Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, under the guidance of the National Park Service, maintains the resource "for the purpose of preserving and suitably marking for historical and professional military study the fields of some of the most remarkable maneuvers and most brilliant fighting in the war of the rebellion. . . ."

The Moccasin Bend National Archeological District was established as a unit of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park by Public Law 108-7 enacted February 20, 2003. In accordance with the legislative intent, the archeological district was established "in order to preserve, protect, and interpret for the benefit of the public the nationally significant archeological and historic resources located on the peninsula known as Moccasin Bend, Tennessee."