Re: Historic Battlefield Gets First Steps in Preservation

Date: January 18, 2004

"County historian leads charge to clean up Ringgold Gap Battlefield

City officials show support; county may help with preservation efforts

Jeff O'Bryant
Catoosa County News, GA

An overgrown patch of weeds and seedlings chokes the view while looking towards Chickamauga Creek from the roadside park just south of Ringgold on U.S. 41, with Interstate 75 and Taylor's Ridge looming in the distance.

Few realize that thousands of Union and Federal troops clashed in a decisive Civil War battle across this tangled landscape in November, 1863, that left 85 men dead and 645 wounded or missing in action.

Catoosa County Historian Bill Clark, a former state legislator, and the Ringgold City Council hope to change all that.

Council members voted unanimously Monday, Jan. 12, to approve a plan spearheaded by Clark to clean up the area, signaling the city's first tangible steps at preserving, and eventually promoting, the battlefield.

"It could be cleared out in a week, and it would not cost very much," Clark said.

When Confederate Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne's approximatley 4,000 soldiers camped out in Ringgold prior to the battle, the area was all farmland, but has been allowed to grow wild ever since the fighting ended.

According to Clark, the site has nothing but trees and brush on it today.

"A bush hog, chain saw and a little prison labor should clear it all out," he said.

His plans suggest clearing the land from the city's water treatment plant east to the train trestle and eventually establishing a park. Clark said the city owns the land from the creek to the railroad, and Catoosa County government owns the land from the railroad to federal highway. He hopes Catoosa commissioners will agree to help the city in a joint effort to clean up the Ringgold Gap Battlefield and plans to address the board soon. Once complete, the battlefield would be visible from Highway 41, and "tourism would increase," Clark said, pointing out that beautifying the area should be "a first step" towards long term preservation, including possible plans to restore a portion of the Old Federal Road, rebuild the swinging bridge that once crossed Chickamauga Creek near the treatment plant, and install walking trails and signage.

"We probably have more existing Federal Road (there) than anywhere else," Clark said.

City officials and local historians agree that Ringgold Gap is an important historical site. The battle prevented Federal troops from destroying or capturing a large portion of the Confederate army. Following the Union victory at Missionary Ridge and the Confederate retreat, Federal troops set out in pursuit.

Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne "was asked to stop the Union advance at all costs," Clark said.

Cleburne ordered his troops to fall back to Ringgold Gap where the Western & Atlantic Railroad passed through Taylor's Ridge. On Nov. 27, 1863, Union Maj. Gen. Joseph B. Hooker sent his force forward to seize the ridge, but failed after five hours of heavy fighting. Cleburne's success won him the praise of the Confederate Congress and allowed rebel forces time to retreat."