Battlefield preservation

I attended my first meeting of the Buffington Island Battlefield Preservation Foundation on Saturday. The meeting was held at the facility of the Meigs County Historical Society in Pomeroy, Ohio, which is the nearest town of any consequence to the Buffington Island battlefield. Pomeroy is also the county seat of Meigs County.

A couple of months ago, I was named one of the founding voting trustees of the organization, so this was my introduction to the group. It’s taken several years of political haggling and wrangling to get things to this point. Apparently striking a balance between folks from Meigs County and outsiders like me was one of the big hang-ups. Interestingly, the president and vice president are both outsiders, while the secretary and treasurer are local folks from Meigs County. I guess that’s as even a split as is possible. If it works, it’s fine by me.

The first order of business was for the trustees–there are nine of us, although the by-laws of the organization call for thirteen; we’re still looking to fill those four slots–to vote for the slate of officers put forward by the same nominating committee that proposed me as a trustee. I was nominated to serve as vice president and agreed to serve in that role if elected. Since I was running unopposed, my election was something of a foregone conclusion, but the formalities need to be obeyed. So, I am now officially the vice president of the BIBPF. As the vice president, I’m also now a member of several committees, including the historical interpretation committee and the fundraising committee.

To make a long story short, there is a lot of work yet to be done. Sadly, the sand and gravel country has begun its mining operations there, and a significant portion of the battlefield has been forever destroyed. They do not plan on filling in their ponds when done, so that part of the battlefield will never be restored. It’s sad, but it was inevitable, and there simply is nothing that can be done about it. That ball was set in motion ten years ago, and the Army Corps of Engineers approved the operation, which, in turn, cast the die.

The other big problem, of course, is that the Ohio Historical Society owns only four acres of the battlefield. The rest is in private hands, meaning that it’s all threatened. Prior attempts to purchase preservation easements have been met by the locals with great resistance, so we have our work cut out for us. There is no doubt about that.

The good news is that the Ohio Civil War Trails Commission plans on running its John Hunt Morgan trail through Meigs County in 2009. Using TEA-21 funds from the Federal government, the trail will bring interpretation and visitors to the battlefield, and we hope to be able to raise its profile among the public. One of our projects will be to come up with some standard interpretation of the battle’s main details, so that we’re ensuring that folks get a consistent interpretation of the events that occurred there.

This will be a long-term and challenging process, but I look forward to the challenge. I look forward to working with the other officers and trustees, and I likewise look forward to working with the Civil War Preservation Trust and other similar preservation organizations. I will keep you posted on our progress.

Continue reading

I’ve already told you about the Monterey Pass Battlefield Association, and I’ve previously mentioned the upcoming November 8 event. However, I want to give it another shout out for a couple of reasons. First, I really believe in the organization and what it’s trying to accomplish. Second, it’s going to be a terrific program.

It’s called the Thunder on the Mountain and the Retreat from Gettysburg Seminar. Here’s the agenda for the day:

Schedule of Events

8:30: Registration

9:00: Welcome

9:15-10:30: First Presentation includes Eric Wittenberg and J. David Pertruzzi

10:30-10:45: Break

10:45-11:45: Second Presentation will given by Ted Alexander

11:45-1:00: Lunch

1:00-2:00: Third Presentation will be given by John A. Miller

2:00-2:15: Break

2:15-3:15: Final Presentation will be given by Troy Harman

3:15-3:30: Conclusion and Final Remarks

Blue Ridge Summit to Host Seminar, November 8th, 2008

Blue Ridge Summit, Pa. – The One Mountain Foundation will host a special Civil War seminar “Thunder on the Mountain & the Retreat from Gettysburg”. This seminar will explain the Pennsylvania Campaign and why it is important to preserve various sites along the retreat from Gettysburg.

Speakers will include Eric Wittenberg and J. David Pertruzzi discussing their new book entitled “One Continuous Fight”. Kent Masterson Brown author of the book “Retreat from Gettysburg”, Ted Alexander author and Chief Historian at Antietam National Battlefield and John A. Miller Civil War Historian of the area and author will also be presenting. Speakers will discuss their areas of expertise. Display setups by local organizations will be promoting area history.

Pre-registration post marked by October 10th is $45.00 and will include a lunch, refreshments and snacks. Registration at the door the day of the event will be $60.00, so register early. The seminar will be held at the Blue Ridge Summit Fire Hall just off of Route 16 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on November 8th, 2008. For more information contact the One Mountain Foundation through their website at www.onemountainfoundation.org or the Monterey Pass Battlefield Association by logging onto www.emmitsburg.net/montereypass. All proceeds from the event will go back into preservation and other interpretational events of the mountaintop.

Our Speakers

Eric Wittenberg, J. David Petruzzi and Michael Nugent: A talk about key points of their new book “One Continuous Fight”. This book is their latest release about the battles during the Confederate retreat from Gettysburg as well as General Meade’s pursuit of the Confederate Army.

Ted Alexander: Chief Historian at Antietam National Battlefield. Ted will discuss the aftermath of the battle of Gettysburg. The battles of Smithsburg and Hagerstown and how they played a major role during the Pennsylvania Campaign.

John A. Miller: Historian of the Emmitsburg and Monterey Areas and author. An informal talk about the battle and the Confederate Retreat through Monterey Pass. John will discuss the first hand accounts by those who fought and marched through Monterey Pass “The Gateway of Agony”.

Troy D. Harman: National Park Service Ranger since 1984. His assignments have included historical interpretation at Appomattox Court House National Historic Park (NHP), Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park (NMP), Independence NHP, Valley Forge NMP, Eisenhower National Historic Site (NHS), and, since 1989 Gettysburg NMP. He also teaches in the history department at Harrisburg Area Community College and is working on a Ph.D. in history at Lehigh University. Troy received an M.A. from Shippensburg University, and a B.A. from Lynchburg College, both in history. He has presented his book, Lee’s Real Plan at Gettysburg, in seventeen states, and it is in its fourth printing. Troy, his wife Lisa, and 6 year old son Daniel live near Gettysburg.

Unfortunately, a scheduling conflict forced Kent Masterson Brown to pull out, but Troy Harman has agreed to step up and take his place. The same problem–uncooperative schedules–also forced our co-author Mike Nugent to pull out of the event, and he will be missed there. Nevertheless, it should be an excellent program for a really worthy cause.

Also, on December 13, I will be doing a presentation on the Battle of Trevilian Station for the Louisa County Historical Society as one of its monthly programs. I will be at the Historical Society from 10:30-12:00 that Saturday, giving a talk and then signing books. The Society and I are going to use the opportunity to promote the preservation of the battlefield and to give credit to the Trevilian Station Battlefield Foundation for the extraordinary job it has done in preserving the Civil War’s largest all-cavalry battlefield. If you’re in the area, please come by and say hello.

These are my last two events for 2008, which has been a VERY busy year. However, they’re both worthy causes, and I’m looking forward to both. I hope to see some of you there.

Continue reading

Hat tip to reader Stu Younkin for bringing this to my attention….

From today’s issue of the Winchester Star newspaper:

Belle Grove soldiers on after Cedar Creek split
By Jason Kane
The Winchester Star

Middletown — For the first time in decades, Belle Grove Plantation commemorated the Civil War alone.

The entirety of this year’s Battle of Cedar Creek re-enactment took place on the adjoining Civil War Battlefield south of Middletown, leaving Belle Grove visitors to contemplate gentler things.

A league of women in hoop skirts told guests about everything from Civil War food rations to parlor games Sunday as the sounds of musket fire and cannon blasts echoed from the battlefield next door.

The separate events stemmed from a disagreement in June between Belle Grove Inc. and the Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation over the expansion of a quarry near the 18th century plantation and the adjoining battlefield.

Elizabeth McClung, executive director of Belle Grove, said of this weekend’s divided festivities, “We don’t really see it as separate, but complimentary events. They provide battle re-enactment and we provide the social history.

“Both are windows into the past. People come here to have more of a low-key experience.”

In addition to a wreath-laying ceremony Sunday afternoon in honor of all those affected by the battle on Oct. 19, 1864, the mansion brought in the Frederick [Md.] Ladies Relief Society, a Civil War-based living history organization, to give tours of the plantation house turned museum.

On Saturday and Sunday, people from all over the United States, including California, Michigan, Texas, and Washington state, drove up the plantation’s long entrance.

Rather than hearing a litany of battle names and war-related dates, visitors instead learned of the Cooley family, which lived in the plantation house when the battle broke out in 1864.

Many civilians starved in those years, but not the Cooleys, who probably would have been “comfortable” during the war, said Marty Riddell, vice chairwoman of FLRS. They had money, she said, and were able to continue raising livestock and growing vegetables in their garden.

Still, they weren’t immune to the common inconveniences of the times, Riddell said.

Cut off from drinks like coffee, the Cooleys probably made a substitute concoction composed of sweet potatoes and dried chicory. Black molasses made a nice fill-in for sugar, and if the family wanted salt, they probably scraped it off the ground of their smokehouse.

Riddell has been participating in the Belle Grove battle commemoration for the past 10 years, and said the crowd this year was particularly sparse.

“I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s the economy,” she said.

Attendance figures were not available Sunday, McClung said.

In one of the mansion’s rooms, Tammy Strickland and Breanne Lamb sat in hoop skirts, showing visitors a sampling of war-time games from the 1860s including a board game similar to Chutes and Ladders. A “gentleman’s only” game drilled young boys on morality by illustrating “scenes from the life of a country gentleman.”

Visitors learned how to produce fine lacewear through needlework and knitting — which continued to be the vogue throughout the war, even as entire cities were reduced to rubble.

Another guide told of how the Cooleys moved to safer ground when the bullets began to fly around the mansion on Oct. 19, 1864. A few stayed behind, as was the tradition, to “make sure that not too much walked away” in the hands of soldiers, said Larry Keener-Farley.

Several shots hit the front of the plantation house in the rain of gunfire, but “if a [mortar] shell would have come in and exploded, the damage and the resulting fire could have destroyed the house,” Keener-Farley said.

He loves to tell visitors about Confederate Maj. Gen. Stephen D. Ramseur’s death in the mansion.

During the Battle of Cedar Creek, he had been wounded once and had two horses shot from beneath him, but he still rallied his men. He was wounded in both lungs and died the next day.

After he took his last breath, Union officers visited Ramseur’s body in Belle Grove’s library.

“They were killing each other during the day, but when the battle was over, they would stop to honor a gallant foe,” Keener-Farley said.

Dave Lamb, an archaeologist from Des Moines, Iowa, stopped to visit the plantation during a pilgrimage to Middletown.

Since he was a little boy, Lamb had been hearing stories about his great-grandfather being captured at the Battle of Cedar Creek and taken to a Confederate prison camp outside of Savannah, Ga.

The long wait to visit the battlefield was worth it, he said. “From a preservation standpoint, this is tremendous.”

In the front yard of Belle Grove, a group of soldiers lounged and laughed, playing fiddle music and singing. The scene mimicked a picture of war-time Belle Grove, minus the battle.

That this sort of thing happened at all is a tragedy, but not so much of a tragedy as a stewardship organization that abrogated its sacred duty, all for eight lousy acres.

And my guess is that attendance was down at the Foundation’s event because people heeded the call to boycott an organization that would sell its soul to the devil for eight acres. I’m glad people stayed away. Maybe, just maybe, the Foundation will get the message that it screwed up in epic terms. At least I hope so.

Continue reading

Featuring superb animated maps by master cartographer Steve Stanley, this presentation on the web site of the CWPT makes it abundantly clear why it is so important to stop the quarrying of the Cedar Creek battlefield.

It also amplifies and puts into graphic terms the magnitude of horrendous failure of the Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation to protect the battlefield it is supposed to steward.

Please take a moment and click the links to generate a letter to Carmeuse making your opposition to the expanding mining operation known. It will cost you a few minutes and a $.42 stamp, but perhaps it will help to prevent the loss of pristine battlefield land to a limestone quarry. Once that land has been quarried, it is gone forever, so time is of the essence. Please act now, while there’s still time.

Continue reading

The closing of the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C. has opened up a new opportunity to save a significant portion of the Fort Stevens battlefield. For those unfamiliar with the fight at Fort Stevens, Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early’s Confederate army arrived in Silver Spring, Maryland on July 12, 1864, ready to try to assault the works and then enter the defenses of Washington. The proximity of the Confederate army prompted a response by Grant, who sent the 6th, 19th, and 8th Corps to defend the nation’s capital. Elements of the 6th Corps arrived on July 12, as Early was preparing his assault, and a very significant skirmish, witnessed in person by President Abraham Lincoln, occurred. Early, realizing that the presence of the Federal infantry made it pointless to try an all-out assault on the works, broke off and withdrew back across the Potomac River. It was the only fighting of any consequence to take place in the defenses of Washington, and the only instance where an American president came under fire on the front lines of combat.

Sadly, only a small fragment of the works of Fort Stevens survives, and the overwhelming majority of the battlefield is today a fully-developed urban neighborhood along Georgia Avenue in the District of Columbia. Only the small fragment of Fort Stevens and the Battleground Cemetery, the nation’s smallest national cemetery, survive. Unfortunately, the fragment of Fort Stevens includes a powder magazine that provides an attractive target for the area’s many homeless persons.

Steve Stanley’s fabulous and invaluable map of the battle for Fort Stevens can be found here. This is, without doubt, the best map of the battle for Fort Stevens yet tackled. Be patient–it’s a big file that takes a moment to load. It’s well worth the wait, though.

A significant portion of the Confederate assault on Fort Stevens passed across the grounds of what is today Walter Reed, and there is even a marker on the grounds of the hospital to commemorate the fighting that occurred there. The Civil War Preservation Trust is launching a new campaign to preserve that portion of the Fort Stevens battlefield that lies on the grounds of Walter Reed, and I want to wholeheartedly endorse that effort. Please do whatever you can to encourage the Federal government not to sell the front portion of Walter Reed to commercial developers; help us preserve another fragment of an important Civil War battlefield.

Keep up the good work, guys.

Continue reading

From the September 5 edition of Winchester Star newspaper, it appears that the fight against the mining company is heating up at Cedar Creek. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, unlike the Cedar Creek Battlefield Association, has stepped up to the plate to use the courts to try to prevent the demolition of the battlefield’s viewshed. The Association unfortunately sold its soul for eight lousy acres of marginal land.

National Trust seeks to join quarry litigation
By Erica M. Stocks

9-5-2008
Winchester Star (VA)
http://www.winchesterstar.com/

Winchester — The National Trust for Historic Preservation is seeking to join 20 local property owners in challenging the Frederick County Board of Supervisors’ decision to allow the expansion of a Middletown quarry.

The trust filed a motion in Frederick County Circuit Court last week asking to intervene as a co-plaintiff in the landowners’ complaint, which questions the supervisors’ approval of a request from O-N Minerals Chemstone to rezone 394 acres to the north and south of its quarry from Rural Areas to Extractive Manufacturing

The rezoning, which will allow the company to mine high-grade limestone from property that it owns, was approved in May.

Opponents of the rezoning, including the National Trust, have argued that the quarry’s expanded operations will threaten nearby historical sites, including the Cedar Creek Civil War battlefield and Belle Grove National Historical Park.

The trust owns Belle Grove, which is open to the public as a 283-acre historical site. The property is within the boundaries of the Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park south of Middletown.

“We have a lot of concerns, not just as a property owner, but as the manager of a historic site open to the public,” Elizabeth Merritt, deputy general counsel for the National Trust, said in a phone interview Thursday.

Twenty people who own adjoining land, or land within 1,500 feet of of the Chemstone property, filed a complaint in Frederick County Circuit Court in June, asking that the court declare the rezoning decision of the Board of Supervisors void because it did not comply with state laws.

“Plaintiffs request that this Honorable Court declare that the zoning decision by the Board was improperly advertised; that it violated the law of Virginia; that the board had no jurisdiction or authority to act on May 28, 2008, on the rezoning; that the rezoning is null and void and of no effect,” the complaint states.

Merritt said the property owners’ complaint raises a number of issues that National Trust officials also think are important.

“We wanted to express our support and make it clear that we are directly supporting them,” she said of the organization’s decision to sign on as a co-plaintiff.

In its motion filed last week, the trust states that the expanded mining operation will consume nearly 400 acres of land on the battlefield property, potentially leading to direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts on the historical park.

“The National Trust, like the existing plaintiffs, seeks a determination by the Court that the rezoning decision is unlawful, and therefore null and void,” the organization states in its motion.

Merritt said the Board of Supervisors specifically failed to provide the type of public access and notice required by the county’s bylaws in approving the rezoning request of O-N Minerals Chemstone, a subsidiary of Carmeuse Lime & Stone based in Belgium. “It raises a number of procedural concerns,” she said.

The property owners’ complaint, as well as the National Trust’s decision to intervene, is in its early stages, Merritt said. “At this point, nothing has really happened.”

Nord Wennerstrom, director of communications for the trust, said Thursday that the rezoning is not an issue his organization takes lightly.

“Belle Grove has been a historical trust site for 44 years, so it’s important,” he said in a telephone interview.

In June, trust and Belle Grove officials announced that they were ending their involvement with the Cedar Creek Battlefield Association because of the foundation’s failure to fight the quarry expansion.

Belle Grove Inc. said that in April, the foundation reversed its previous opposition to the expansion and arranged with the quarry owner to accept a land gift of eight acres.

Kudos to Belle Grove and the National Trust for taking a stand and in particular for taking a stand against the traitors at the CCBA, who have abdicated the sacred trust entrusted to them.

Continue reading

On September 1, 1862, the important Battle of Chantilly was fought in Fairfax County, Virginia. The battle was a classic meeting engagement, where Pope’s bedraggled Army of Virginia and Stonewall Jackson’s command tangled in a blinding rainstorm. Two important Union generals, Maj. Gen. Philip Kearny and Maj. Gen. Isaac Stevens, were killed in the confused fighting that day. Unfortunately, the bulk of the battlefield was lost to commercial development in the 1980’s, and only a small fragment of the battlefield, featuring twin monuments to Kearny and Stevens, was saved. Our friend Paul Taylor has written an excellent book about the Battle of Chantilly that I commend to you.

Only one good thing came out of the loss of the Chantilly battlefield. Three dedicated locals, Clark B. “Bud” Hall, Ed Wenzel, and Brian C. Pohanka, were outraged by the loss of the battlefield, and they decided to do something about it. Consequently, they formed the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites (“APCWS”). About ten years ago, APCWS was merged into a similar organization, the Civil War Trust, to form the Civil War Preservation Trust, which does great work saving battlefield land around the country. So, but for the loss of most of the battlefield, we might not have the CWPT to do such a great job.

In any event, Ed Wenzel has remained dedicated to the preservation and marking of the battlefield at Chantilly, and after a lot of work, his efforts have finally paid some dividends. On Monday of this week, the 146th anniversary of the battle, a ceremony was held. From the Washington Times newspaper:

Ox Hill battlefield saved by locals
Restored site to be dedicated on fight’s 146th anniversary

Martha M. Boltz SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Thursday, August 28, 2008

The Battle of Ox Hill on Sept. 1, 1862, the only battle fought in Virginia’s most populous county, has been virtually ignored for years.

That will end at 10 a.m. Monday, when the Fairfax County Park Authority dedicates a newly restored park 146 years to the day since about 15,000 soldiers met at a battleground called Ox Hill by Confederates and Chantilly by the Union. It has been a long time coming.

Many historians and preservationists thought the battlefield was important enough to save because it was the site of one of Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s independent actions just after the Battle of Second Manassas, the main thrust of which was to prevent Gen. John Pope’s retreating Union army from reaching the defense line of Washington.

The somewhat demoralized Confederate army, which had marched 10 miles in eight hours the previous day, could not accomplish its objective – but about 1,100 Rebels were lost before that became apparent. At the same time, the Union lost two seasoned leaders, Gens. Philip Kearny and Isaac Stevens.

Death in the rain

The battle began in the afternoon and did not end until dark. It was the scene of massive thunderstorms – lightning strikes and rolling thunder that almost overshadowed the rifle fire.

The rains that Monday were so heavy that the order was given to use sabers instead of rifles because the rain had made the paper cartridges unusable. When one officer sent a message to Jackson asking that his regiment be taken out of line because of his troops’ wet cartridges, Jackson’s acerbic reply was that he was sure the enemy’s ammunition was just as wet.

Kearny’s death came partially because of his own impulsivity. He was confident there were no Confederates in the immediate area, but after receiving a message from Gen. David B. Birney that there was a gap in the Union line, he rode furiously through a cornfield to reconnoiter. He rode directly into a line of Rebels, realized his error and tried to escape. At the same time, some of the Southern troops shouted, “That’s a Yankee officer! Shoot him!”

The order to halt was sounded. It was ignored, and a dozen muskets rang out. It was all over for Kearny. The 49th Georgia regiment is credited with the shot that killed him.

It was about 150 yards from two present-day granite monuments, in a cornfield. Kearny had come into the battle with a handicap, which did not lessen his abilities: During the Battle of Churubusco in the Mexican War, his left arm had been amputated as the result of wounds.

Stevens, another West Point graduate, entered the Union Army as colonel of the 79th New York Highlanders, later called the Cameron Highlanders. Fort Stevens on the outskirts of Washington is named for him. He was made a brigadier general on Sept. 28, 1861, and fought at Port Royal, S.C. He was transferred with his IX Corps to Virginia to serve under Pope and took part in the Northern Virginia campaign and Second Manassas.

His rather picturesque death came after he picked up the fallen colors of his old regiment and shouted, “Highlanders, my Highlanders, follow your general!” He was struck in the head by a bullet and died instantly with the colors still in his hand while leading the charge against Confederates massed in the woods (near present-day Fairfax Towne Center).

The Union sustained a great loss from these two deaths alone.

Flag of truce

Finally, as darkness closed in, the fighting had almost ended. With wet musket cartridges, the battle had disintegrated into one of clubs and bayonets. About that time, troops arrived in the area to support Jackson and his weary men.

For all intents and purposes, the battle was over; the Union forces were withdrawing to the Warrenton Pike with some of their wounded, coming on to Fairfax and Alexandria.

Kearny’s body was sent back to the Federal lines under a flag of truce. The ambulance bearing the body was escorted down the turnpike by Maj. Walter Taylor of Gen. Robert E. Lee´s staff and five or six men and delivered to pickets of the 9th New York Cavalry at Difficult Run. That site today is at the Route 50 and Interstate 66 interchange, according to Ed Wenzel, a local preservationist.

Lee’s men may have been in control of the battlefield, but the battle would go down in history as a draw, with tactical advantage to the Southerners. In the following days, Confederate and Union forces would clash again at Dranesville and then Leesburg, which set the stage for the Maryland Campaign. That would lead to the final and bloodiest battle of them all, Sharpsburg (or Antietam), on Sept. 17.

Still, Ox Hill was an important fight, and the little battlefield deserved more recognition than a brown sign and the historical marker erected in 2000.

Saving the field

As encroaching development threatened to eradicate the battlefield, a group of preservationists and historians intervened. In 1986, Mr. Wenzel, a local resident, spotted bulldozers and graders at work near the site. His warning led to the formation of the Chantilly Battlefield Association, Chantilly being the name of a nearby mansion and the name favored by Union troops. Confederates called it Ox Hill because of a 503-foot rise.

When plans were unveiled recently to move the granite markers for the two generals as well as a memorial pile of boulders, the Chantilly Battlefield Association redoubled its efforts to find a way to preserve the site.

Shopping centers and malls, high-rise office buildings, town houses and four-lane highways came closer and closer to the relatively small combat area left undeveloped from the 500 acres the battlefield originally comprised.

The remains of a Confederate soldier were found during the construction of nearby town houses as late as 1985. Uniform buttons identified him as being from South Carolina, and authorities there came to reclaim the body for burial in his home state.

To save what remained of the battlefield, a determined band of preservationists swung into action, including Mr. Wenzel, Clark B. Hall, Brian Pohanka and members of the Bull Run Civil War Round Table, who had formed the Chantilly Battlefield Association.

Mr. Pohanka’s words, spoken several years before his death in 2005, became the mantra of all: “Some kid a hundred years from now is going to get interested in the Civil War and want to see these places. He’s going to go down there and be standing in a parking lot. I’m fighting for that kid.” His widow, Cricket Pohanka, serves on the CBA in his place.

A compromise

Builders and developers have deeper pockets than preservationists or park authorities, and it was a one-sided battle, with ideas for additional construction along Route 50 being considered and the CBA laying plans to block it.

A compromise finally was reached, resulting in 4.8 acres of Fairfax County parkland. It is not enough – it never is. Some say the battlefield has been destroyed – that with just 1.4 percent of the core combat area protected, the result is minuscule. Some opine that people can’t interpret a battle from a postage-stamp park. Yet an effort is being made to do just that.

The memorial markers for Stevens and Kearny are the biggest attraction. They were erected in 1915 by the Ballard family, which owned the farmland at the time, and the nearby pile of boulders was left to the memory of the two men, both of whom are buried elsewhere.

John Ballard was a former Confederate cavalryman who had ridden with Mosby’s Rangers and had lost a leg in 1863. He married Mary Reid Thrift, the young heiress to the farm where the battle was fought. There they raised their family and farmed the land.

In 1883, Charles Walcott, formerly of the 21st Massachusetts, and Hazard Stevens, who was wounded at Ox Hill and was the son of Isaac Stevens, returned to the battlefield to retrace their steps and find the places where the two generals had fallen. They visited the Ballards, enjoyed their hospitality and walked the fields, identifying the spots where Stevens and Kearny were killed.

Ballard later marked the place where Stevens died with a white quartz boulder and other rocks. Years passed, and in 1915, John and Mary Ballard deeded a 50-by-100-foot lot at the site of Stevens’ death to three trustees from New Jersey (the 1st New Jersey Brigade Society) and three from Virginia for the placement of monuments or markers.

Subsequently, two monuments, one for Kearny and one for Stevens, were dedicated at a ceremony attended by dignitaries, local people, Union and Confederate veterans and the children and grandchildren of the two generals. The monuments were surrounded by a small wrought-iron fence. That ultimately would be the only protected area on the entire battlefield, handed down through generations.

The price tag

A large concrete marker, called Kearny’s Stump, also was left intact. It replaced the original tree stump, which had rotted away, and bears his name and a large cross. The pile of boulders was preserved by the park authority, to the extent of being covered over with dirt and a tarp to prevent its harm or destruction, and will become part of the park.

Ultimately the park authority reached an agreement with Centennial Construction Co. to leave the boulders where they were and to donate 2.4 acres to the county for a battlefield park. The Fairfax County Park Authority agreed to match the acreage. Costs to complete the park are estimated at about $400,000, of which the authority has just $274,000 budgeted. Public fundraising will be essential to complete the park, and the CBA remains optimistic it will be found.

The park contains a hiking trail, interpretive exhibits and three hexagonal information kiosks that tell the story of the battle and its significance to the war in Virginia. The visitor will step into a portion of the original cornfield, within two reconstructed split-rail fences that follow the actual fence lines of the fields. The adjacent cornfield will be planted with grasses that will give the impression of corn, as the latter is deemed too labor-intensive to be used.

A celebration

Mr. Wenzel worked closely with the park authority each step of the way, and he praises the master plan.

“To a great extent, the planning and work has resulted in an undulating landscape,” Mr. Wenzel said, “and the topography rises and falls across the fields, giving the battlefield a realism that is not apparent on a flat map.”

The new park comes with a wheelchair-ready trail surfaced with paving blocks, compliments of the regulatory process. So much for 1862 and the historic landscape – though the more urban and unsteady among us might welcome the trail.

In truth, the attractive pavers, even when surrounded by pea gravel, make walking on them difficult even with the lowest of women’s heels. Some also think the large concrete park benches are a contemporary distraction. The hexagonal information kiosks endeavor to match the color theme of the war, the gray (Confederate) sides or columns being topped with blue (Union) roofs.

Finally, 14 years after the last parcel of land from the battlefield was acquired, the Fairfax County Park Authority is ready to dedicate the new park.

Public information officer Judith Pedersen, who played a large role in the project, said of the dedication ceremony to be held Monday: “We want it to be a celebration – it would not be here if it were not for the true passion and dedication of those who care about the history and heritage found here.”

She learned firsthand of the depth of their devotion at the groundbreaking ceremony some time ago.

“It began to rain,” she said, “and it kept on raining. I couldn’t help but think that that’s the way it was back in 1862 with the storms. I kept thinking we might have to abbreviate the ceremony, leave something out, but all the participants stayed. They all had thoughts to share and knew how important the day was. I knew then I was talking with dedicated people.”

Miss Pedersen added, “It’s very unusual for us to do anything regarding cultural resources in a park. Our main thrust is recreational, and we don´t have much experience in the cultural, but this has been a wonderful project. I can’t wait for it to be open and ready for use.”

Future monuments

Another Park Authority employee, Michael Rierson, emphasized that the interpretive signs and panels will help casual visitors as well as Civil War enthusiasts to better grasp the importance of Ox Hill.

While acknowledging that he and others wish more of the battlefield could have been preserved – it runs from Fair Oaks Mall all the way to Fair Lakes – Mr. Rierson added: “Even though we did not save more of the original battlefield, it will be a great little park site.”

Plans call for a fundraising drive to erect two large granite monuments to honor the contribution of the common soldier because only the two slain officers are recognized and no attention is given to the Confederate troops who fought and died there. The Union monument will carry the name of Chantilly and the Confederate one Ox Hill.

To paraphrase the title of a famous children’s book, the little battlefield that could finally did. It survives, in large part, thanks to a group of determined local residents who would not give up the fight and to a park authority that seized the opportunity to work with them.

Somewhere up in heaven, Mr. Pohanka is raising his arm in the air and saying, “Yes!”

cMartha Boltz is a frequent contributor to the history page. She thanks Ed Wenzel for sharing his research.

I suspect that Martha is right about Brian Pohanka. Nice work, gentlemen. A little bit of the battlefield is better than none at all.

Continue reading

There are three major corporations that I absolutely despise. I absolutely and categorically refuse to do business with two of them. Unfortunately, I am forced to use the third’s products, whether I want to do so or not. I hate Microsoft because of its crappy software and its monopolistic tendencies. I use its products because I have to, not because I have any desire to do so. I refuse to do business with Starbucks. I don’t drink coffee anyway, but I find their predatory tactics of specifically targeting locally owned business to drive them out of business disgusting.

The third is the Walton empire. Wal-Mart is notorious for forcing its way into communities and killing off local businesses, whether it’s wanted or not. In many instances, it’s not wanted, but it matters not to Wal-Mart. The latest atrocity by Wal-Mart is probably the most unforgivable of all: it wants to build one of its superstores ON the Wilderness battlefield, regardless of the historical significance of the ground, and regardless of what the community might have to say about it. It MUST be stopped.

Here’s an article on this from the last issue of Civil War News, which, coincidentally, was one of the last articles by Deb Fitts:

CWPT Leads Effort To Stop Wal-Mart At The Wilderness
By Deborah Fitts

THE WILDERNESS, Va. Plans for a Wal-Mart Supercenter on the Wilderness battlefield have prompted a coalition of preservation groups to deliver a shot across the mega-store’s bow.

The 145,000-square-foot facility would be sited on a 55-acre tract in Orange County, north of the intersection of routes 3 and 20. The site lies immediately across Route 3 from Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park.

In hopes of warning off Wal-Mart, the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) has rallied a coalition of groups to send a joint letter citing their opposition to the plan. Trust spokesman Jim Campi said the letter was mailed on the July 4 weekend.

“It’s the opening round,” said Campi of the letter. “It’s to put Wal-Mart and county officials on notice that we’re going to oppose this.”

Campi said of the Supercenter, “This is just going to be a magnet for sprawl.” Besides the Wal-Mart itself, he said there are plans for a large parking area and “two baby box stores” on the site.

The letter, sent to Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott Jr. in Bentonville, Ark., asserts that the store “would pave the way for desecration of the Wilderness with unnecessary commercial growth. Such a large-scale development is inappropriate next to a national park.”

The letter also warned that such major development “would impair the rural nature of the area and would increase traffic dramatically.” In fact, the store would boost pressure to expand Route 20 to four lanes through the Wilderness battlefield, the letter states. “That expansion is unacceptable to this coalition.”

Leading the charge against the Wal-Mart plan are CWPT and the Warrenton-based Piedmont Environmental Council. Their “Wilderness Battlefield Coalition” also includes the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Parks Conservation Association, Friends of the Wilderness, and Friends of the Fredericksburg Area Battlefields. Representatives of all six organizations signed the letter.

Campi cited “significant” local opposition as well. Orange County has long indicated a desire to block major development in this area, he said. Although the land was zoned for commercial development back in the 1970s, “quite a few elected officials think that was a mistake.”

Spotsylvania County, meanwhile, right next door, “is trying to keep commercial development east of Chancellorsville.” (And in Appomattox County Wal-Mart is on track for a 26-acre project near the national park.)

The letter states that the battle of the Wilderness, fought May 5-6, 1864, “marked the first clash between legendary Civil War generals Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant.” More than 160,000 troops were engaged and nearly 29,000 were casualties.

The battle initiated Grant’s Overland Campaign, “that exhausted both armies and took the Union forces to the gates of Richmond.”

The letter also notes that the park protects 2,773 acres of the Wilderness battlefield. Although the park boundary does not encompass the Wal-Mart site, the land “is within the historic limits of the battlefield.”

Campi said Wal-Mart will need a special use permit in order to go ahead, and that will entail public comment. As of mid-July no dates had been set for a hearing.

Campi said CWPT members will be kept apprised of the Wal-Mart project on the Trust’s Web site, civilwar.org.

The CWPT is leading the way on this. For more information, including steps that you can take to help stop this abomination, click here.

Continue reading

J.D, Mike Nugent and I have all agreed to participate in a seminar on the Battle of Monterey Pass being conducted by the Monterey Pass Battlefield Association on November 8, 2008. Other participants include Kent Masterson Brown, Ted Alexander, and John Miller, the authority on all things Emmitsburg in the Civil War. All proceeds of the program go to benefit the MPBA, which is working hard to preserve land and add interpretation to the battlefield at Blue Ridge Summit, which marks the largest engagement fought in Franklin County, Pennsylvania during the Civil War. Please come check it out.

Continue reading

It would appear that the threat of a nasty waste incinerator being built just outside the park boundaries at Monocacy–a beautiful, mostly pristine battlefield (with the exception of the Interstate cutting through the middle of it, of course)–is passing:

Monocacy Site Unlikely for Incinerator
By Meg Tully

7/5/2008
Frederick News-Post (MD)
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=77158

“Very unlikely.”

That’s how Frederick County Commissioners President Jan Gardner characterizes the chances that an electricity-producing trash incinerator will be built near the Monocacy National Battlefield.

Gardner wrote that in an e-mail this week to dozens of county residents and officials who have been following the incinerator debate.

Contacted by phone Wednesday, Gardner said the commissioners haven’t officially discussed a location for the plant.

“I think that the majority of the commissioners aren’t going to want to have an impact on the Monocacy battlefield,” she said.

The commissioners have requested construction bids for a waste-to-energy plant on land in the McKinney Industrial Park off Buckeystown Pike, near the battlefield.

But they always planned to consider other sites, and named McKinney because they needed a specific site for bid pricing, Gardner said.

At a public hearing last year, battlefield superintendent Susan Trail said the roughly 150-foot-high incinerator smokestack would be visually intrusive.

The Civil War Preservation Trust named the battlefield one of the most endangered Civil War sites this year because of the incinerator threat.

Known as the “battle that saved Washington,” the one-day conflict at Monocacy delayed Confederate troops as they marched unsuccessfully on the capital in 1864.

The county is looking at other sites, but until they have reached an agreement with a property owner, the commissioners will not discuss those options publicly.

The county already owns the McKinney site.

Several commissioners said they weren’t willing to discount that location because it could add as much as $40 million to the cost to build the plant elsewhere.

If the county builds on the McKinney site, it could use the incinerator to dispose of biowaste, or sludge, from the existing wastewater treatment plant there.

With the incinerator at another site, the county might have to construct another disposal facility at the McKinney site specifically to dispose of the sludge. Such a plant is estimated to cost $40 million.

That would only happen if the county can’t find a way to transport the sludge to another incinerator site.

Commissioner Charles Jenkins said he would consider costs when making a decision, though he will also keep in mind the battlefield concerns.

“I’m not married to one particular site, but I just know if you’re looking at it from the dollar and cents perspective, it doesn’t get much better than (the McKinney site),” Jenkins said.

Commissioner David Gray said the $40 million savings is “no small consideration.”

But he would like to consider other sites, particularly one with enough land to set up a resource recovery park with recycling and composting that would sort out reusable trash before sending the rest to be burned.

“I understand the park’s concern about the viewshed and if there’s a better site, that’s fine with me,” he said.

Land for the plant would be paid for through the same bond the county will use to build it. Compared to the several hundred million dollar construction cost, land acquisition would be a relatively minor expense, Gardner said.

A spokeswoman from the Civil War Preservation Trust said the trust is monitoring the situation and is glad the commissioners are not jumping to a decision.

“That location would have such a visual impact on a huge part of the battlefield,” spokeswoman Mary Koik said of the McKinney site.

The commissioners expect to receive final bids in August. They will then decide whether to proceed with building a waste-to-energy plant.

We had a waste-to-energy plant here in Columbus for the first ten years or so that I lived here. It was known to all as the cash to steam plant or the cash burning power plant, because it was always a major money loser. I can’t imagine one in Frederick doing any better. And damn, what an ugly thing to build.

Continue reading