Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center — Attraction in Fort Oglethorpe

Indescribably pleasantly overwhelming experience. In today's World, where focus is riveted to "in the now," with a jaundiced eye cast on tomorrow, seeing Past history so exquisitely preserved and showcased gives old history buffs and students reason to have faith our Federal Government has had the Foresight to grant its citizens Hindsight. Touring the enormous and disparate battlefield is a daunting, but ever so worthwhile challenge. Towards dusk as my two old friends and I came upon a now dry depression, we soon learned from our map that this little dip in the landscape was known during the 2 day fighting as "Bloody Pond." That day was scorching hot and with drinking water scarce and dozens of fires caused by exploding shells, wounded troops, North and South sought respite at this once clear, bubbling spring. So many Billy Yanks and Johnny Rebs, arms cast aside, came to drink and bathe their terrible wounds, the water turned pink, then red. My pal and Civil War student, Phil, turned to me and our partner, Marshall, and taking off his Georgia Bulldog cap said, "Fellers, try to position yourselves here on that hot September night with your shattered leg making you go in and out of consciousness and so oblivious of its color, dipping your good left hand in that pool and drinking it which, though a bit salty, gave you courage to try living an hour longer." The battlefield is filled with dozens more sites evoking silence and contemplation. You'll come away from Chickamauga with a renewed reverence for our history and an appreciation for...

Excellent place to go biking or leisurely walking with battlefield landmarks galore!

This is a wonderful place to visit. First, stop off at the visitor center and grab a few free maps of everything there is to see from the knowledgeable and friendly staff. Then, before heading out on your adventures, spend a little time inside the visitor center discovering battlefield memorabilia and historical information.

Note: This is a free park - no entrance or parking fee. *There is wheelchair accessibility to the visitor center. *There are bathrooms inside the visitor center.

For our visit, this time, we decided to ride bikes, as this is a bike friendly place to visit. All of the roads are paved, so there's no need to worry about having a mountain bike. Any bike will work. *All of the roads are 30 miles or less, and cars are very familiar with bikers. It is a safe place to ride.

This park is also horse friendly, and has trails marked where you can park your trailer and ride your own horses. We saw a few when we were out today.

We also saw some very unafraid deer grazing at the side of the road. We stopped on our bikes to grab a few photos, and they never ran or seemed to care we were there. It was such a nice sight.

There's just so much to see and do. So, plan a day and take the family. You'll have...

Enjoyed getting a refresher course on how Chickamauga and Chattanooga are like the Part One and Part Two of gaining that strategic area so to disrupt the Southern Heartland from continuing war. The intro of film follows the lives and letters of the regular soldier as well as the greater overview, to make the battle more personal and not just a bunch of statistics. I am not so much of a museum monger, so I breezed through that. They had a large guncollection to look over that was pretty thorough over all the variations of muskets, carbines, and repeating rifles of that period. After the battle Inftroduction, it's time to visit the surrounding battlefield. The canons match the type and caliber to the battle position, but not were not nessisarrily the exact pieces there during the battle. Staff is knowledgeable about helping interpret what happened and where. Snodgrass Hill Generals Thomas's hold at all cost is probaly the climax must see of the options if pressed on time. They charged that position over 20 times and they held so their army could latter find redemption in the soldiers storming Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga. Another wild story....I hope this...