The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1895-02-07

THE PEACEFUL FATE OF -FOUR
FAMOUS FIELDS
The Governments Intent on rrcsevving
the Scenes OF Gettysburg, Shiloh.
Antietam, and Chickamauga
and Chattanooga.
MONG the first bills passed by

1 Il ~
appropriation of s75, 900 for
establishing National military park
nt Shiloh and another nrpropriating
$50, 900 for the dedification, next Sep.
tember, of the park slreedy founded
on the battlefields of Chickamauga
and Chattanooga, says a Washington
correspondent.
The promptness with which these
measures were acted upon is signif-
cant. Four of the most famous fields
| OF the Civil War are now TO be pre-
served for the wonder and study of
future generations, and that, too, with
n hearty cooperation and by the mu-
tual desire ofvictors and vanquished on
the field. 1t is doubtful whether there
is anything quite like this to be found
in history.
Tho first field TO be- set apart was
naturally Gettysburg, the place OF the
most tremendous battle ever fought
on this continent, Que fraught with
momentous consequences. A state.
ment in Secretary Lamont's report of
last year showed that. besides the
large sums expended on the field by
|
bodies and by individuals, no less than
1868, 0l7S2 had up TO that time been
contributed by States whose soldiers
took part in the battle. Tracts of
land have been bought, roads laid
out andmonumentsa and tablets erected.
In this present report 5Ir. Lamont
says that the movement undertaken
by troops on both sides, as we'll as
the lines which they held, have been
in the moin accurately established,
and, after final verifcation, tablets
will be placed at points on tho fanks
OF each regiment in its various posi-
tions, while surplus cannon will In
like manner identify the positions
held by the batteries. When il is re-
inembered that 2j8 Union regiments,
with sixty-seven batteries aud 1S9
Confederate regiments, with seventy
batteries took part at Gettysburg, il
will be seen how g.eat is the labor in
volved. The sugge $ion, however, Of
iers itself that caro- should be taken
not to overdo the details, and so con-
fuse by needless minutae study so
impressive and obstructive in its broad
er and more general aspects. It can
also be understood from the figures
Just given why so large On expense
has been laid out upon this field, and
why 30 many monuments, some OF
them costly and beautiful, mark this
wonderful spot.
The Chickamauga and Chattanooga
Park Is to the West what the Gettys-
burg is to the East. Chickamauga
was the bloodiest of the Western
battles, and if Chattanooga is added
1t towers up with great strategic i'm
portance. When the bill for estab-
fishing this park was before Congress
the House Military Committee mnde On
elaborate comparison, based on the
losses of the combntnnts In Napoleon's
great battles, such as Marengo,
Austerlitz and Waterloo, and again on
the losses at Sadowa in 1866, and at
Gravelotte, Sedan and other battles OF
the Franco. German wan of 1870, so as
to show the deadliness OF the struggle
at Chickamauga. The committee de.
clared that the "average losses on
each side for the troops which fought
through the two days were fully
thirty. three per cent, while for many
portions Of each line the losses
reached fifty per cent, and for some
even seventy-ive per cent" 1t con.
cluded that such field had "aa i'm
portancs 20 the Nation rs an object
lesson of what is possible in American
lighting"
Mr.. Lamont tells us in his present
report that of the 552l acres compris.
ing the Chiekamaugs and Chattanooga
Park, 2lOO have been cleared of under
brush TO facilitate the work of the
States locating the positions of their
troops. and 900 remain to be cleared.
So yet possibly the underbruA rather
than the clearing may best represent
the condition OF the field In 1863.
Roads aggregating forty-one miles
have been completed. A committee
from the Society of the Army Of the
Tennessee and twenty soldiers there,
are expected soon to cooperate with
the Park Commission in establishing
the lines Of battle, and Alabama,
Connecticut, Kansas, Maryland and
West Virginia, which also had soldiers
there, are expecting soon to cooper
nte. Some OF the lands on Missionary
Ridge and Lookout Mountain, desired
for the park, have been held at such
exorbitant prices that the commits.
sion recommends the abandonment OF
efforts TO purchase them; but the
further purchase of about 1000 acres
at Chickamauga is contemplated. The
monuments of Massachusetts aud
Minnesota, and the ftty-ave of Ohio
have been completed, as have also the
nine monuments to the regulars,
while pyramids of shell mark where
general officers fell. Various tablets
for army headquarters and to marh
corps, division and brigade move
ments are up, and seventy or more
guns will denote the position of bat