The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-09-16
WHERE HEROES DIED.
Thousands of Veterans Gather
ing at Chattanooga.
To Be at National Military Park
Opening.
FIVE DAYS BATTLES.
Will Be Accurately Marked Out
On the Field.
FIVE DAYS BATTLES.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. Sept To-
Under the guiding hand of the secre-
tary of war, acting under the author
ity of congress- Chattanooga and the
notable battlefelds surrounding it
have been prepared for a national
event without parallel. Great throngs
of veterans who fought against each
other are crowding into the city to
tal,e equal part, under national
enactment, in the dedication OF
fields which their proves made
park, wherein the movements and
the achievements of each side have re-
ceived impartial attention. As pro-
vlded in the act of congress, Secretary
Lamont has invited the attendance OF
the executive department of the gov
eminent and the members of the su-
preme court, congress and its presid-
ing officers, the lieutenant general OF
the army and the admiral of the navy,
the governors of all the states with
their stats and the veterans of the
contending armies. All are to be
prominently represented. Nearly
every surviving general of the two
armies has sent notice of his intention
to attend. The governor of every
state which had troops in the action
here responded favorably to the sec
retary's invitation. In few cases
the governors themselves will be pre-
vented from attending, but their
states will be officially represented.
A joint committee of twenty sena-
tors and thirty members of the house
will represent congress. The mem
( bers of twenty-slx state commissions
who have been at work with the ma
! tional commission in locating lines of
battle of the troops of their respective
states will attend. The Society of the
| Army of the Cum berland, of the Army
of the Tennessee, the Grand Army of
the Republic and the Association of
! Confederate Veterans will be present
| IN unusual numbers. This official con-
course is to be increased by a gather
ing of an army of visitors, already
known to be so great that it will tax
| the capacity of the railroads centering
here and the city to their utmost.
The park which Is to be dedicated is
| of unusual dimensions. It extends
with It's approaches from Sherman
heights, in Tennessee, six miles north
of Chattanooga, to Glass Mill, in Geor-
gia, distance of twenty-five miles.
The broad boulevard between these
two points is owned in fee simple by
the government as part of the park,
| and full jurisdiction over this, over
the fifteen square miles of the ChIclka-
/
sides of other approaches has been
ceded to the government by the states
| of Tennessee and Georgia. This cen
trail drive runs for eight miles along
| Bra ggs' line of battle on the crest of
| Missionary Ridge. 1t passes along the
fronts of Sherman's army, Thomas
army of the Cumberland and the army
under Hooker. 1t overloOks all the
| battlefieids about Cha tanooga, includ-
| T 1TaiT for
twelve miles through the center of the
fighting ground of the three days bat
| tie of Chickamauga.
Of the territory over which jurisdic-
ton has been coded to the United
States for park purposes, ten square
miles have been already purchased in
single block on the Chickamauga
field. The entire crest about Bragg's
headquarters on Missionary Ridge;
Orchard Knob, the headquarters of
! Grant, Thomas and Granger, during
the battle of Chattanooga, a tr1ct
eight acres in extent; fifty acres at
the north end of Missionary Ridge,
being the ground assaulted by General
Sherman and defended by Cleburne;
and tract of five acres on another
portion of the ridge, marking the left
of the assault of the Army of the Cum
berland, form portions of the park
Congress has also authorized the addi-
ton to the park of Hoekers and Walt
halls battle-ground on Lookout
The government already owns the
roads to and over Lookout mountain,
through Hooker's field, to Wauhatchie,
on Longstreet's field.
The park and its approaches there
fore embraces or overlooks the fields
of five days of general battle between
great armies and three days of minor
engagements, namely: Chickamaugua,
Orchard Knob, Lookout Mountain and
Missionary Ridge, Browns Ferry and
Wauhatchie.
The plan of the park is to restore
the fields as nearly as possible to their
condition at the time of the battle, tC
close all new roads and reopen and i'm
prove those used in the battles, over
which the armies moved to and froU
the fields.
The official dedication, under the
auspices of congress and the secretary
of war, will occupy the 10th and goth
insts-, but exercises of a general char
acter, which will be attended by most
of the officials which are to arrive
will occupy the whole day of the 18th
and the evenings of the 18th, 10th and
goth.
The Missouri dedication will Occur
on the goth at Bragg's headquarters
on Missionary ridge. The hours fol
Wisconsin and Pennsylvania depend
on the closing work on their monu
ments.