Guns will fire, horses will charge, flags will wave, and men will “perish” on May 20 – 22 as the battle ensues in a dramatic reenactment of the 1864 Battle of Resaca in Gordon County.

Hundreds of authentically clad Confederate and Union soldiers will converge on the original conflict site to commemorate the 147th anniversary of an important turning point in the Civil War, the first major engagement in General William Sherman’s March to the Sea and the eventual burning of Atlanta. The reenactment is one of the few to occur on an intact original Civil War battle site. Resaca Battlefield is one such place and the public is invited to witness history recreated.

The Battle of Resaca takes place on and around the 473-acre Chitwood Farm, which was recently added to complete the preservation of the full 650-acre battlefield site. In 2008, after financial difficulties involving the property owners of the site of the annual Battle of Resaca Reenactment, the Trust for Public Land purchased 483 acres of the endangered site. In 2011, many organizations came together including the Trust for Public Land, Civil War Trust, American Battlefield Protection Program, Georgia Battlefield Association, Friends of the Resaca Battlefield, and Gordon County to place this historic site in a conservation easement. The easement forever protects the site from any type of future development. Gordon County now holds the easement, which can never be sold or transferred to another party. Throughout the United States, many similar historic sites have been lost to development.

With fierce fighting over a four-day period - May 13-16, 1864 - nine United States Congressional military medals were awarded, with 2 Medals of Honor for the capture of the Confederate’s gunnery. Significantly, the battlefield at Resaca is also the location of one of the very first commemorated Confederate cemeteries. In remembrance, the Resaca Battle is reenacted every year, the third week of May. The Georgia Division of Reenactors Association will reenact primary scenes from the original 4-day long Resaca Battle on May 20-22, 2011. The bugler will sound the charge at 2 p.m. each day. Other battle related activities will take place during the two-day commemoration. Go to http://www.georgiadivision.org/bor_reenactment.html to learn more. Additional information is available at the Friends of Resaca Battlefield website, www.resacabattlefield.org.

About The Trust for Public Land:

The Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit conservation organization, helps communities and government agencies identify and protect land for people. TPL has worked with willing landowners, community groups, and national, state, and local agencies to complete more than 3,900 land conservation projects in 47 states, protecting 2.8 million acres. Since 1994, TPL has helped states and communities craft and pass over 330 ballot measures, generating almost $25 billion in new conservation-related funding. In Georgia, TPL has conserved more than 20,000 acres.