“Gettysburg of the West” to be held in September

The Civil War Courier, Camp Chase Gazette and the Citizens’ Companion are proud to announce they will be hosting the 145^th Commemorative Battle of Chickamauga in Walker County, Georgia, September 19-21, 2008.

This will be the first time in nine years the Battle of Chickamauga has been reenacted, and will not be reenacted again for another five years.

Civil War Publisher Ed Hooper has been working on locating the property capable of supporting a national event for the last year and found it 10 miles south of the Chickamauga National Battlefield Park near Lafayette, Ga.

“This is going to be the largest reenactment west of Virginia in 2008 and interest in this has been building as word leaked out what we were doing,” said Hooper. “Soldiers can actually fight on part of the original battlefield in McClemore’s Cove, which has Chickamauga Creek running through it and camp where troops camped during the battle. We are now ironing out details on the event and organizing it to accommodate the crowds that are expected to attend.”

Chickamauga was the bloodiest two-day battle of the Civil War, resulting in more than 35,000 men killed, wounded or missing out of 120,000 who engaged in the battle.

Many historians regard Chickamauga as the “Gettysburg of the West” and Hooper hopes the event will be an opportunity to raise awareness of the battle’s impact on American history. It was the last great Confederate victory of the War Between the States.

Mike Moore, commander of the Army of Tennessee, will serve as the overall military commander for the event.

For more information, you can go to www.battleofchickamauga.net.