Stop 5

Hans Hegg was a staunch abolitionist and had been a member of the Wide Awakes before the war. He was killed leading his brigade at Chickamauga. The pyramid of cannonballs marks the location of his death.

As many as 1 out 5 Civil War soldiers was foreign born. Many of the men in the 15th Wisconsin were Norwegian, and the flag they carried features the Norwegian crest.

In 1898, the army turned much of the park into "Camp Thomas," a training depot for soldiers going to war with Spain. Barracks sometimes stood right next to monuments - like these next to the 15th Wisconsin Monument.

Confederates eventually used the ditch near where Heg was killed as an improvised trench. It became a bloody lane as Union artillery fired down the ditch, slaughtering the trapped Confederates.

Tabler Viniard's home saw some of the worst fighting of the Battle. A southerner, Viniard served in the Union Army and died in 1864. He is buried in Chattanooga National Cemetery. However, his son died in a northern prisoner of war camp.

After the war, many families attempted to rebuild. In the early 1900s, a home was rebuilt on the site of the Viniard property in the midst of the monuments and cannon that already dotted the park.