Living history actors will line up to march on the Chickamauga Battlefield, just as Civil War troops did, as they gather to celebrate their heritage on the 140th anniversary of the Battle of Chickamauga.

Event organizers with the National Park Service said they have arranged 10 days of activities for those visiting the park between Saturday (Sept. 13) and Sept. 21.

Confederate and Union “soldiers” will assemble in the Chickamauga Battlefield as part of a living history exhibit, park historian Jim Ogden said. The infantry and cavalry regiments will offer a glimpse into the past as they act out tactical maneuvers and fire artillery.

Ogden said the living exhibit will not be a reenactment of past battles. Reenactments are not allowed in national parks, although they are often held on private property in the region.

Bill Rambo, site coordinator for the Confederate Park near Montgomery, Ala., will lead the troop and artillery demonstrations on the battlefield, Ogden said.

“It’s going to be a really neat for us,” Rambo said. “We’ll be on sacred ground, the battlefield of Chickamauga. To me, that is just a real high, if you will, to be able to trace their footsteps and educate the public about what they were like.”

Rambo said his troops will camp on the battlefield, march to different areas of the park each day and dine on rations prepared as food was prepared in the period.

“We’ll be on the ground just like the soldiers were,” he said, adding that Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Tennessee will be represented in the two battalions he will bring to Walker County.

In addition to the living history, park rangers will also provide pedestrian, bicycle, car and equestrian tours of the battlefield where they will point out historic sites to participants, park education coordinator Rebecca Karcher said.

Chickamauga City and Utilities Manager John Culpepper said his city will be celebrating its Fourth Annual War Between the States Day on Sept. 20-21. The city’s festivities will feature a simulation of the Union field hospital established around Crawfish Springs, a refugee camp and an ironclad ship with working artillery that will occasionally float past Lee and Gordon’s Mill firing upon the shore