What's up with the graveyard, Y'all?
As we are about to celebrate Dr. Y's favorite holiday, Halloween, as well as All Saints Day and Dia de los Muertos, it seemed a fitting time to talk about the graveyard, which is called "The Chattanooga Confederate Cemetery."Yes, the graveyard that sits on campus is a confederate cemetery that was constructed to honor fallen soldiers who fought during the Civil War.
Some people think the graveyard is haunted ("Five of Chattanooga's Most Haunted Place"), maybe because the men who are buried there were buried elsewhere first, exhumed, and reburied in the graveyard:
"Those men who died in Chattanooga Confederate Hospitals were originally buried in a plot of ground beside the river, in the vicinity of the current Manker Patten Tennis Club. But the river rose and fell over some of the graves and the wooden headboards were lost for about 141 of them. The ground came to be partly a pasture and partly a ball field. After the war, the veterans sought to move the graves to higher ground and purchased for $750 the northern portion of the current site from George W. Gardenhire in 1867. A man named Sively was employed to disinter the remains and box up the bones and re-bury them in this new site." ("History of the Chattanooga Confederate Cemetery")
The best way to learn about the cemetery is to stroll around the grounds, of course. Some professors have held class in the cemetery; some groups have spent a few hours cleaning up the cemetery. And some people are downright mortified at the thought of entering the cemetery, so I offer you this visual tour of the grounds: http://www.civilwaralbum.com/chattanooga/confederate_cem1.htm
My favorite holidays are the ones where we remember our history. And I suggest you start a new tradition of learning about your history every holiday. You probably didn't read much about Tennessee's involvement in the Civil War in high school, but Tennessee had a strong and interesting part in how our history played out. In fact, the whole idea of "brother against brother" was most likely a concept that arose from the Tennessee troops. When Tennessee seceded, against the wishes of what appears to be a majority of its citizens, many men rode across state lines to join other Tennesseans and form Union troops. You should check that out, y'all. It sure does seem like the best way to honor the dead.
Always honoring those who died for America,
Professor Repentista
