey, a resident of Flintstone, Ga., said he thought the battle was extremely well presented.

“I’ve seen shows on TV that (have) professional actors that aren’t as good as these, I don’t think,” he said. “These have a little more personal interest in it, and they’re doing it because they want to, not because they’re getting paid to.”

Nicola Sarn, the director of education and programs at the National Civil War and Naval Museum in Port Columbus, Ga., said she was at the event mainly to do research, but she came in 1860s women’s attire anyway, a blue long-sleeved, full-length cotton dress, complete with hoop skirt and black bonnet.

“I’d been pessimistic about the whole idea (of dressing up) because I thought it was a little dorky and kind of strange that people would do it, but what I have learned is that the passion for history is the main reason that most people do this,” she said. “And I think anything like that is just to be admired.”

Along with the battle re-enactments, there also were many impersonators of famous figures from the Civil War era.

Dennis Boggs, a resident of Nashville, Tenn., was asked to be event’s Abraham Lincoln, a full-time role that he has embraced for nine years.

“This is part of our nation’s history,” said Mr. Boggs. “It touches so many people on a personal level because it hasn’t been that long ago.”

Mr. Boggs said he believes people can benefit by going to a Civil War re-enactment.

“We hope that when people leave here, they’ve had a sense that they were there and that they see the futility in what we were doing to each other,” he said.

The Battle of Chickamauga will conclude on today with the Battle of Snodgrass Hill at 2 p.m.

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