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National Park Service historian Frank O'Reilly leads a tour of Slaughter Pen Farm, a key part Bloody fighting in the Battle of Fredericksburg earned this land the name Slaughter Pen Farm. |
By RUSTY DENNEN
For generations, an oasis of green and gold--rolling farmland and corn-stubble fields--has sat untouched in a time warp along Tidewater Trail next to Shannon Airport.
The site, one of the most significant but largely unknown landscapes of the December 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg, looks much the same today as it did during the Civil War.
When Pierson family heirs in Pennsylvania recently put the Spotsylvania County land on the market for $12.3 million, James Lighthizer and Michael A. Jones knew what they had to do.
Lighthizer, president of the Washington-based Civil War Preservation Trust, and Jones, principal owner of the Tricord Cos., teamed up to save what has been described as the most significant unprotected piece of land connected with the battle.
Tricord signed a contract in February to purchase the 205 acres, intending to sign it over to CWPT at cost.
Meanwhile, the trust is launching its biggest-ever fundraising campaign to come up with the money. Tricord helped in a similar deal last year to allow the trust to buy 140 acres on the Chancellorsville Battlefield in Spotsylvania outside the National Park Service boundary.
The principals in the deal, representatives of the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, which also helped in the transaction, and two National Park Service representatives gathered yesterday for a look at what is known locally as the Pierson Farm.
"Hands down, this is the single most important piece of ground" connected with the 1862 battle, Lighthizer said. "If you don't have this, you don't have the Battle of Fredericksburg."
The fighting through Fredericksburg, with its carnage at Marye's Heights, is etched in the nation's collective memory. But the rest of the story played out farther south on and around the farm, where Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's 2nd Corps battled Union Gen. William Franklin's Left Grand Division.
At one point, half the Confederate army was concentrated along the railroad tracks southwest of the property, waiting for the Union attack across the farm.
In some of the most desperate fighting of the day, Union forces under George Meade and John Gibbon punched through Confederate lines for a time before being driven back by Southern reinforcements.
Historians estimate that of the 9,000 men killed or wounded on the southern end of the Battle of Fredericksburg, 5,000 met their fate on the farm that would become known as the Slaughter Pen.
Five Union men earned the Medal of Honor on its undulating fields, ditches and valleys, which alternately protected and exposed both sides during that day of fighting.
National Park Service historian Frank O'Reilly yesterday explained the significance of the site along a battle front that stretched from Marye's Heights in Fredericksburg to Prospect Hill south of the farm: "If you captured Prospect Hill, you were between [Confederate Gen. Robert E.] Lee and his capital."
Russ Smith, superintendent of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, applauded the announcement of the deal.
"This is an amazing chance to restore the battlefield. We're glad that CWPT will be able to acquire this land outside our boundary," he said.
The park contains the area's four major battlefields--Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Wilderness and Chancellorsville--along with other sites.
Tricord, a local home builder, found out in December that Slaughter Pen was for sale and contacted the trust.
Jones said the mostly open, flat land, with easy proximity to Interstate 95 and U.S. 17, "is a developer's dream." Some developers were actively interested in the tract, which has by-right industrial zoning, public water and sewer and frontage on the CSX railroad, he said.
"To his credit, he took the property off the market to allow us to save it. He bought us the time," Lighthizer said of Jones.
Jones said the decision was not that hard. Protecting land and historical resources benefits everyone in the long run, he said.
"Smart developers are interested in the community as a whole. We live here and we work here," he said.
The land went on the market in December, at an asking price of $12.3 million. Tricord signed a contract and then gave the trust the option to purchase the land for $12 million, or about $60,000 an acre.
The hurdle now is for CWPT to come up with the money by the June 15 closing date. To raise the money, Lighthizer said the trust will turn to its 75,000 members and corporate sponsors, state and federal matching funds, and other private sources.
"We'll pass the hat around here in a minute," he joked yesterday.
He added that, if necessary, the trust has secured a line of credit to help cover the purchase price.
"This is a unique opportunity--probably the most important piece of Civil War land to come on the market in the last five years. It has national significance," Lighthizer said.
CWPT was scheduled to officially announce the deal today.
The land sits across the CSX tracks from National Park Service battlefield land, and near Latimer's Knoll, another parcel of Pierson family land protected in a conservation easement acquired by the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust.
Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors Chairman Hap Connors was surprised and pleased by the news.
"I think the parties involved ought to be commended for fairly compensating the property owner, while preserving this important piece of historic land. It proves once again that good intentions can produce great results," he said.
He also singled out for praise the management of the Tricord Cos., saying they "have stepped up to the plate again and are being good corporate citizens."
Supervisor Vince Onorato, whose district contains the land, also was pleased.
"I wish the best for the CWPT to raise the $12 million asking price," he said.
Jim Campi, spokesman for CWPT said the transaction, if it goes through, would be the most expensive ever for a private, nonprofit Civil War preservation group.
Campi said the trust is confident, "because we're raising money for property so obviously historically significant. We see it as a challenge, but we'll meet it."
Battlefield-preservation efforts have been in overdrive in the region in recent years, with thousands of acres in acquisitions and easements completed by CWPT and groups such as the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, completed over the last six years.
Formed in 1999, CWPT has protected more than 22,600 acres of battlefield land nationally. It typically uses members' financial support to qualify for federal or state grants for its purchases, and often works in conjunction with other preservation groups.
In Virginia, it has acquired 10,570 acres at a cost of $39 million.
To put the Slaughter Pen Farm deal in perspective, the private, nonprofit trust last year spent $13.6 million on preservation projects nationwide.
Staff reporter George Whitehurst contributed to this story.
To reach RUSTY DENNEN:
Email: rdennen@freelancestar.com
