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107 T here can be little doubt that Henry Boynton was the right man in the right place at the perfect time for the creation of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. He possessed the incentive, the connections, the hard-headed determination, and the driving self-interest to take a good idea and turn it into a 7,000-acre reality in the span of seven years. The process began with a carriage ride on the Chickamauga battlefield in the summer of 1888. It culminated in Congressional legislation, significant expenditures of public money, and a giant dedication ceremony in 1895 that celebrated both the Army of the Cumberland and the theme of national reconciliation. In the midst of this process, veterans from several northern and southern states revisited the battlefield, retraced their steps, and relived the terrifying, stimulating , life-changing moments of their youth. They occasionally argued over the details of the battle and the interpretation of the landscape, but ultimately created a park that could be used by all Americans for a variety of purposes. The genesis of the plan unfolded during the Society of the Army of the Cumberland ’s first visit to Chattanooga in 1881. As they toured the surrounding area many veterans expressed alarm at their inability to identify some key points of interest on their old battlefield. The planning continued in May 1888 when Boynton and his former brigade commander, Ferdinand Van Derveer, rented a carriage and took a tour of the neglected battlefield. Noting how badly the undergrowth had obscured many familiar landmarks, they discussed the need to reconstruct the landscape in the manner of the Gettysburg park to preserve its historical integrity. Since the Chickamauga and Chattanooga battlefields were located in two southern states, Boynton and Van Derveer correctly surmised that they would need the help and support of Confederate veterans to build their park. So in the second major departure from the Gettysburg model (the first being the lack of a cemetery on the battlefield itself) they decided to invite Confederate participation in the project and include Confederate monuments on the landscape.1 “No Place for Lovers to Bide Tryst” six 108 · conflicting memories on the “River of Death” First, however, they would have to drum up support from fellow members of the Army of the Cumberland. During the summer leading up to the Society ’s September meeting in Chicago, Boynton published a series of letters in the Commercial Gazette touting the need for a park and soliciting support for the army’s veterans. He reminded readers that: History has not done justice to Chickamauga, but its verdict is sure. Many of the misconceptions of the days following the battle still exist in the popular mind. It may be years before they are cleared away; but eventually the Chickamauga campaign will stand in the history of our war as unequaled in its strategy by any other movement of the contest, and as unsurpassed, and probably not equaled, for the stubbornness and deadliness which marked the fighting of Unionist and rebel alike; and furthermore, it will stand as a substantial Union victory. As usual, Boynton left little doubt as to his feelings and motives for the park and pressed on with a single-minded determination that produced quick results.2 The initial committee created to investigate the park idea was formed during the Society of the Army of the Cumberland’s annual meeting in September 1888; it included Boynton and former Union officers Henry Cist, Absalom Baird, Russell Alger, and Charles Masterson. They chose governors from the states that had supplied troops in the battle to make up a board of directors. Society members began mapping the park in November, and on 13 February 1889, the committee of the Chickamauga Memorial Association met with General Rosecrans , Union veteran Sanford C. Kellogg, and former Confederates William Bate, Joseph Wheeler, Alfred Colquitt, Edward Walthall, and Marcus Wright to approve the creation of a joint memorial battlefield association. Although lacking the needed charter, this unofficial association could begin soliciting support from both private incorporators and the Federal government for the eventual creation of the park. Just as importantly, the Society of the Army of the Cumberland had secured southern support and participation, thus freeing it from the appearance that the park was largely its “pet” project.3 The culmination of this initial planning stage came on 19 and 20 September 1889, during a larger than usual meeting of the Society of the Army of the...

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