The central record. (Lancaster, Ky.) 18??-current, 1898-06-17
CHiCkAMAUGA.
$4,000 Soldiers now Chartered I'm the
beautiful Park. Our Boys in
Fire Shape.

Throu III the courtesy of Mr. w. c.
Rine .rson, the gentlemanly passenger
agent of the Queen < Crescent Route,
| took run down to Chickamauga
Park this week. This road is one of
the finest in the country. it's appoint
ments being perfect in every detail.
The track is ballasted with broken
rock and gravel and is entirely free
from dust. The heavy steel rails make
the road as smooth as billiard table.
The coaches are OF the most modern
pattern and are simply moving pal
aces. Leaving Danville at 1l:lO a. m,
you are whirled along through b.auti-
full mountain scenery and landed in
Chattanooga for supper. Chattanooga
is a good size place and we were sur
prised to see so much energy as is
displayed in the little city. The mobi-
lizatiOn of troops at Chickamauga has
brought a vast amount OF, business to
Chattanooga AMI many thousands of
dollars are being left with the mer-
chants. To get to Chickamauga, you
take train leaving the q. & c. station.
IL being about thirteen miles to camp,
it takes about thirty minutes to make
the run. The station is named Lyle
and is in Georgia Arriving at this
station You are not with our boys, by
any means. The camp of the Second
Kentucky is about two and a half
miles further. A great lot of hacks
stand ready to haul one to any part of
the park for twenty-five cents, and the
drivers, both black and white, almost
pull fellows clothes off to induce
him to ride. The drive to the park is
beautiful. A continual stream o.
army teams line the road and the rat
tie of the wagons, together with the
oaths of the drivers, make the place
anything but lonesome. Chiclamauga
is one of the grandest military reserva-
tons in the world. 1t lies to the east
of Missionary Ridge, and embraces
more than Fl teen square miles of ter
ritory. The aggregate length of roads
forming the approaches is thirty-six
miles. These are all fine, mac ldamized
roadways, built and maintained at the
expense of the National Government
There has been no work done in the
Park for merely decorative purposes,
| but the field has been restored as near
ly as possible to its condition at the
time of the battles. The projectors Of
this enterprise (among whom were
some o: the most famous Generals of
the North and South) intended at first
that the Park should embrace only
the field of Chickamauga, and in 1889
the Chickamaga Memorial Association
was organized with that end in view.
The following winter, however, Gen.
II. V. Boyn ton, the author if the pro-
ject, conceived the idea of enlarging
the scope of the scheme so as to en-
brace the notable fields of lookout
Mountain and Missionary Ridge, and
in the Spring of 1890 this idea was car
ried out and the whole established as
a National Park and placed under the
control of the Secretary of War, who
appointed as the two civilian members
of the Commission Gen. Joseph S. Full
lerton, Chairman, and Gen. Alex. p.
Stewart, a leading ex-Confederate,
with Stanford c. Kellogg, of the
Fourth United States Cavalry, as the
Army Officer provided by law, and
who was also appoited Secretary OF
the Commission. Gen. ii. v. Boynton
was appointed Historian and Mr.. E.
E. Belts, Civil Engineer. The eleven
Southern States that had organic, l.
tions in the battles soon after appoin t.
ed Commissions and made liberal ap
preparations for the erection of mon.
uments, varying from $500 to 500, OOO
There is at this date upward of 800
monuments in place on the field, mos,
of them very handsome ones, besides
hundreds of markers and tablets
There have been erected five steel
observation towers seventy feet high
at prominent points in the Park and
along the Ridge. They ar. all in
sight of each other, and the series OF
observations, when combined, com
mand the entire field.
The Second Kentucky Regiment, O.
which the Lancaster company is q
member, is located on an elevated
spot which makes a very desirable
camp. The tents of the twelve compa
mics run parallel, the officers quar-
tiers being about thirty feet to the
front. To the rear are the cooking
ovens. To the front Of the line Off
Fcer's tents come the reglmental and
staff officers quarters The camp is
cleaned each morning by the ''old'
guard. The "Old" guard means the
fellows on duty the night before. The
guard house occupants are made to dc
this work mostly, but the boys are be-
Fhavfng SO nicely that seldom is there
a man run in. The boys are kept
pretty busy all day and seldom have
time to loaf. The reveille is sounded
at $50 a m. Then at Gas the compa
MES are drilled for two and one-hali
hours. This over, an officers school
is held for one hour. Then the non.
commissioned officers ''go to school
for an hour. After dinner nothing i.
done until $3.50, when the battalion.
are drilled for two hours. At 6:3O thu
dress parade is given and at $50 ''taps'
are sounded, which means every fel
low must roll up in his blanket and e
to sleep.
The Lancaster company, known a.
"CO. L, now has seventy-five men, al