Battlefield Tours

What we do

White Star Battlefield Tours offers guide service through the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park as well as Civil War battlefields south to Atlanta.

We also provide horseback tours if you have your own horse.

TOUR INFO

Americans have always been interested in the Civil War, and this interest has been growing over the years stimulated, in part, by such productions as Ken Burns' PBS Civil War series and the movie Gettysburg. Last year 1.1 million people visited the Chickamauga - Chattanooga National Military Park. Despite the increasing interest in our history, my experience as a historian and museum director tells me that there is not a corresponding knowledge of our history. Many people visit our nation's historical sites, especially battlefields, and come away with little sense of what occurred. With the numerous monuments, markers, and cannons seemingly pointed in every direction, it is a daunting task at best. Here is where White Star Tours can help.

White Star is owned and operated by myself, Richard L. Manion, MA. I earned a Masters degree in American history from Bowling Green State University and have managed military history museums in Michigan and Tennessee for the past ten years. I have also taught college-level American history and political science courses. My academic interest is in mid-nineteenth America with emphasis on the Civil War and I have several publications in that area.

History is best remembered if it can somehow become personal. Along with explaining the strategy and tactics of battle, I bring home to the listener the human drama with stories of the common soldier. Battles are not fought by generals but by ordinary people doing extraordinary things. One hundred and fifty years ago most of us would not be presidents or high-ranking military officers, but privates, non- commissioned officers, and junior grade officers - the ones charged with doing the fighting. If a visitor gets a sense of what those lives were like, the lives they would probably be living if they were there, the historical site or battlefield will have a greater impact on them. Providing that sense is what White Star Battlefield Tours does best.

Please call on me if you are planning a trip to Chattanooga and your plans include visiting the National Military Parks. I will be happy to assist you.

Tour arrangements can be made through this web site or by calling 423-240-2439.

HERO'S

It is easy to forget that the field artillery was almost as dependent upon horses as the cavalry. As the principle motive power for the guns, they were a prime target for the opposing force; disabling the horses meant that the guns were at risk of capture. Horses, like the soldiers who depended upon them, were also subject to the rigors of disease, poor rations, and the too-often squalid living conditions of an army camp. It is estimated that a million and a half horses and mules died in the war. The number is probably much higher. There is a monument to the horses and mules that died in the war located outside the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond.

CLICK ON IMAGE ABOVE FOR MORE INFO