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State's battlefields now key in fight to preserve history

Nation's 10 most-threatened battlefields include three from Virginia; several others in state are at risk

By RUSTY DENNEN

Date published: 2/25/2005

By RUSTY DENNEN

Virginia has three of the nation's 10 most sprawl-threatened Civil War sites.

And according to the Civil War Preservation Trust's "History Under Siege" report released yesterday, six battlefields in the state are at risk to encroaching development.

Much of Spotsylvania County saw fighting during the war, so in an unusual move, the trust listed the entire county as one of the most-endangered areas in this year's annual report.

Four of the bloodiest battles of the war were fought in and around Spotsylvania between December 1862 and May 1864--at Chancellorsville, Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House and Fredericksburg.

"Today, Spotsylvania County is again an epicenter, only this time it is ground zero in the fight to save America's remaining Civil War battlegrounds," the report said. It noted that Spotsylvania is one of the fastest-growing localities in the nation.

The other most-endangered battlefields in Virginia are: Manassas, the site of two crucial battles during the summers of 1861 and 1862; and Bermuda Hundred, near Richmond. The land on the James River was the scene of a series of inconclusive battles from May 6, 1864, until the war's end the following spring.

Rounding out the top 10 nationally are battlefields in Franklin and Knoxville, Tenn., Kennesaw Mountain, Ga., Mansfield, La., Morris Island, S.C., Raymond, Miss., and Wilson's Creek, Mo.

At-risk battlefields in Virginia include Brandy Station, Buckland, Cedar Creek, Cross Keys/Port Republic, Gaines' Mill/Cold Harbor and Williamsburg.

Last year, Chancellorsville made the most-threatened list and Spotsylvania Courthouse was named at-risk. The trust recently purchased 140 acres of the battlefield long State Route 3 from home developer Tricord Inc., to create a 1,000-foot conservation buffer between proposed homes and the highway.

The endangered and at-risk sites are nominated by the trust's 70,000 members, its board of trustees, historians and preservationists and are based on geographic location, military significance and preservation status.

The report said there is some good news: During the past year, the organization protected 3,100 acres at legendary battlegrounds such as Shiloh, Tenn. The Chancellorsville acquisition also is among that acreage.

To reach RUSTY DENNEN: 540/374-5431 rdennen@freelancestar.com

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Date published: 2/25/2005