The Friends of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park will host the 4th annual National Park Night with the Lookouts on Monday, June 4.
Profits from all general admission tickets sold in advance benefit the Friends of the Park. To buy tickets for the game call the Friends office at 648-5623 or visit chickchatt.org. Tickets are $5.
All children entering the park receive a ticket for a free hot dog and drink, and the first 150 children receive Junior Ranger booklets. Children can attend a program on Civil War history, learn to march like soldiers, and march out on the field. National Park Night “homer hankies” will be given to the first 1,500 guests. Park Superintendent Cathy Cook will throw out the first pitch at 7:15, and the national anthem will be played by a Civil War bugler.
There will also be an 1862 artifact of the first bombardment of Chattanooga on display. On June 7, 1862, Chattanoogans received their first experience of military action against their city when General James Negley and a small division of Union soldiers arrived north of the city. General Negley sent the 79th Pennsylvania Volunteers out to reconnoiter. After finding Confederates and the town’s own Lookout Battery entrenched along the riverbanks and Cameron Hill, Negley moved two artillery batteries to the top of Stringers Ridge just west of the city.
Throughout June 7 and into the next day, the two armies traded cannon fire until Negley withdrew his men about noon on June 8. The action had little impact on the city, but it did give the city one of its most interesting war artifacts. Local historian Zella Armstrong recounted the story of the first shell to fall upon Chattanooga. The non-explosive shell buried itself in the dirt of Cameron Hill on June 7, 1862 and was picked up by a local member of the Lookout Battery. The shell remained in the same Chattanooga family for years before it was passed to another private collection. Today, the artillery shell is owned by local Civil War historian Dr. Anthony Hodges who will return the shell to the Cameron Hill area on June 4 for National Park Night – just three days before the 150th anniversary of its falling on Chattanooga. This Chattanooga artifact will be on display inside the stadium. Don’t miss your chance to see a piece history.
Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park encompasses 9,100 acres, spanning the boundaries of Tennessee and Georgia. Its major units include Chickamauga Battlefield, Lookout Mountain Battlefield, Missionary Ridge, Orchard Knob, Signal Point and Moccasin Bend. Our National Park preserves forever the American history and natural beauty of its spaces, commemorating vivid stories of conflict, change, reconciliation and reunion. Friends of the Park is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, promoting and enhancing Chickamauga and Chattanooga for the benefit of the American public. For more information on National Treasures and the work of the Friends, visit
www.chickchatt.org or call the Friends at 648-5623.