“Snodgrass is arguably the most famous family name on the Chickamauga battlefield,” says historian Lee White. “George Snodgrass was 53 years old at the time of the battle and lived with his third wife, Elizabeth, and seven of his children. One son, Charles, served in the Confederate army along with several other local men; however, like many other local boys, his devotion to the Confederacy wasn’t very strong, and he deserted in the summer of 1863.
“George made his livelihood by farming and was evidently fairly successful, having a respectable-sized farm and home along with respectable real and personal estate. When the sounds of battle were heard to the east on September 18 and 19, George refused to leave his home until stray bullets began to strike the house and the surrounding area—only then did the family flee to refuge in a nearby ravine, where several other families joined them.”
Other family names still dot the Chickamauga landscape: Brotherton, whose farm served as the epicenter of Longstreet’s assault; Glenn, whose farmhouse burned down during the battle; Reed, who lost a dear member of the family during the battle; Kelly, who’d be forced to live in their kitchen building after their home was burned by Confederate artillery; Viniard, driven to such desperation by the carnage that he later joined the Union army. The cost of war impacted more than just the armies–it left an indelible mark on the families who lived there.
Text adapted from material in Lee White’s Bushwhacking on a Grand Scale: The Battle of Chickamauga, part of the Emerging Civil War Series.