This Veterans Day, learn how the Blue and Gray Barbecue near Chickamauga created a movement of reconciliation and battlefield preservation across the country. Dr. Timothy B. Smith, author and professor of history at the University of Tennessee-Martin, will present the final program of the14th annual Moccasin Bend Fall Lecture Series. Dr. Smith will be joined by Jim Odgen, park historian at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. The two will lead a discussion of the famous "Blue and Gray Barbecue" at Crawfish Springs in 1889, leading to the creation of the country's first National Military Park at Chickamauga in 1890 and inspiring the battlefield preservation and reconciliation movements that followed.
The program is slated for Monday, Nov.
11 at 7 p.m. at the IMAX Theater in downtown Chattanooga. Hosted by National Park Partners, along with the Chattanooga Area Historical Association and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Department of History, the event is free and open to the public. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m.
Veterans and active-duty military in attendance will receive a complimentary set of postcards featuring all six units of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, and will be entered into a drawing to receive a framed poster, courtesy of Art Creations, in memory of U.S. Army veteran and longtime friend of CCNMP, Tony Mines, who passed away in October.
The 14th Annual Moccasin Bend Fall Lecture Series is sponsored by Greg A. Vital. More information can be found in the Our Projects section of the National Park Partners website, npp-ccm.org.
National Park Partners executive director with framed artwork from the Centennial Series