Inside the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park visitor center is a traveling horse-drawn forge, along with other antique equipment. The forge played a huge part in ensuring the Union army arrived where they needed to be while traveling through mountainous terrain during the Civil War.

 

The importance of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga battles can’t be underestimated. Control of Chattanooga was considered the “Gateway to the Deep South.” While the Confederates were victorious at Chickamauga in September 1863, the tide turned when the Union gained control of Chattanooga in November.

One Confederate soldier wrote: “This …is the death-knell of the Confederacy.” The Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., is the oldest and largest national military park in the United States. The traveling forge on display focuses on the importance horses and those who took care of them played in the Civil War.

A traveling forge is really what it sounds like – it was comprised of a wagon specifically designed and constructed as a blacksmith shop on wheels. The forge carried the essential equipment necessary for blacksmiths (called artificers in the Army) and farriers.

The traveling forge was used for a variety of purposes; the solider could both shoe horses and repair wagons and artillery equipment. The forges were used by both the U.S. and Confederate armies and were sometimes referred to as battery forges.

There were specific guidelines for the traveling forges used during the Civil War for the South. The Ordnance Manual for the use of the officers of the Confederate States Army by Confederate States of America War Department was published 

in 1863. It outlined that a traveling forge was hooked to the back of a limber, which was a two-wheeled cart designed to support it and allow it to be towed.

The manual even detailed information about the wheels, paint, wood and iron parts used on the traveling forge, as well as the tools carried.

Those into horse-drawn equipment will enjoy learning about the forge if they visit the park. Traveling forges proved crucial during the Union’s three-week journey through mountainous terrain. The jostling of heavy wagons rolling over rough roads caused hundreds of breakdowns, demanding on-the-spot repairs.

 

The battle at Chickamauga marked the end of a Union offensive in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia. The park spans units at Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Orchard Knob and Signal Point. The park is headquartered at Chickamauga Battlefield, where the fields and woods of Georgia witnessed the last major Confederate victory of the war.

The park is filled with cannons and monuments, trails and more; a visitor could easily spend a day or more. Visitors can take a driving tour or hire a guide to explain the tour. Cannons and more have been placed where they would have been during this ferocious battle.

If traveling near Fort Oglethorpe, take the time to see this important piece of U.S. history. The visitor’s center includes extensive exhibits, the Fuller Gun Collection, an orientation film and fiber-optic map, maps of hiking and biking routes and information on how to experience Civil War history offered at the park units.

The Chickamauga Battlefield is open daily 6 a.m. to sunset (EST). Admission to the visitor’s center and battlefield is free. Visitor center hours of operation are 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication. Learn more of Cindy’s finds and travel in her blog, “Traveling Adventures of a Farm Girl,” at http://travelingadventuresofafarmgirl.com