Chickamauga names road to honor Union troops

Highway 341 in Chickamauga is now the U.S. Army of the Cumberland Highway after an official naming ceremony earlier this month.

Chickamauga City Manager and Georgia Civil War Commission Chairman John Culpepper said the highway traces the route Union forces took to the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863.

“Most people don’t key in to all of the paths and the mountains the men had to march over,” he said. “They were everywhere.”

The new designation applies to a section of the highway from its intersection with Highway 193 northward to its intersection with Gordon Street downtown.

Mr. Culpepper said naming this street, along with other designations across North Georgia and Southeast Tennessee, can help give people a better idea of the troop movements.

“This is telling the whole story of the whole campaign in all of these counties,” he said.

Richard Barclift, Chickamauga tourism director, said having the route named in time for the 150th anniversary of the Civil War in 2011 could help draw tourists.

“The 150th is going to be the major celeb throughout the country,” he said. “For us, (naming the highway) may not be that big of a deal, but for descendants of the veterans who fought in the battle from Indiana and Ohio, I think it’s a pretty big deal.”

Mr. Culpepper said the route’s designation could bring a few visitors south from Chickamauga National Battlefield.

“We want to be part of their battlefield experience,” he said.

Next, Mr. Culpepper said he wants to get a section of U.S. Highway 27 renamed CSA Army of the Tennessee Highway because the Confederate army used a similar route to where the highway lies. Like Highway 341, the road’s name change would have to be voted on by the Legislature.

He said the more historic routes that can honor an area’s history, the better.

“It all has connections,” he said. “It all brings history back to life.”