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Battlefield 'heroes' save history
Virginia No. 1 among states in spending to avert destruction of threatened Civil War sites, preservationists say
BY CLINT SCHEMMER
The Free Lance-Star [Fredericksburg, Va.]
March 25, 2009
Virginia is leading the nation's efforts to save Civil War battlefields, Gov. Tim Kaine made plain during a visit in Spotsylvania County yesterday.
Speaking at Slaughter Pen Farm--epicenter of the Fredericksburg battlefield--Kaine praised the public-private work that is protecting some of these unique historic resources.
In terms of sheer dollars, Virginia leads the United States in its battlefield preservation efforts, according to the national, nonprofit Civil War Preservation Trust. The state has committed $9.3 million to the work since 2001--with $5.9 million of that coming through a bipartisan project begun by Kaine, House Speaker Bill Howell and state Sen. Edd Houck, CWPT officials said yesterday.
Virginia's financial commitment to the cause far outstrips that of other states, they said. Next on the list are Tennessee, at $3.8 million, and Mississippi, at $2.8 million, since 2001.
"We have an obligation as Americans to preserve these places, to tell those stories, so we don't lose them forever," Kaine told the 90-plus people attending yesterday's press conference. "The blood of patriots sanctified these battlefields, and we need to respect and commemorate their sacrifices."
The governor's sentiments were shared by four other speakers--Kathleen Kilpatrick, director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources; Howell, R-Stafford; Houck, D-Spotsylvania; and James Lighthizer, president of the Civil War Preservation Trust.
Nationally, what Virginia is doing is "without precedent," Lighthizer said, calling Kaine, Howell, Houck and Kilpatrick--along with state Natural Resources Secretary Preston Bryant--"modern Civil War heroes."
"In order to achieve the extraordinary success battlefield preservation has enjoyed in Virginia, it takes leadership at every level," he said. "We have been blessed to find staunch allies at every necessary turn."
CWPT's chief lauded the Virginia Historic Battlefields Preservation Fund, created in 2006. The fund, which leverages private donations and grants 2-to-1, will eventually save more than 1,500 acres on 15 battlefields across Virginia.
Last November, Virginia appropriated $5.2 million to the program--the most generous contribution to battlefield preservation ever made by a state government.
"Our state saw the majority of the Civil War's largest and significant battles," Kaine said. "As the stewards of this American history, it has fallen to us, working in partnership with private organizations and the federal government, to protect and safeguard these national treasures."
An open-space initiative begun by Kaine and a conservation easement tax-credit program championed by Howell are preserving more historic and natural acreage.
Without collaboration between government and private groups such as CWPT and the Fredericksburg-based Central Battlefields Trust, Howell said, "I'd be standing here today in a strip shopping center."
"Much is at stake," Kilpatrick said of the work yet undone to save Virginia's disappearing Civil War sites. "The drive for preservation has taken on an urgency in recent years as land is lost and as the 150th anniversary of [the Civil War] approaches. The commitment of Gov. Kaine, in that context, has been truly phenomenal."
The Preservation Trust's $12 million purchase of the 208-acre Slaughter Pen Farm in 2006 remains the largest single battlefield-preservation commitment by a private entity in U.S. history, Kilpatrick noted.
"If you look around, the very contours of the land tell us, if we will just listen, what happened here," she said. "In preserving such sites as living parts of our communities, we tap our story in ways that books can never do. The connection is real, it's tangible and it's very personal."
Slaughter Pen Farm was one of the first sites to benefit from the grant fund. Formerly the largest unprotected scene of the Battle of Fredericksburg, it's the only spot on the battlefield where a visitor can follow the Union assault of Dec. 13, 1862, from start to finish.
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Though less well known than Marye's Heights in Fredericksburg, Slaughter Pen Farm is the "heart and soul" of the Fredericksburg battlefield, says historian Robert K. Krick.
The Spotsylvania County site witnessed some of the most intense and pivotal fighting of the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862. Federal troops briefly broke through the Confederate line there, resulting in 5,000 casualties. Five Medals of Honor were awarded for valor there.
Today, 200-plus acres of the battlefield--adjacent to Shannon Airport on State Route 2--are being preserved by the state, the Civil War Preservation Trust, Central Virginia Battlefields Trust and the National Park Service.
Eric
Virginia No. 1 among states in spending to avert destruction of threatened Civil War sites, preservationists say
BY CLINT SCHEMMER
The Free Lance-Star [Fredericksburg, Va.]
March 25, 2009
Virginia is leading the nation's efforts to save Civil War battlefields, Gov. Tim Kaine made plain during a visit in Spotsylvania County yesterday.
Speaking at Slaughter Pen Farm--epicenter of the Fredericksburg battlefield--Kaine praised the public-private work that is protecting some of these unique historic resources.
In terms of sheer dollars, Virginia leads the United States in its battlefield preservation efforts, according to the national, nonprofit Civil War Preservation Trust. The state has committed $9.3 million to the work since 2001--with $5.9 million of that coming through a bipartisan project begun by Kaine, House Speaker Bill Howell and state Sen. Edd Houck, CWPT officials said yesterday.
Virginia's financial commitment to the cause far outstrips that of other states, they said. Next on the list are Tennessee, at $3.8 million, and Mississippi, at $2.8 million, since 2001.
"We have an obligation as Americans to preserve these places, to tell those stories, so we don't lose them forever," Kaine told the 90-plus people attending yesterday's press conference. "The blood of patriots sanctified these battlefields, and we need to respect and commemorate their sacrifices."
The governor's sentiments were shared by four other speakers--Kathleen Kilpatrick, director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources; Howell, R-Stafford; Houck, D-Spotsylvania; and James Lighthizer, president of the Civil War Preservation Trust.
Nationally, what Virginia is doing is "without precedent," Lighthizer said, calling Kaine, Howell, Houck and Kilpatrick--along with state Natural Resources Secretary Preston Bryant--"modern Civil War heroes."
"In order to achieve the extraordinary success battlefield preservation has enjoyed in Virginia, it takes leadership at every level," he said. "We have been blessed to find staunch allies at every necessary turn."
CWPT's chief lauded the Virginia Historic Battlefields Preservation Fund, created in 2006. The fund, which leverages private donations and grants 2-to-1, will eventually save more than 1,500 acres on 15 battlefields across Virginia.
Last November, Virginia appropriated $5.2 million to the program--the most generous contribution to battlefield preservation ever made by a state government.
"Our state saw the majority of the Civil War's largest and significant battles," Kaine said. "As the stewards of this American history, it has fallen to us, working in partnership with private organizations and the federal government, to protect and safeguard these national treasures."
An open-space initiative begun by Kaine and a conservation easement tax-credit program championed by Howell are preserving more historic and natural acreage.
Without collaboration between government and private groups such as CWPT and the Fredericksburg-based Central Battlefields Trust, Howell said, "I'd be standing here today in a strip shopping center."
"Much is at stake," Kilpatrick said of the work yet undone to save Virginia's disappearing Civil War sites. "The drive for preservation has taken on an urgency in recent years as land is lost and as the 150th anniversary of [the Civil War] approaches. The commitment of Gov. Kaine, in that context, has been truly phenomenal."
The Preservation Trust's $12 million purchase of the 208-acre Slaughter Pen Farm in 2006 remains the largest single battlefield-preservation commitment by a private entity in U.S. history, Kilpatrick noted.
"If you look around, the very contours of the land tell us, if we will just listen, what happened here," she said. "In preserving such sites as living parts of our communities, we tap our story in ways that books can never do. The connection is real, it's tangible and it's very personal."
Slaughter Pen Farm was one of the first sites to benefit from the grant fund. Formerly the largest unprotected scene of the Battle of Fredericksburg, it's the only spot on the battlefield where a visitor can follow the Union assault of Dec. 13, 1862, from start to finish.
--------------------------------------------
Though less well known than Marye's Heights in Fredericksburg, Slaughter Pen Farm is the "heart and soul" of the Fredericksburg battlefield, says historian Robert K. Krick.
The Spotsylvania County site witnessed some of the most intense and pivotal fighting of the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862. Federal troops briefly broke through the Confederate line there, resulting in 5,000 casualties. Five Medals of Honor were awarded for valor there.
Today, 200-plus acres of the battlefield--adjacent to Shannon Airport on State Route 2--are being preserved by the state, the Civil War Preservation Trust, Central Virginia Battlefields Trust and the National Park Service.
Eric
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