Chickamauga

chik-a-maw'ga, a creek in northern Georgia and Tennessee. It empties into the Tennessee River near the city of Chattanooga. September 19th and 20th, 1863, it was the scene of a bloody battle. General Bragg, reinforced by Longstreet, fought the three corps of Rosecrans under Thomas, McCook, and Crittenden, and penned him up in Chattanooga. Had it not been for Thomas, "the Rock of Chickamauga," the Union forces would have fared ill. Over 100,000 men were engaged. Fully a third of the number were reported as killed or missing. Some brigades lost over half of their men. The battle-ground, covering an area of eleven square miles, has been ceded to the general government by the states of Georgia and Tennessee for a national park. It was dedicated in 1895, on the anniversary of the battle. A large number of monuments, memorials, and marks have been erected already to commemorate the valor of both sides. See Civil War; Arlington