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Opponents of the proposed Town of Chancellorsville development hold a vigil Jan. 14 at Spotsylvania County's Holbert building. |
SNOW began to fall as nearly 200 people engaged in a candlelight vigil Jan. 14 at Spotsylvania Courthouse. The night was clear, the temperature a few degrees below freezing and the air windless. The participants, each holding a white candle, stood in an asphalt parking lot filled with their cars, but the backdrop was the historic courthouse, built in 1839. Floodlights on the lawn illuminated the brick building and its white facade.
It was the prettiest protest I've ever seen.
The protestors were there to demonstrate their opposition to the Dogwood Development Group's proposal to build a new town where Civil War soldiers clashed on May 1, 1863. More than 100 men died during that initial fighting in the three-day Battle of Chancellorsville.
The candles were burning in memory of the soldiers, Yankee and Confederate, who lost their lives.
"The men from the North and the South gave their lives there. They shed their blood there," historian Brian Pohanka told the crowd.
Pohanka said he wanted to talk about one of them, a young Union officer.
"William James Temple was 21 years old. He turned 21 in March of '63."
Temple could have stayed out of the war. Both of his parents had died, and he was the guardian of his five brothers and a sister. He was advised not to join the army, but he thought he would be shirking his patriotic duty not to fight for the Union. He sought a commission as an officer.
"He went to war and he fell that first day of May. That's what this is all about," Pohanka said in extemporaneous remarks delivered in a firm, calm voice as the snow began falling harder. Pohanka wore a topcoat over a coat and tie, and he stood as erect as a soldier on a parade field.
"This is about the people like William Temple, who fell there, who shed their blood there for their ideals."
Pohanka quoted Joshua Chamberlain, another Union officer, who said, "Willing to die, we will not be forgotten."
Raising his voice, Pohanka said, "They will not be forgotten!"
Applause erupted.
The event was organized by the Coalition to Save Chancellorsville Battlefield, which consists of an assortment of preservation and environmental groups. Among the protestors were citizens who say their main concern stems from their belief that the public services required by the development would necessitate tax increases, increase traffic on State Route 3 and put additional burden on drinking-water supplies.
The coalition wants to defeat a request by Dogwood that the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors rezone 800 acres so that what is now rolling farmland and woods can become a new, mixed-use Town of Chancellorsville.
It was no coincidence that the Board of Supervisors was holding a meeting the night of the candlelight vigil. The main item on the agenda was the appointment of someone to fill the Chancellor District seat on the board, left vacant when Tricia Lenwell abruptly resigned in early December.
The vigil was held expressly to get the board's attention.
One person seeking the appointment was Henry "Hap" Connors, no stranger to the protestors.
For months, Connors has been among the most active and visible opponents of Dogwood's plans. Nobody I talked with that night figured Connors had a chance; I didn't.
In the parking lot early that night, a friend of Connors said to him, "It will be a cold day in hell before the supervisors put you on the board."
"Well," Connors replied with a smile, "It is snowing."
After interviewing four candidates, the Board of Supervisors came out from behind closed doors around 11 p.m. and named a new supervisor: Connors.
A decision on Dogwood's rezoning request is expected in late winter or early spring. There is no doubt how Connors will vote.
The unanimous vote to put Connors on the board does not necessarily mean the majority of supervisors will vote against Dogwood.
What prompted the board to choose Connors?
Apparently, he made a good impression. Aside from contending that his opinion on the Dogwood issue reflects the consensus in the Chancellor District, Connors said he would work to bring jobs to the county and would seek open lines of communication with his colleagues on the board.
Board members probably were also impressed with the demeanor of the mild-mannered Connors, as well as a varied resume that includes jobs in the public and private sectors. Connors is the vice president of a Fairfax-County based telemedicine company. Before that, he was on the communications staff of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
A seemingly small decision made in the parking lot that night may have worked in Connors' favor, too.
Some of the demonstrators wanted to assemble near a door that the members of the Board of Supervisors would use to enter the administration building for their meeting. That way, each board member would have to walk through the crowd.
No, said Jim Campi, one of the organizers of the vigil, let's not do it that way. He thought it would be better to gather at the far end of the parking lot so the event would not be viewed as a confrontation with the Board of Supervisors.
Campi is a low-key activist with a Maryland-based national group, the Civil War Preservation Trust. Raised in the Amish country of southeastern Pennsylvania, Campi started visiting battlefields in Spotsylvania as soon as he got his driver's license.
His soft touch that night was in keeping with the tranquil beauty of the winter scene.
When members of the Board of Supervisors walked individually into the building, they could not help but see the solemnity of demonstrators who stood in the falling snow, each holding a flickering white candle.
LARRY EVANS can be reached at The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401; by fax at 373-8455; by phone at 374-5409; or by e-mail at levans@freelance star.com.
