Chickamauga and Chattanooga Administrative History

CHAPTER V:
PARK INTERPRETATION (continued)

During the post-World War I era the War Department administration of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park turned more towards providing subjective interpretation of events on the battlefields. Whereas earlier efforts had been directed towards the physical erection of markers, monuments, and towers in establishing the park, beginning in the 1920s and 1930s a new thrust was apparent. War Department regulations called for implementation of guide services in all national military parks "to assist visitors in visualizing the positions and movements of troops . . . thus enabling them to appreciate fully and quickly the magnitude of the struggles which took place on the battle field." [56] Park superintendents and employees were instructed to cater to the interpretive needs of visitors and "to place all the facilities at their command at the disposal of visitors for observation and study of everything connected with the parks and . . . be prepared to explain fully all details concerning the movement of troops, monuments, and other factors of the activities." [57] The directive was especially timely at Chickamauga-Chattanooga where in 1923 the thirty-year-old observation towers, had been declared unsafe and closed pending their repair or removal. Two of the towers on Chickamauga Battlefield were soon dismantled, one in 1925, the other in 1932. [58] To facilitate the new guide service program at the park the War Department in the latter year published several pamphlets relating to the history of the Civil War campaigns. [59]

The new interpretive trend begun by the War Department gained impetus after the August 10, 1933, transfer of the park to the administration of the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior. Under the National Park Service the recently-instituted guide service was expanded to include CCC personnel, so that by 1934 "twenty-four young college-trained men, who have made a careful, systematic study of the history of Chattanooga and the surrounding battlefields," were employed at Point Park, Chickamauga Park, and other sites in the area. "They are now daily conducting scores of tourists through the parks, explaining the true significance of the points visited and making the trip both pleasant and educational . . . ." In conjunction with this program was one involving Federal Emergency Relief Administration personnel to contact area schools and arrange guided bus tours for field classes on the battlefields. [60]

The "ranger historian" service, eventually discontinued in 1938, was directed by Park Historical Technician Herschel C. Landru, who also aided in the development of plans for a museum to be located in the Administration Building under construction in the park in 1935. With the assistance of National Park Service museum specialist Carl P. Russell, provisions were made for housing exhibits and presenting lectures in the new building, which would also include a history library. Exhibits in the second floor of the museum would be arranged to enable visitors to "visualize the equipment, living conditions and clothing, as well as armament used during the Civil War." [61] The exhibits were approved and in process of preparation during 1936. In the lobby of the new building was placed a large relief map showing all of the military operations in and around the park area. [62]

Further development of Point Park on Lookout Mountain took place in the late 1930s with the construction of the Ochs Museum-Observatory there. The project occasioned difficulty; cracks in the rock necessitated construction of a special foundation, and area residents complained that the work would irreparably damage the mountain. Eventually the unions demanded that all the labor be by union men. The project ran out of money for a time and the inspecting architect resigned, and to insure CCC participation the program had to be split into construction and landscape work. Yet in 1940 the Ochs Museum-Observatory opened for public visitation. [63] Lookout Mountain thereafter became the focal point of park interpretation and visitors were urged to go there first to receive initial orientation to all the park battlefields. [64] Temporary exhibits were installed in the museum room of the building, while four battlefield maps and a TVA exhibit were placed on the terrace. [65] To augment the visitors' experience, two historical leaflets were devised, one relating to the Chattanooga aspects of the park, the other to those at Chickamauga, and were issued, respectively, at Point Park and the Administration Building. [66]

In 1940 the basic guided interpretive tour procedures used at the park came under criticism by visiting National Park Service officials:

At Chickamauga the old amateur system is still in use. The guide endangers his life by "hopping" a ride with a stranger and usually a very poor driver, and upon descending from the automobile everybody does likewise. The results make for disorganization, waste of time, and often embarassing situations following personal questions and "wise-cracks" on the part of the visitor.

Recommendations for improvement included the preparation of larger lecture maps and more informative exhibit labels. [67] During the year automobile caravan tours were given at the park, and in 1940 the National Park Service, assisted by the Works Progress Administration, also planned the Atlanta Campaign Markers project, consisting of erecting a series of roadside markers highlighting Civil War action between Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee. The project, carried out over ensuing years, significantly added dimension and perspective to the park's program of interpretation. [68]

Several developments occurred in the 1940s. Following a dispute between the local park authorities and commercial guides over the latter's exclusion at Point Park, officials agreed to remove an objectionable entrance sign and allow the commercial guides to turn their visitors over to park guides for the tour of Point Park. [69] The guide dispute caused considerable rancor between the National Park Service and the City of Chattanooga. Another difference arose over the park's decision to raze the two old observation towers on Missionary Ridge. After considerable local opposition which at one point brought intervention by Representative Estes Kefauver, the demolition proceeded early in 1941. The towers, taken down by CCC workers, were transferred to Fall Creek Falls and Otter Creek for use as five lookout posts. [70] The final tower, on Snodgrass Hill, was dismantled in 1947. In recent years it had been used as a fire lookout. [71]

As the threat of war loomed in Europe, attempts were made in a series of guided tours to interpret the park story for army draftees from Fort Oglethorpe and to correlate the Chickamauga-Chattanooga experience to current matters regarding national defense. [72] There remained problems with the interpretive program, however. When Acting National Park Service Director Arthur E. Demaray visited the park he noted that the orientation lecture, then delivered in the entrance hall of the Administration Building, was a failure, largely "because of constant interruptions from visitors and from people entering through this room. . . ." [73] He urged that the exhibit room, as yet incomplete, be temporarily used for lectures. [74] To aid in guiding large groups on the field amplification equipment was installed on a Ford coupe in 1941 and, wrote Assistant Historical Technician George F. Emery, "resulted in a considerable improvement of our services." [75]

The public lecture and guide service continued at both Point Park and Chickamauga Battlefield Park. [76] Meantime, a situation arose over certain cannon used to interpret features of the Chickamauga-Chattanooga battles but positioned outside the park boundaries. In 1940 a number of surplus guns had been transferred to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park and to Fort Pulaski National Monument. [77] Thirty other guns were located on private property along Crest Road marking the positions of some of the Confederate batteries. When Crest Road was improved during the 1930s many cannon supposedly were moved. They were again relocated when homes were built on the heights of Missionary Ridge. In Chattanooga guns positioned decades earlier were moved as business and residential areas expanded so that by 1941 most of the historical positions were questionable and had lost their integrity. "In some cases," wrote Emery, "the guns in place have actually been reversed and instead of commanding the ground beyond the intrenchments, they face the positions occupied by the defenders." [78] Superintendent Dunn, however, concluded after examining the record of the old Park Commission that all the guns were in their correct locations. "We . . . fail to find a single instance where a gun has been moved from its original position. . . . If to the casual observer . . . a few of the guns appear to have been placed so as to be in keeping with a decorative scheme of landscape and are serving only ornamental purpose, this is purely coincidental." [79]

In 1946 personnel from the Washington and regional offices inspected the park and made recommendations for an improved and expanded interpretive program to include upgrading the museum displays in the Administration Building, visitor center and installing trailside exhibits at Snodgrass Hill, Chickamauga Creek, and other selected points. [80] These latter exhibits were completed early in 1948 and were placed at Battle Line Road, the Brotherton House, and Snodgrass Hill. A mimeographed booklet for a self-guided short tour of Chickamauga Battlefield was also prepared. The self-guided tour was finished in 1949 when the asphalt roads were marked with yellow arrows and lines to aid tourists. [81] Meantime, Assistant Museum Curator Paul Hudson completed a prospectus for new exhibits for the museum and maps were finished showing Union and Confederate movements around Chickamauga. Guided tours of the battlefield remained popular with visitors as were the orientation talks given at the Administration Building. [82]

The Ochs Museum-Observatory closed for repairs in 1948 and its exhibits were removed. In 1950 temporary exhibits were installed there, followed two years later with permanent displays. "These exhibits," reported Historian John O. Littleton, "serve as a branch museum . . . to the one at Chickamauga Park and take up the story where the Chickamauga story ends." [83] Electric maps, planned since 1947, were placed in the orientation room of the Administration Building and, despite occasional problems, proved conducive in lectures to school and other groups. Museum exhibits were also installed in the newly renovated balcony room of the visitor center. Historian Littleton aided in research and planning of the electric maps, revision of the interpretive brochures, lengthening of the tour road, and marking of the John Ingraham grave site. [84] Subsequently, Historian James R. Sullivan prepared a historical handbook and historical base maps for the park. [85] In 1954 a new museum wing was built on the rear of the Administration Building. This provided exhibit space for the newly acquired gun collection donated by Claud E. and Zanada Fuller. The Fuller collection, one of the finest collections of antique long arms in the world, was installed in June of that year and formal dedication ceremonies followed at the park on July 4. [86] Most interpretation of park resources continued to be accomplished through the guided tours, orientation lectures, and the various museum exhibits. In November, 1959, a car caravan tour of Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and Lookout Mountain took place, perhaps the first of its kind in the park's history. [87]

Several innovations to the park interpretive program occurred in the 1960s. While lectures remained popular orientation devices for visitors, guided tours of the park declined in frequency. In 1962 a park interpretive prospectus was completed calling for revision in the self-guided tour and several field exhibits. The tour was improved by making the Glenn-Kelly road one-way, preparing new interpretive signs, and drafting a new tour booklet. [88] Technicians from Washington installed an automatic electric map audio-visual program, while an artillery display was arranged outside the Administration Building and new aluminum and glass interpretive signs were placed at Point Park. Audiovisual programs were also planned for Point Park. Plywood troop position maps were placed on the Chickamauga Battlefield, along with concrete informational and directional markers. [89] Surplus cannon and iron carriages were transferred to other National Park Service areas. [90] Also during 1962 the Cravens' House was opened on a limited basis for public visitation under a cooperative arrangement with the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities, and attempts were made by park interpretive personnel to increase public contacts at visitor concentration points on the battlefield, such as at Wilder Tower, Snodgrass Hill, and the Brotherton House. [91] As a visual improvement, the old cast-iron markers erected decades earlier by the Park Commissioners began receiving new paint, blue for Union and gray for Confederate, in "a refreshing improvement over the tired and hard-to-read signs of old." [92]

For the centennial observance of the Battle of Chickamauga, park personnel inaugurated a Historical Battlefield Trail for hikers in May, 1963. Several hundred boy and girl scouts attended the opening of the Historical Battlefield Trail. Other hiking trails of varying distance were planned for other parts of the park. [93] A "simplified seven-stop auto tour," utilizing large orientation plaques to aid visitors' perception of the Chickamauga battle action, was also initiated together with several audio-visual public address systems to further promote comprehension of the events. Refurbished exhibits in the Ochs Museum complemented the new tours. [94] A short time later an audio station, containing a repeating taped message, was placed in the museum. [95] In 1964 exhibits were installed on Signal Point interpreting the role of communications during the Civil War. That year also saw the addition of firing demonstrations utilizing Civil War period rifle-muskets in the interpretive program at Chickamauga Battlefield. [96] The popular rifle firings were later presented by park rangers at Cravens' House on Lookout Mountain, too, in conjunction with lectures about the fighting in that area. [97] Plans were drawn for developing Sherman Reservation on Missionary Ridge to include erection of a contact station, new orientation displays, and assignment of a ranger there to assist in interpreting the area to visitors. [98]

In 1966 and 1967 the interpretive facilities at Signal Point were improved with completion of a shelter and an overlook wall, both with exhibits. A large-scale program of military history lectures was prepared and delivered to ROTC cadets at Tennessee Tech University by Park Historian Hobart G. Cawood and Park Guide Kenneth Dubke. [99] Plans got underway for a long-needed visitor center at Point Park. Activities in 1968 consisted of the planning of restoration of historic trace roads to their Civil War era appearance, and the start of twice-daily artillery demonstrations using cannon in Point Park to show visitors how ordnance was maneuvered and discharged in 1863. [100] In 1969 a slide program replaced the electric map at the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center in the Administration Building. [101]

The diverse features of the interpretive program were consolidated into more systematic presentations during the 1970s. New tour guide brochures were prepared, including a folder describing the use of artillery. [102] More hiking trails and automobile tours were opened in 1970. The Confederate Battle Line Trail was inaugurated in January with more than 1,000 boy scouts attending, while a new "Pyramids of Chickamauga" automobile tour of the various park monuments also was started. Together, the hiking trails and motor vehicle tour were designated the Chickamauga Memorial Trail. [103] More group tours were held, and at least one automobile caravan guided tour took place in 1971. In 1972 a number of volunteers enabled the park administration to station interpreters at many more sites. These Volunteers in Parks sported Civil War period dress in their contact with visitors. More "living history" programs were developed, including refinements to the rifle-musket-firing demonstration to include Civil War uniforms, and establishment of a nineteenth century farming exhibition at the Brotherton House. [104] In 1972 the Kelly, Snodgrass, and Brotherton cabins were opened for public visits and living history demonstrations were presented. Superintendent Donald Guiton explained that "this was not a park at the time of the battle, this was pioneer farmland where 24 families lived, moved and had their being. Along with preserving the battlefield, we should also be preserving some remnants of how these people lived, the lifestyles that were a part of it." [105]

This innovative interpretation continued through the rest of the 1970s, much of it coordinated by Chief Park Historian Edward Tinney and his staff. In 1973 the park acquired from Fredericksburg National Military Park a Model 1819 "walking stick" cannon that had been used at Chickamauga in 1863 and which added to the park's fine collection of Civil War ordnance. Living history programs took place daily and were augmented by the arrival of several Civil War reenactment groups who practiced drill and recreated camp life at the park. Bicycle tours of Chickamauga battlefield, conducted by park rangers, became popular with visitors from Chattanooga and environs. [106] So did the evening lectures at Point Park by local Civil War Historian Gilbert Govan. Special audio-visual programs on environmental education were also presented, and a sound and slide show was installed in the contact station on Lookout Mountain. In 1974 a living history program was instituted at Point Park; park rangers attired in Union and Confederate army uniforms presented a program highlighting the everyday life of the common soldier. [107] At Chickamauga Battlefield, an 1860-1880 period log cabin was donated, while split rail fencing was erected around the other three historic houses to affect period atmosphere. [108]

In recent years the trend of the park's interpretation away from a purely military theme has become pronounced, making it occasionally difficult to distinguish between interpretive and recreational features. In 1975 a living history farm and sorghum mill was started near Snodgrass Hill, meant to complement the more traditional audio-visual presentations and live firing demonstrations that still occurred daily. [109] At Point Park the soldiering demonstrations remained popular, attracting some 337,000 visitors during the year, while below at the Cravens House young ladies gave demonstrations of period needle-point, cooking, butter churning, and other facets of mid-nineteenth century living. One popular program was "Pioneer Days," held in 1974 and 1975 wherein hundreds of children from youth centers around Chattanooga were brought in to tour, hike, bicycle, make candles, and watch the history demonstrations. Evening programs continued at Point Park and a series of bicentennial films about the American Revolution was presented. Another program held occasionally on weekends dealt with aspects of "limited impact camping," while presentations relating to the battlefields were delivered before school groups and clubs, and several off-site programs were given. This latter interpretation of park features was facilitated by Volunteers in Parks personnel. [110]

In 1976 the living history encampment of different groups of uniformed Civil War enthusiasts was repeated and drew an estimated 10,000 visitors to the park in one weekend. An artillery demonstration, in which a number of rangers performed the function of loading and firing a 10-pounder Parrott gun, also proved popular to tourists. The "soldier life" demonstrations of seasonal rangers garbed in period military attire, continued at Point Park, as did those highlighting mid-nineteenth century cultural activities at Cravens House. [111] Similar activities took place in 1977 and 1978, with living history programs receiving much impetus in the establishment of a special "area" around the Snodgrass House. Here daily programs consisted of firing demonstrations and interpretive talks on the respective roles of infantry and artillery troops in the Civil War. From the house seasonals also interpreted civilian life of the period. [112] In 1979, 1980, and 1981 the living history program included flag signaling and playing of musical instruments as part of the routine of military camp life. During the former year the park began providing rental cassette tapes and players for use on automobile tours. Added attractions in 1979 included formal presentations on the Civil War sutler and the U.S. Sanitary Commission. Through the summer of 1981 noted Civil War authority James W. Livingood delivered a series of three lectures at Point Park. A new feature in 1981 and 1982 were the Memorial Day artillery battery demonstrations utilizing three or four cannon manned by the park staff, the volunteers, and personnel from related park areas in a mutually beneficial interpretive training course. [113] Programs such as this helped redirect the interpretive program to address the themes of Chickamauga and Chattanooga Military Park envisioned in its enabling legislation nearly a century ago.