After arriving at Chickamauga all heavy baggage was shipped away for storage, and all officers and men were required to reduce their field equipage to the minimum; the object being to have the least possible amount of luggage, in order that the greatest possible amount of fighting material might be carried. Even with all this preparation going on some officers were indulging the hope that the troops might remain in camps, perfecting themselves in drill, until September, or October, before they should be called upon to embark for Cuba. This, however, was not to be, and it is perhaps well that it was not, as the suffering and mortality in the home camps were almost equal to that endured by the troops in Cuba. The suffering at home, also, seemed more disheartening, because it appeared to be useless, and could not be charged to any important changes in conditions or climate. It was perhaps in the interest of humanity that this war, waged for humanity's sake, should have been pushed forward from its first step to its last, with the greatest possible dispatch, and that just enough men on our side were sent to the front, and no more. It is still a good saying that all is well that ends well. The Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, the place where our troops assembled on their march to Cuba, beautiful by nature, especially in the full season of spring when the black soldiers arrived there, and adorned also by art, has, next to Gettysburg, the most prominent place among the historic battle-fields of the Civil War. As a park it was established by an act of Congress approved August 19, 1890, and contains seven thousand acres of rolling land, partly cleared and partly covered with oak and pine timber. Beautiful broad roads wind their way to all parts of the ground, along which are placed large tablets recording the events of those dreadful days in the autumn of 1863, when Americans faced Americans in bloody, determined strife. Monuments, judiciously placed, speak with a mute eloquence to the passer-by and tell of the valor displayed by some regiment or battery, or point to the spot where some lofty hero gave up his life. The whole park is a monument, however, and its definite purpose is to preserve and suitably mark "for historical and professional military study the fields of some of the most remarkable manoeuvres and most brilliant fighting in the War of the Rebellion." The battles commemorated by this great park are those of Chickamauga, fought on September 19-20, and the battles around Chattanooga, November 23-25, 1863. The battle of Chickamauga was fought by the Army of the Cumberland, commanded by Major-General W.S. Rosecrans, on the Union side, and the Army of Tennessee, commanded by General Braxton Bragg, on the side of the Confederates. The total effective strength of the Union forces in this battle was little less than 60,000 men, that of the Confederates about 70,000. The total Union loss was 16,179