Jimmy L. Langley
Via our website



Salutations:

My eldest son is a COW (Junior) at West Point and is doing a paper on the Battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga. He had asked me to proofread his paper because he knows I have a close connection to the area.

My great-great-grandfather Stephen Garrott (Garrett) fought with the 26th/50th Alabama at Chickamauga. Part of his unit also fought on Lookout Mountain and at the Union breakthrough along Missionary Ridge. (I have written a book on the subject but cannot find a publisher interested.)  read more (500 words)

From Bob Lampi
Via our website, April 8, 2010

Wish we had more information about both the sender and the Civil War soldier he is writing about!  read more (134 words)

From Dan Brown
Friend since 1998!

After we mailed our Summer 2010 newsletter, we got one special message back from Dan Brown, who served as Superintendent of Chickamauga & Chattanooga from 1988 through 1991. His tenure coincided with the Park's Centennial celebration. Tennessee actress Dixie Carter served as honorary co-chair of the festivities, along with Vince Dooley, then-football coach at the University of Georgia.

Dan is now retired from his last superintendent job as head of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We love it that he stays in touch with us here at Chickamauga and Chattanooga!

Read more to find out what Dan remembered when he saw our newsletter announcement about Dixie Carter's death earlier this year. Check out the Our Newsletter menu item on our home page to see the newsletter Dan is referencing in his message.  read more (264 words)

Jan Corn, Ringgold, GA
Friend since 2008



Jane Corn moved home to North Georgia in 2008 after twenty-five years away. Having grown up near the Chickamauga Battlefield unit of the Park, her love for its historic landscape dates back to child-hood. She was interested in helping to preserve it, so she joined both the Friends and the growing ranks of Park volunteers.   read more (248 words)

Karen D. Chase, Fairfield Glade, TN
Friend since 2004

Chickamauga has come to be a special park for me. My husband and I retired to Tennessee in 1999 and love living here. As a Civil War enthusiast, I have visited many battlefields, including all of the the major ones in TN. But it wasn’t until a visit from a cousin about three or four years ago that I learned about our great-great-grandfather, Hiram Knight, of the 105th Ohio.

  read more (149 words)

Sam Patterson, Douglas, GA
Friend since 2007



My great-grandfather, George Washington Wheless (on the right in the vintage photo above, with brother Pleasant L. Wheless), joined the Confederate Army on July 13, 1862 at age eighteen.  read more (139 words)

Humes Parks
Co-author, “Field Artillery Weapons of the Civil War,” Nashville, TN

Are you aware of the rare Singer-Nimicks at your battlefield? Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest is best known for his cavalry tactics, but also employed artillery with telling effect, including the only incident involving a victory in naval operations, at Johnsonville, Tennessee where several Union boats were sunk.  read more (341 words)

Jonathan C. Shea, Richardson, TX
Friend since 1998

My great-grandfather was Col. Thomas Shea, 22nd Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Army of the Cumberland, who served at Chickamauga.   

Mary Ann Whitsitt, Oxford, GA
Friend since 2005

My husband’s great great-grandfather, Harmon King Whitsitt, private in Company A of the 82nd regiment of the Indiana Volunteer Infantry, was killed on September 20, 1863 at the battle of Chickamauga.

He left three minor children, Charles L., Daniel J. (my husband’s great-grandfather), and a daughter, Carline Brookes Whitsitt. There was a fourth child, Oliver, who was born to his second wife, Arrisa. There was a scandal in regard to this wife. The rumor was she had not been legally divorced from her first husband, and thus her marriage to Harmon K. was declared null and void.  read more (146 words)

John Hilbrandt, Ringgold, GA
Friend since 1997, past Friends president



While recently visiting a 90 year-old cousin in Colorado, I was astonished to discover yet another personal tie to my beloved Park. I learned for the first time the story of Chesley Judson Teague: my great-grandfather on my mother’s side of the family—and a veteran of the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863! Here’s my Park story:  read more (283 words)