§ 424. — Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 16USC424]
TITLE 16--CONSERVATION
CHAPTER 1--NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES
SUBCHAPTER LX--NATIONAL MILITARY PARKS
Sec. 424. Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park
For the purpose of preserving and suitably marking for historical
and professional military study, the fields of some of the most
remarkable maneuvers and most brilliant fighting in the War of the
Rebellion, those portions of highways in the States of Georgia and
Tennessee in the vicinity of the battlefields of Chickamauga and
Chattanooga, respectively, jurisdiction over which has heretofore been
ceded to the United States by those States respectively and as to which
the United States has heretofore acquired a perfect title, shall be
approaches to and parts of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National
Military Park, and each and all of such roads shall remain open as free
and public highways, and all rights of way which existed on August 19,
1890, through the grounds of the said Park and its approaches shall be
continued. The lands and roads embraced in the area at and near the
battlefield of Chickamauga and around Chattanooga, jurisdiction over
which has heretofore been ceded to the United States by the State of
Georgia and as to which a perfect title has heretofore been secured,
together with the roads hereinbefore described, shall be a national
military park, to be known as Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Park.
The said Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Park and the approaches
thereto shall be under the control of the Secretary of the Interior. The
Secretary of the Interior is authorized to enter into agreements upon
such nominal terms as he may prescribe, with such persons, who were
owners of the land on August 19, 1890, as may desire to remain upon it,
to occupy and cultivate their then holdings, upon condition that they
will preserve the then buildings and roads, and the then outlines of
field and forest, and that they will only cut trees or underbrush under
such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, and that they will
assist in caring for and protecting all tablets, monuments, or such
other artificial works as may from time to time be erected by proper
authority. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Interior to
superintend the opening of such roads as may be necessary to the
purposes of the park, and the repair of the roads of the same, and to
ascertain and definitely mark the lines of battle of all troops engaged
in the battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga, so far as the same shall
fall within the lines of the park. It shall be the duty of the Secretary
of the Interior to cause to be ascertained and substantially marked the
locations of the regular troops within the boundaries of the park, and
to erect monuments upon those positions as Congress may provide the
necessary appropriations; and the Secretary of the Interior in the same
way may ascertain and mark all lines of battle within the boundaries of
the park and erect plain and substantial historical tablets at such
points in the vicinity of the park and its approaches as he may deem
fitting and necessary to clearly designate positions and movements,
which, although without the limits of the park, were directly connected
with the battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga. It shall be lawful for
the authorities of any State having troops engaged either at Chattanooga
or Chickamauga, and for the officers and directors of the Chickamauga
Memorial Association, a corporation chartered under the laws of Georgia,
to enter upon the lands and approaches of the Chickamauga and
Chattanooga National Park for the purpose of ascertaining and marking
the lines of battle of troops engaged therein: Provided, That before any
such lines are permanently designated the position of the lines and the
proposed methods of marking them by monuments, tablets, or otherwise
shall be submitted to the Secretary of the Interior, and shall first
receive the written approval of the Secretary. The Secretary of the
Interior, subject to the approval of the President of the United States,
shall have the power to make, and shall make, all needed regulations for
the care of the park and for the establishment and marking of the lines
of battle and other historical features of the park: Provided further,
That State memorials shall be placed on brigade lines of battle under
the direction of the National Park Service.
No monuments or memorials shall be erected upon any lands of the
park, or remain upon any lands which may be purchased for the park,
except upon ground actually occupied in the course of the battle by
troops of the State which the proposed monuments are intended to
commemorate, except upon those sections of the park set apart for
memorials to troops which were engaged in the campaigns, but operated
outside of the legal limits of the park. Notwithstanding the restrictive
provisions of this paragraph, the Secretary of the Interior is
authorized in his discretion to permit without cost to the United States
the erection of monuments or memorials to commemorate encampments of
Spanish War organizations which were encamped in said park during the
period of the Spanish-American War.
(Aug. 19, 1890, ch. 806, Secs. 1-11, 26 Stat. 333-336; Mar. 3, 1891, ch.
542, 26 Stat. 978; Feb. 26, 1896, ch. 33, 29 Stat. 21; June 4, 1897, ch.
2, Sec. 1, 30 Stat. 43; Apr. 15, 1926, ch. 146, title II, 44 Stat. 289;
Feb. 23, 1927, ch. 167, title II, 44 Stat. 1140; Ex. Ord. No. 6166,
Sec. 2, June 10, 1933; Ex. Ord. No. 6228, Sec. 1, July 28, 1933.)
Codification
Act Mar. 3, 1891, and act Apr. 15, 1926, provided for a reduced area
of the park and provided that title to such reduced area should be
procured by the Secretary of War [now Army] as provided and that the
Secretary of War [now Army] should proceed with the establishment of the
park as rapidly as jurisdiction of the roads and approaches and title to
the land might be obtained.
The first sentence of the last paragraph relating to the erection of
monuments or memorials was added by act Feb. 26, 1896.
The proviso that State memorials shall be placed on brigade lines of
battle under the direction of the Park Commission was added by act June
4, 1897.
Act Feb. 23, 1927 made appropriations for items specified and added
provisions relating to monuments or memorials to commemorate encampments
of Spanish War organizations.
Transfer of Functions
Administrative functions of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National
Military Park transferred to Department of the Interior by Ex. Ord. Nos.
6166 and 6228, set out as a note under section 901 of Title 5,
Government Organization and Employees.
National Park Service substituted for Office of National Parks,
Buildings, and Reservations referred to in Ex. Ord. No. 6166, Sec. 2, by
act Mar. 2, 1934, ch. 38, Sec. 1, 48 Stat. 389.
