Chickamauga and Chattanooga Administrative History

CHAPTER II:
WAR DEPARTMENT ADMINISTRATION (continued)

F. Reforestation, Livestock Control, and Protection

Among other concerns of park personnel during the years of War Department stewardship were those of reforestation, livestock control, and law enforcement. In the early 1900s much labor was expended on restoring the forests at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park to their 1863 appearance, no small task because numerous tracts had been cleared for fields since the battles. One of the first areas to be reforested was that around Jay's Mill, part of which was then being used as a garden by a park employee. The park received hundreds of small trees from the National Botanical Garden in Washington, D.C. [136] Further assistance came with visits by Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson and William R. Smith, Superintendent of the National Botanical Garden. The Secretary made recommendations on grasses for the park and later forwarded large quantities of seed while Superintendent Smith promised help in establishing an embryo forest growth on the cleared fields. [137] Soon after, two nurseries were located, one "at the Peters place," and the other "at the old Dyer garden at park headquarters." Forest tree seeds and seedlings were also planted at Sherman Reservation and elsewhere. General Boynton soon reported that "the grasses . . . are flourishing in all portions of the park, and the young trees and tree seeds . . . [provide] an excellent foundation for the restoration of forest on all fields which have been cleared since the battle." [138] In 1904 Boynton noted that the grass was in "luxuriant growth," and that the park had become an excellent pasture, in part due to the sowing of grass and clover seed for cavalry and artillery livestock present at the mobilization camp during the Spanish-American War. By this time, too, transplanting of nursery seedlings had begun in the reforestation program, so that in 1906 only 100 acres remained to be restored. [139]

The development of an "excellent pasture" posed problems for controlling trespassing livestock. In 1901 the Commission adopted regulations seeking to prevent hogs, sheep, goats, cattle, and horses from roaming on park lands and, where damage to property occurred, making the owners liable for the losses. [140] Henceforth notices were to be posted and all stock cleared in three drivings per week by mounted park guardians. The enforcement actions outraged many owners adjacent to the park who had used the land as a stock range for years. [141] In any event, prosecution of offending stock owners was an expensive and complicated procedure because of the local absence of federal law officers. As a final solution, the Commissioners decided to fence the entire park, a measure inaugurated in 1900 and 1901 after nearly 4000 animals were driven at intervals from park premises. But fencing did little to solve the problem, and livestock continued to force its way into the pasture. Hogs were particularly destructive to the turf and even managed to uproot some interpretive tablets. [142]

There was little improvement in ensuing years. In 1906 Engineer Betts reported great trouble with trespassing stock. "Parties have driven large herds of cattle into the Park and have turned them loose, and they roam at large and enter every vacant building or inclosure. Quite a number of them are dying and we have to bury or cremate them." [143] In 1908 and 1909 fencing was completed along the park's eastern and southern boundaries, [144] but it apparently did little good. The entire matter of stock control befuddled park authorities and the problem dragged on for years. One suggestion was made to impound the offending beasts, but this evidently never occurred, probably because of its anticipated expense. On several occasions the Commission sent names of owners of trespassing livestock to the United States attorney in Atlanta, but without result. [145] And despite attempts by the Department of Agriculture to stem a cattle tick epidemic in the vicinity in 1913, little was done "in the abatement of this nuisance" of livestock trespassing. [146] In 1914 the War Department published regulations prohibiting the grazing of livestock in national military parks unless approved by the Secretary, and soon after officials at Chickamauga and Chattanooga agreed to lease nonhistoric property in the park for grazing purposes at fifty cents per acre. [147] Yet illegal use of the grounds remained a vexing issue for several more years until a combination of procedures involving fencing, impounding, and leasing eventually took effect. [148]

Protection of park land and resources has been a continuous concern for park authorities since 1890. In 1891 it was noted that relic hunters hunters had destroyed many trees of the reserve in order to obtain bullets and shot from the battle, but that the desecration had substantially ended. In the following year laws were enacted protecting the land and resources from willful destruction, mutilation, or injury, and removal of monuments, battle relics, or foliage, under threat of prosecution and fine. The lands comprising the park were posted, especially along the entrance roads. [149] In 1897 the earlier protection act was toughened by passage of a measure specifically tailored for Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. The new law forbade injury to any marker, statue, monument, tree, or shrub, and also outlawed hunting and shooting on park land, with offenders liable for fines. The superintendent was empowered to arrest persons violating the laws and take them before any United States commissioner or circuit judge. Moreover, persons whose leases expired and resisted Government demands for the property were subject to be charged with trespass and fined accordingly. [150]

Park protection entailed many things. Applications for right-of-way of private enterprises through park land had to be considered in light of potential danger to the historic tract. Thus, in 1898 the Chattanooga Rapid Transit Company sought and received permission to lay tracks across part of the park in compliance with restrictions imposed by the Government. [151] More often, however law enforcement efforts centered around destruction or theft of park property. Vandalism and thievery became expensive problems for horses were stolen from the park corral, and in September unknown parties painted the rocks in Point Park with gospel texts. The Commission directed Engineer Betts to try to apprehend the culprits. [152] One night the following summer eleven bronze mountain howitzers, each weighing 220 pounds, were stolen from a stack of guns behind park headquarters. Three men were shortly arrested for the crime and later were convicted, while two Chattanooga junk dealers were eventually charged with accepting and disposing of the armament. [153] Still other law enforcement matters concerned the shooting of livestock on park land by soldiers in 1902, speeding automobiles on the reserve in 1906, and a white slavery episode in 1912 involving bringing women and girls from Chattanooga "across the State line into the Park for immoral purposes." [154] In 1922 vandals entered the Bragg Reservation and damaged the Illinois monument. [155] During the 1920s bootlegging and public drunkenness became a problem, causing some people to feel that the park staff was incapable of exercising sufficient control. This was partly alleviated with the cession in 1929 of police jurisdiction over approach roads to the Government, and in 1930 a recommendation was made to Congress to provide for permanent police protection at the park. [156] Two years later funding was made available for employing policemen and buying motorcycles for the park. In 1933 Congress finally enacted legislation to improve the protection of the national military parks. [157]