American Battlefield Trust

American Battlefield Trust — November 2022

Originally published November 2022 · pp. 20–21

Two Tracts, Five Battles and One Opportunity to Save 57 Acres! After 22 years of working to save America’s hallowed ground, for the first time ever, the Trust has an opportunity to save two tracts of critically important battlefield land associated with five different Civil War battles. Two years ago, the organization launched “The Gaines’ MillCold Harbor Saved Forever Campaign,” and has successfully protected two areas to date, the tract called “Pickett’s Charge Five Times as Large” and another aptly named “The Intersection” because of its intersecting location for these two epic battles. Together, this land encompasses 207 acres of hallowed ground saved forever. Now, the Trust is striving to save another 45 acres deemed “The Juncture at Griffin’s Woods.” This key hallowed ground serves as a critical juncture between battlefield lands the Trust has already saved to the east, west, and north; it fills a gap and completes an uninterrupted and fully protected section of this battlefield. Plus, this land remains unchanged from its wartime appearance, making it easy to imagine the dozen brigades that ferociously fought within the forest in 1862 and 1864. If you’re wondering, “Why Griffin’s Woods?” It is so-named for Union Brig. Gen. Charles Griffin, who defended this part of the battlefield during the Battle of Gaines’ Mill along with his V Corps brigade. The opportunity gets better. The Trust is also targeting a nearly 12-acre tract associated with the battles of Glendale, Malvern Hill, and First Deep Bottom. The land will, for another “first,” connect the Glendale and First Deep Bottom battlefields with nearby Malvern Hill, creating an extended “walk through history.” We’re now in a new and urgent race against well-funded competitors who want to purchase unprotected battlefield land for data centers, warehouse distribution centers, solar farms, housing developments, and so much more, making this preservation opportunity all the more timely and important. In total, these 57 acres are valued at $677,299 but expected gifts and grants may cover up to $170,000. If successful in raising the remaining $507,299, the Trust can ensure that these nearly 57 critical acres don’t fall into the hands of developers. Learn more at www.battlefields.org/ GMCH2022N. Antietam National Battlefield Grows Amid 160th Anniversary The national park unit honoring the 1862 battle that remains the bloodiest day in American history, Antietam National Battlefield, has grown by 7.6 acres, thanks to the efforts of the nonprofit American Battlefield Trust. The property, purchased by the Trust in 2016 and stewarded until the transfer process was completed in mid-August, sits directly across from the Antietam National Battlefield visitor center and encompasses the southern tip of the famous West Woods, scene of fierce fighting on the morning of September 17, 1862. Now that it is part of the park, non-historic structures on the property will be removed to better approximate the area’s wartime appearance with the assistance of a grant from the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority and the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area. Fierce fighting unfolded here on the morning of September 17, 1862, involving Confederates under Brig. Gen. Joseph B. Kershaw, Marylanders and Pennsylvanians from the Union

XII Corps, as well as North Carolina and Arkansas troops. Since 1991, the Trust has secured 11 properties on the Antietam Battlefield, a total of 463 acres of hallowed ground valued at more than $3.5 million. Two properties initially purchased by the Trust have previously been transferred into the park, notably a 44acre parcel south of the Miller Cornfield.

Preservation Prevails at the Site of Todd’s Tavern Only a quick drive from the historic hotspot of Fredericksburg, the Old Dominion’s Spotsylvania County also had its run-ins with warfare. As such, the American Battlefield Trust jumped at the chance to save roughly 137 acres of hallowed ground there, with both Revolutionary and Civil War ties. Successful in its pursuit of preservation, the organization is proud to recognize and tell the land’s expansive story. In 1781, following the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, British Lieutenant General Cornwallis marched his army to Virginia but was trailed by a Continental force under the Marquis de Lafayette. On the way to shield the vital logistical center of Fredericksburg, Lafayette brought his command along Brock and Catharpin Roads, on the southern and eastern portions of this tract. The now-preserved acreage was transformed by another war 83 years later. On the night of May 7, 1864, Union Generals Grant and Meade rode south along Spotsylvania’s Brock Road, skirting the 137-acre tract and stopping briefly at the one-and-ahalf story residence, tavern, post office, and store known as Todd’s Tavern. A few days later, on May 14, Confederate Brig. Gen. Thomas Rosser’s cavalry brigade spent the night at the tavern. The following day, Rosser marched east on the Catharpin Road and engaged the 2nd Ohio Cavalry and 23rd Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops. It is there that Union Gen. Philip Sheridan and Confederate Gen. Fitzhugh “Fitz” Lee waged one of the most intense and important cavalry battles of the Overland Campaign. While the tavern was destroyed sometime before 1884, the stories engrained in the land linger and the Trust has ensured their longevity through the power of preservation. Their work was made possible by the support of its devoted members, the American Battlefield Protection Program, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Virginia Battlefield Preservation Fund and the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust. Learn more at www.battlefields.org/preserve/celebrate-our-victories.

Make Your Voice Heard, Protect Battlefields Across the Country Now, more than ever, we are seeing a resurgence of battlefield threats across the country in the form of data centers, highway interchanges, solar facilities and more. As it advocates against inappropriate development, the Trust has called on preservationists nationwide, citizens local to these threats, and visitors who frequent threatened sites to speak out on behalf of battlefield preservation. Thousands have signed petitions for a handful of causes that arose this summer, including the fight to oppose a Cumberland, Pennsylvania, Township amendment that would have increased the maximum height regulations for “essential services,” threatening Gettysburg National Military Park’s historic skyline. To learn more about how you can help, visit www.battlefields.org/preserve/ speak-out.

The Trust is Poised to Elevate Undertold Connections on Virginia Battlefields

Nearly every corner of Virginia was witness to military conflict, from the earliest days of the American Revolution in 1775 through the end of the Civil War in 1865. For the Native American and Black communities in the Commonwealth, the connections to these battlefields can open the door to stories previously lost to history. Following receipt of a National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) 2022 Preservation Planning Grant, the Trust is poised to launch a strategic study to document the material culture of Native tribes and Black communities on Virginia’s battlefields. Applicable to a broad array of battlefields and related sites, Preservation Planning Grants lay the groundwork for important preservation and interpretation initiatives. This year, ABPP disbursed a total of $1.2 million in Preservation Planning Grants. Equipped with a $94,000 Preservation Planning Grant, the Trust will conduct primary source research, oral history interviews, and non-invasive field surveys at three regionally varied battlefields in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This data will be used to fill gaps in the state’s wartime history, so that the public may experience battlefields as indigenous landscapes and settlements, sites of enslaved agricultural and industrial labor, and freedmen’s post-war settlements, as well as sites of our nation’s defining conflict.

The proposal was met with widespread support from U.S Senators, U.S Representatives, as well as state and local organizations across Virginia.