CW Trust Needs $296K By Early April
Originally published March 2016 · p. 5
CW Trust Needs $296K By Early April WASHINGTON — The Civil War Trust seeks $296,500 in donations by the April 5 closing on the 25acre Meade’s Breakthrough tract at Fredericksburg and for a portion of the annual mortgage payment on the Slaughter Pen Farm. The target 25 acres of core battlefield is the first land the Trust has had the chance to save there in nearly eight years. It is slated for a 98-townhouse development if it is not preserved. It is at the southern end of the battlefield near Slaughter Pen Farm, within a few hundred feet of where Confederate artillerist John Pelham made his gallant stand. It is the site of Gen. George Gordon Meade’s breakthrough of Gen. Stonewall Jackson’s lines. The property is valued at $2.59 million. Trust President James Lighthizer reported that all but $107,500 is committed “through a combination of a landowner donation, anticipated federal and state grants, and a major gift from a husband-and-wife couple — two of the Civil War Trust’s longest-serving and most generous supporters.” He noted that many people think of the Dec. 11-15, 1862, Battle of Fredericksburg as being a battle of Union attack against Confederates behind the stone wall at the Sunken Road. “Recent scholarship has shifted greater attention to the important southern section of the battlefield, where the true outcome of this battle hung in the balance,” he said. The target property is south of the preserved Slaughter Pen Farm where five Medals of Honor were awarded. It abuts National Park Service property. Lighthizer said a $300,000 bank payment is due on the 208-acre farm property which the War Trust purchased in 2006. He called the site, “arguably the most historically significant hallowed ground the Civil
War Trust has ever bought.” Thanks to donations, the payment balance to be raised is $189,000. Lighthizer said that at $12 million the Slaughter Pen Farm was the most ambitious nonprofit battlefield acquisition effort in American history, and remains one of the most historically significant pieces of property the Trust has saved. According to historian and author Frank O’Reilly, “The Slaughter Pen is the very heart and soul of the
Fredericksburg Battlefield. Without it, nothing makes sense. This is the point where the battle was won and lost on Dec. 13, 1862.” After the April bank payment is made the Trust will have raised $8.1 million of the $12 million purchase cost. Donations may be made at www.civilwar.org or mailed to PO Box 17686, Baltimore, MD 21298-8333. Photos and history of the property are on the website.
