David Espy

LaFAYETTE, Ga. — The massive oak tree that sheltered Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg when he planned the Battle of Chickamauga may be long gone, but this city has never forgotten its Civil War heritage.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve read every name on that wall,” said David Espy, 1st Brigade Commander Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

The “wall” — five granite slabs that are inscribed, front and back, with the names of local soldiers in the Confederate armies of Tennessee and Virginia — is just one of the elements at Joe Stock Park.

Just north of downtown LaFayette, Joe Stock is home to history with Gordon Hall, the state’s oldest schoolhouse; the Marsh House, a restored antebellum home, and a collection of markers and monuments.

Many relate to the time when LaFayette was a crucial point in the Western Campaign of the Civil War.

“The Battle of LaFayette, in June, 1864, is one that few know about,” said Mr. Espy, who is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans LaFayette Camp.

Bullets and bullet holes were found during restoration at the school and the Marsh House, and these paired buildings served as headquarters and hospitals during the fall of 1863.

Less than a block away, 15 headstones in the city cemetery mark the graves of unknown Confederate soldiers killed in that action.

One of the park’s monuments, relocated from the LaFayette Square, is topped by a Southern sentry whose stony gaze looks toward the southwest.

The monument, erected in 1909 by the Chickamauga Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy, is inscribed: “It is a duty we owe to posterity, to see that our children shall know the virtues and become worthy of their sires.”

Gravestones of the 15 unknowns, and many others scattered throughout LaFayette Cemetery, are decorated during April with small battle flags of the Army of Northern Virginia as part of the statewide commemoration of Confederate History Month.

North Georgia hopes to heritage tourism will become year-round during the 150th anniversary of the War Between the States that begins in 2011 and extends through 2015.

“We revere the fact that we were part of the war,” LaFayette Mayor Neal Florence said. “We know, and Civil War buffs know, that this area was heavily covered with troops and is part of the Chickamauga Campaign Trail.”