The Battle of Chickamauga Remembered at the 160th Anniversary Reenactment in North Georgia

By Gregory L. Wade · Originally published November 2023 · pp. 22–23

Confederate infantry during the heat of the battle.

CHICKAMAUGA, Ga.—On a clear but hot September weekend, almost 3,000 reenactors from all over the country attended the 160th Battle of Chickamauga anniversary, organized by The Atlanta Campaign, Inc. Held in Walker County, Georgia, only a couple of long-range cannon shots away from the actual battlefield, the weather cooperated with very cool nights and summer-like days with no rain, much to the relief of participants. There were twentyfive states and three countries represented with living historians from Vermont to Florida, according to Earl Zeckman, one of the event’s organizers. Michael Johnson of Christiana, Tennessee, fell in with the First Tennessee Infantry and noted, “These events always give me a slight taste of what the soldiers went through.” After Saturday’s fight, he brought his young sons into camp and added, “Our history is so important, it must be passed down.” The actual September 1820, 1863, battle was the Civil War’s second bloodiest behind only Gettysburg and was one of the South’s most resounding victories. The fight occurred when the Union Army of the Cumberland outmaneuvered the Army of Tennessee from Murfreesboro to the fields just south of Chattanooga in what is known as the Tullahoma Campaign. Although the battle was a Confederate victory, it was not followed up aggressively, and the Federals broke a Confederate siege in the November 1863 fighting at Chattanooga. The event began earnestly on Friday, with over six hundred local students visiting the camps and talking with soldiers. Saturday morning, reenactors formed up at sunrise for an early morning confrontation with another battle that afternoon. Soldiers, sutlers, and civilians enjoyed the traditional ball Saturday night, with the culminating fight on Sunday afternoon before thousands of spectators. An injury to a cavalry reenactor slightly shortened that fight. It appears the participant will fully recover. Line of Confederate Infantry. Heavy smoke from the rifle and musket fire.

Sunrise over Confederate encampment.

Fred Haley, sutler Le Pierre Leathers, Lewisburg, Tenn.

Confederate artillery in action.

Some of spectators awaiting Confederate artillery action.

Taking refuge from the heat.

Union infantry. (All photos by Gregory L. Wade)

Gene Mobely from Rockcastle, Ky, in the 14th Ky Light Artillery U.S., and Mary Ann Mehs, from Lincoln County, Missouri, in the 14th Ky Light Artillery.

Heavy smoke from the rifle and musket fire.