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Bill Meadows talks about the sale of 685 acres of the battlefield to the Civil War Preservation Trust and the Piedmont Environmental Council yesterday at his farm.
Much of the pristine farmland that was part of the Civil War's Mine Run campaign near Locust Grove in Orange County will remain undeveloped because landowner Bill Meadows sold the property to preservationists for $1.2 million. |
Deal protects Mine Run campaign site
Growing up in West Virginia, Bill Meadows never had the luxury of indoor plumbing.
Today, the Orange County businessman and farmer has a house with seven bathrooms. And that's just in one of the handful of homes he owns.
Meadows, who operates 23 nurseries around Fredericksburg and Northern Virginia, has amassed great wealth over the years, including a nearly 800-acre farm with lush hills. It's also the place where thousands of Americans fought in 1863 during the Civil War's Mine Run campaign.
Meadows has never forgotten his roots. So when he and his wife, Betty, decided to scale back, they chose not to sell the historic land to a developer but, instead, to make sure it's preserved for eternity.
"This is something that I wanted to do in my heart," Bill Meadows said, standing before about 50 people gathered at the eastern Orange County property yesterday to announce the sale of the land. "We raised our two children here, and now I want to share it with other children."
In a novel land deal, Meadows--who now lives in Spotsylvania County's Fawn Lake subdivision--sold about 685 acres of his property to the Civil War Preservation Trust.
The trust, a nonprofit battlefield preservation group, had been eyeing the historic land north of State Route 20 for some time. Earlier this month, with help from the Piedmont Environmental Council and two federal grants, the group handed over $1.2 million for the property. The land was valued at more than $2 million.
"Thanks to the generosity and community-mindedness of Mr. Meadows historic farmland will be preserved for all Americans to enjoy," said Jim Lighthizer, president of the trust, which has preserved 10,000 acres nationwide since 1999.
The land deal was announced from a pavilion overlooking a lake on the Meadows' property near Locust Grove. Among those gathered were federal officials, historians and some Civil War re-enactors.
This is the first time the Washington-based trust has partnered with the PEC, a nonprofit conservation and regional land trust.
"This is an excellent example of a win-win deal," said Christopher Miller, president of the PEC, which will hold an easement on the land along with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation.
"We were able to leverage private dollars with federal funds, and now have an opportunity to support both battlefield preservation and farmland protection," Miller said.
With a subdivision going up along State Route 611 right across from the Meadows' farm, and other new houses dotting the surrounding landscape, preservationists acted just in time.
"There are not many opportunities to buy a whole battlefield," said Robert E. L. Krick, a historian at Richmond National Battlefield Park.
Krick, son of former National Park Service historian and author Robert K. Krick of Fredericksburg, gave an hourlong tour of the battlefield yesterday. He recalled the scene in November 1863 when Union Gen. George Meade tried to strike the right flank of the Confederate Army south of the Rapidan River.
Confederate Gen. Jubal Early, in command of Ewell's Corps, marched east on the Orange Turnpike to meet the advancing troops near Meadows' land, which was called Payne's Farm.
Union troops clashed with the Confederates twice that day. After dark, Confederate Commander Robert E. Lee withdrew to fortified positions along Mine Run.
The next day Union forces closed in on the Confederates. Fighting was heavy, but no major attack materialized. Recognizing the strength of the Confederate line, Meade wisely pulled back in early December, ending the winter campaign.
Casualties on both sides are estimated to be nearly 2,000.
Standing in a pasture where much of the heaviest fighting occurred, Krick described how 800 men had been shot in two hours of fighting.
But it could have been far worse.
Krick told of soldiers scribbling their names into their uniforms so they could be identified upon their deaths.
Needless to say, Union troops were endeared to Meade, who, despite heavy pressure from Washington, pulled his troops back in the nick of time.
"I suppose all in the North are surprised at Gen'l Meade's movement, and call him incompetent," wrote Union Maj. Holman Melcher of the 20th Maine. "But he saw that the fruits would be far less than the cost, and was brave enough to withdraw and save thousands of his Army."
The Mine Run land appeared on a 1993 congressional list of the nation's 50 most endangered battlefields.
The trust said it plans to protect the land and eventually install interpretive signs and walking trails for the public.
