CHICKAMAUGA, Ga. --- Vice President Dick Cheney told Civil War re-enactors at Chickamauga on Friday that the history of the mountain-framed battleground where his great-grandfather fought is inspiring.
The vice president spoke to more than 5,000 people to start a weekend of cavalry charges, cannon blasts and musket shooting to commemorate the 145th anniversary of the battle.
With an audience of men wearing woolen Confederate and Union uniforms, women in hoop skirts and busloads of northwest Georgia students, Mr. Cheney said it is "amazing and inspiring to think about the history that was made in this corner of America."
Organizers set up Civil War-era lifestyle displays beside the area used by the re-enactors, selling $20 tickets for spectators to attend the anniversary of the South's last major victory of the war.
Event director Reece Sexton said Mr. Cheney accepted an invitation to return to the site where his great-grandfather, Samuel Fletcher Cheney, was a Union lieutenant.
Mr. Cheney said re-enactors are "paying homage to everyone who got in that fray."
The battle in 1863 ended with about 34,000 Confederate and Union soldiers dead, wounded or missing.
Among the thousands of students who walked through metal detectors Friday at the battlefield for Mr. Cheney's speech was Kendall Cochran, 13, who described the field trip for LaFayette Middle School eighth-graders as "pretty cool."
After Mr. Cheney spoke, organizers of the re-enactment gave him a portrait depicting his great-grandfather in uniform and on horseback. Mr. Cheney said Samuel Cheney survived the fighting and named two sons after Civil War generals.
Comments
too bad you're such a [filtered word] coward cheney.if you hadn't gotten those 5 deferments and chickened out of vietnam,like your sidekick bush,you could show the girl what you did,not your grandpappy.
He still has his stories...shooting people in the face during a dove shoot!
I saw Geraldo Rivera on TV a day or so ago. He commented that people who don't agree with each other's political philosophies should simply disagree with each other's political philosophies and leave the personal out of it. Geraldo was right. Nasty personal comments are mean-spirited and hateful and particularly forbidden to Christians. It doesn't matter if the other guy is saying it; you should be better than that and hold your tongue. It is uncivil and unbecoming when adults act that way. Even if what you say is true it's still ugly. It's called the Sin of Detraction.
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