Event to Benefit Slaughter Pen Farm

[Dignann]

Gala to merge preservation, history

Battlefield preservation group to hold gala at new Marine Corps museum

By RUSTY DENNEN

Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
November 10, 2006

Battlefield preservation and military history will converge next month at the new Marine Corps museum.

The Central Virginia Battlefields Trust will hold a gala at the National Museum of the Marine Corps on Dec. 2 to focus attention on a national effort to preserve Slaughter Pen farm east of Fredericksburg.

"We'd like to use this as a means for letting people know how important it is" to save the 208-acre tract next to Shannon Airport, said Linda Wandres, CVBT's executive director.

CVBT is hoping for a stellar turnout at the event. The museum opens to the public on Monday, but is also available as a venue for private functions.

The nonprofit Marine Corps Heritage Foundation built the museum on land near Quantico Marine Base.

CVBT found out that the museum was available, figuring it would be a symbolic venue for anyone interested in battlefield history. For years, area Civil War battlefields have provided Marines with places to study tactics on the actual ground where Union and Confederate armies clashed.

And there's another connection: Several CVBT board members served in the Marines.

The event, with hors d'oeuvres and beverages, begins at 7 and attendees will have a chance to tour exhibits that will eventually cover 231 years of Marine Corps history. Tickets are $100 per person, $175 a couple.

Speakers include Retired Gen. Richard B. Myers, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Edwin C. Bearss, chief historian emeritus of the National Park Service.

"They'll be talking about how important it is that battlefield lands be preserved, especially right now," Wandres said.

"Land not preserved within the next 10 years may well be lost forever," she said. "We'll be thanking people for supporting the mission of CVBT and talking about Slaughter Pen farm itself."

Slaughter Pen earned its name during the war because of the carnage there. Some 5,000 men met their fate where Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's 2nd Corps battled Union Gen. William Franklin's Left Grand Division. Five Union soldiers earned the Medal of Honor on Slaughter Pen's undulating fields.

CVBT, a local preservation group that has acquired and preserved more than 500 acres of historic land in the Fredericksburg area, has pledged $1 million toward a larger campaign to pay for the farm.

The Washington-based Civil War Preservation Trust purchased Slaughter Pen in June for $12 million. Last month CWPT received a $2 million federal grant toward the purchase and has been collecting funds to pay off a bank note from its 70,000 members and from preservation groups such as CVBT.

For tickets and information, call Wandres at 540/907-0527, or visit the CVBT Web site at: cvbt.org.

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/112006/11102006/235192

Eric

[Dignann]

Re: Event to Benefit Slaughter Pen Farm

Ultimate sacrifice honored

New Marine Corps museum and Civil War battlefields trust find some common ground.

By RUSTY DENNEN

Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
December 4, 2006

On a December day in 1862, thousands of men fought and died on the corn-stubble fields of Slaughter Pen Farm.

Throughout the history of the republic, soldiers have made the ultimate sacrifice defending freedom--on fields of France in World War I, on small Pacific Islands in World War II, in Korea, Vietnam and now, Iraq.

So it was fitting that the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust gathered at the National Museum of the Marine Corps Saturday night to focus attention on efforts to save a long-ago Spotsylvania Civil War battlefield, while honoring troops who have fought in all wars.

"It has been said that poor is the nation which has no heroes, but shameful is the nation which has them and forgets," CVBT President Mike Stevens told about 200 trust members and guests in the atrium of the museum, which opened last month.

"By preserving the hallowed ground of a Civil War battlefield, we assure that these men will not be forgotten and lost to time, but will be remembered and honored forever for who they were, for what they did, and for what they can teach us."

In protecting sites being overrun by development, "We don't just preserve land; we also preserve the memories and the meaning, the sacrifices and the stories, of the men who fought and fell there," Stevens said. "Men whose bond to cause and comrade and country was so strong that they were willing to die rather than to deny it."

Pausing a moment, he added, "And, I'll bet, that's exactly what motivated the folks who are responsible for this magnificent museum." The museum, built by the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, looms over Interstate 95 in Prince William County. Being developed in phases, it will cover the 231-year history of the Marine Corps with exhibits, memorabilia, correspondence and simulators.

The trust has pledged $1 million toward the purchase of Slaughter Pen Farm--208 acres adjacent to Shannon Airport that played a pivotal and deadly role in the Dec. 13, 1862, Battle of Fredericksburg.

Stevens said the trust arranged the gala to kick off a campaign to focus attention on the significance of the land, and to get members to dig deep in their pockets to contribute.

What CVBT is doing is part of a national effort by the Washington-based Civil War Preservation Trust to preserve the tract along Tidewater Trail. CWPT bought it this spring for $12 million after heirs decided to sell. It borrowed money to buy the land and has been looking to its members, and groups such as CVBT, to help financially.

Known locally as the Pierson Farm, Slaughter Pen earned its name during the battle with 9,000 killed or wounded. Five Union soldiers won the Medal of Honor there.

Richard B. Myers, a retired Air Force general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, praised CVBT for its work.

"I want you to know the importance of what you do and congratulations for what you've done already. You've done magnificent work to preserve Civil War battlefields. I also know there's a lot more to do."

To date, CVBT--based in Fredericksburg--has protected about 500 acres of battlefield land.

Edwin C. Bearss, chief historian emeritus of the National Park Service and a World War II Marine Corps veteran, said CVBT and the museum serve a worthy goal--preserving the memory of the fallen.

"There is a relationship between the men of blue and gray, and what you see here," Bearss said, referring to a nearby exhibit.

In it, two Marines race up the beach from an "Alligator" amphibious assault vehicle in a scene from Tarawa, during World War II in the central Pacific. There, Marines had to wade hundreds of yards across a reef, under enemy fire.

"I think of that as Union soldiers advanced across Slaughter Pen Farm," he said.

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/122006/12042006/241366

Eric