About Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park
Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park preserves major portions of the landscape where Union and Confederate armies fought for control of Chattanooga in 1863. The park includes Chickamauga Battlefield in Georgia as well as Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Orchard Knob, Signal Point, and Moccasin Bend in Tennessee. Established in 1890, it became the first national military park created by the United States and helped shape the way battlefields would be preserved and interpreted nationally.
The September 1863 Battle of Chickamauga was one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the Civil War and ended with a major Confederate victory, forcing the Union Army back into Chattanooga. The fighting continued in November with the Battles for Chattanooga, including actions at Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, where Union victories broke the Confederate siege and opened a strategic route into the Deep South.
For a first visit, the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center in Fort Oglethorpe is the most practical starting point. It offers exhibits on the campaign, an orientation film, the Fuller Gun Collection, ranger information, and access to a large battlefield landscape filled with monuments, tablets, historic roads, and self-guided touring opportunities. Because the park is spread across Georgia and Tennessee, visitors should plan additional driving time if they want to include Lookout Mountain or the Chattanooga-area reservations.
