The Chattanooga & Chickamauga National Military Park announces special events next weekend at sites around town.
* Nov. 23: Meet Ranger Christopher Young inside the Orchard Knob entrance gate at 1 p.m. for "All Remained Silent Spectators: The Engagement at Orchard Knob" to learn more about this often-overlooked engagement of the Chattanooga campaign.
Parking for the 90-minute program is available at the corner of Ivy Street and Orchard Knob Avenue.
* Nov. 24: Meet Ranger Anton Heinlein at the Sunset Rock parking lot off West Brow Road on Lookout Mountain at 10:30 a.m. for a two-hour, two-mile hiking program.
"All Being Ready, We Began to Climb: Hooker and Geary Assault Lookout Mountain" will follow the footsteps of Union forces during the "Gibraltar of Chattanooga" in November 1863. The program concludes at Cravens House on the side of Lookout Mountain.
* Nov. 24: "The Enthusiasm It Created Ran Through the Lines Like an Electric Thrill: Jefferson Davis Pursues the Confederates" will begin at 12:30 p.m. Join volunteer Preston Brown and learn what transpired in some of the rear-guard actions as Jefferson. Davis's division pursued the Confederates who had abandoned the northern end of Missionary Ridge.
This 90-minute driving tour begins at the Taco Bell parking lot, 6210 Lee Highway.
* Nov. 24: "Over the River and Through the Woods to Missionary Ridge: Sherman and Grant's Main Effort at Chattanooga" will begin at 2 p.m.
Park Historian Jim Ogden will lead a two-hour car caravan that will examine the Tennessee River in the area of Sherman's crossing, progress to Missionary Ridge and discuss the Confederate reaction.
Meet a' Tennessee Riverpark's "RiverPoint" trailhead on Lost Mound Drive on Amnicola Highway just east of the Police Services Center and the Amnicola Bridge over South Chickamauga Creek.
* Nov. 25: Join volunteer Preston Brown for "We All Felt His Spirit of Determination -- Enough to Die" at 11:30 a.m. The one-hour program will begin at Bragg Reservation on Crest Road on Missionary Ridge.
As the Confederate line broke in the center on the late afternoon of November 25, 1863, William B. Bate's Division was ordered to stand and fight. Brown will discuss how this action brought order in the ranks of the Army of Tennessee as they retreated from Missionary Ridge.
* Nov. 25: Join Park Historian Jim Ogden and Lt. Col. (Ret.) Gerald Hodge at 2 p.m. for a two-hour walking tour of the Tunnel Hill/Sherman Reservation of the Missionary Ridge Battlefield.
"Cleburne and Stevenson Defeat Sherman at Tunnel Hill" will discuss the ill-fated attacks by Union Gen. William T. Sherman on the carefully positioned and entrenched Confederates of Maj. Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne and Maj. Gen. Carter L. Stevenson's divisions.
The program will begin at Sherman Reservation on Lightfoot Mill Road, just off of Crest Road on Missionary Ridge.
* Nov. 25: "Like Blue Clouds By Tens of Thousands: The Army of the Cumberland Assaults Missionary Ridge" will begin at 2:30 p.m. from the Bragg Reservation on Crest Road on Missionary Ridge.
Join Ranger Anton Heinlein for a 90-minute, guided walking tour along Missionary Ridge to learn about the Army of the Cumberland's "Miracle at Missionary Ridge."
For all programs, participants are encouraged to wear comfortable shoes, dress appropriately for the weather and bring a bottle of water.