Meet at the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center on the LaFayette Road in Fort Oglethorpe. We'll then car caravan to the point where we'll have our program. We will do a little walking on a couple of the trails, if you have an easily portable chair, you might want to bring that for your comfort.

It was late afternoon on September 20, 1863, the third day of what had become the Battle of Chickamauga. In the woods, woods filled with the sulphurous smoke of battle and the stinging smoke of dozens of forest fires large and small, the light of day was growing dim. While there were increasing reports of the Confederates on the Southern left having driven the Federals in their front, the blue-clad soldiers opposite Confederates on the right were still in their works, still seemingly defiant. Army of Tennessee Right Wing commander Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk decided to try one more time. After moving some of Ben Frank Cheatham's brigades to the line on the right and having Pat Cleburne shift his division further to the right, the Bishop General directed Cleburne to "...advance [his] heavy batteries and open on the enemy." This directive by Polk and similar directions to other subordinates initiated one final gray assault that would carry the Right Wing into the Union works and secure for them a victory in the woods of the valley of the River of Death.

For our program this month, on the 142nd anniversary of those events, we'll take a look at Cleburne's final assault at Chickamauga and see some of the very ground where it unfolded. It was an assault that for many members of the Army of Tennessee allowed them to at last really experience the sense of having won a victory on a battlefield.

We'll meet at the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center on the LaFayette Road in Fort Oglethorpe and then car caravan down to the Battleline Road area. We will do a little walking, less than a mile total probably, on a paved road and a gravel trail, but you should still wear some comfortable, supportive footwear; if you have an easily portable field chair, you might want to bring that along also for your comfort at our stops.

Come out and BE ON THE BATTLEFIELD.

The first real set of planning public meetings will be held on Thursday, September 22, the Thursday after our September meeting. Now, most specifically, the meetings on the 22nd will focus on the planning for the shoreline stabilization. That work will have less impact, both positive and negative, on the Civil War resources on the Bend as opposed to the Indian archeological remains, but those interested primarily in the Civil War resources might still want to be involved even now so that the National Park Service is reminded that there is history on the Bend after 1838.

The Thursday, September 22 meetings are:

Public Presentation Format

6 to 8 PM

Tennessee Aquarium Auditorium

Since we're meeting off site this month at a place that doesn't like the collection of money, we'll not do the Speaker's Fund this month. Look for it again in October.

It looks like slim pickings again for WBTS programs on television. "Civil War Journal" appears to be airing many mornings on the History Channel but at 7 AM. About the only evening program in the next week or so is "Modern Marvels: Civil War Tech." It airs Wednesday, September 21, 2005 at 6 PM on the History Channel. It highlights some of the improvements in weapons, sea power, transportation, food processing, and communications.

The presently posted schedule for C-SPAN's Book TV for this weekend doesn't include any Civil War or even mid-nineteenth century book programs.

October 18, 2005 - Dr. Kit Rushing, "Civil War Memoirist Fanny Andrews' A Family Secret"
November 15, 2005 - Harvey Scarborough, "Thomas' Demonstration Takes Orchard Knob"
December 20, 2005 - To be announced
May 16, 2006 - Rebecca Karcher, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, "New Jersey in the Atlanta Campaign"

September 16-20, 2005--Tours, talks, walks, and Living History presentations at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park to commemorate the 142nd Anniversary of the Battle of Chickamauga. More details in next month's newsletter and at www.nps.gov/chch
September 19, 2005--Friends of Chickamauga and Chickamauga National Military Park Leonard Fant "Play for the Park Golf Tournament," Battlefield Golf Club, Fort Oglethorpe, for more information, www.chickchatt.org, 423-624-6914
November 10-12, 2005--13th Annual Symposium on the 19th Century Press, the Civil War, and Free Expression, sponsored by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Department of Communications; more details later.