Good Preservation Work Being Done

An important but all too often overlooked portion of the 1862 Maryland Campaign is the September 19-20, 1862 fight at Shepherdstown Ford. In a hard-fought and bloody action, the men of the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry, with its novice ieutenant colonel, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, saw its first combat.

I’ve been to the site once. A portion of the battlefield is preserved, as it was fought along the banks of the Potomac River. This means that some of the fighting took place on the towpath to the C & O Canal, which is part of a national park that is the steward of the canal. Thus, much of the important ground on the north (Maryland) side of the river is safe.

The ground on the south (West Virginia) side of the river is another story altogether. It’s all in private hands, and it’s endangered. The ground is largely floodplain, which means it can’t be built upon, but the question is whether the land can be purchased for a reasonable price. The good folks from the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association are doing some excellent work to purchase and preserve the land, and so is the Save Historic Antietam Foundation, one of the oldest and most effective preservation groups operating out there, is working with them.

In addition, Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia has introduced legislation before Congress to require the National Park Service to perform studies to determine whether the Shepherdstown Ford battlefield meets the criteria to become part of the national battlefield park at Antietam. Let’s hope that this legislation passes and that this particular battlefield is forever preserved.

Kudos to everyone working hard to preserve the Shepherdstown Ford battlefield.