In conjunction with Women’s History Month, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park will host a program at the Widow Glenn House Site, near Tour Stop #6, on Chickamauga Battlefield. A park ranger will lead the program on Saturday, March 9, at 2 p.m. and will include information about the roles local women played before, during and after the second bloodiest battle of the American Civil War.
Riding onto the battlefield during the early morning hours of Sept. 19, 1863, Union Major General William Rosecrans took possession of a small house which sat on a commanding hill overlooking the Dry Valley and LaFayette Roads. He reportedly told the owner, Eliza Glenn, that “she was in great danger” and needed to “depart at once” since the battle was already raging heavily on the eastern side of the battlefield. Regrettably, Eliza’s fortune did not improve as the battle unfolded. Widowed in April 1863 when her husband, a Confederate soldier, died in Mobile, Alabama, her house would burn during the fighting on Sept. 20. Learn more about the Widow Glenn and other stories associated with women in the midst of the Battle of Chickamauga.
The program will take place outdoors on Chickamauga Battlefield. Visitors are encouraged to bring chairs and to dress appropriately for the weather.
For more information about programs at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, contact the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center at 706.866-9241, the Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Center at 821-7786, or visit the park’s website at www.nps.gov/chch.