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Country star joins with preservationists in call for saving Civil War sites
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Date published: 3/13/2008
By CLINT SCHEMMER
WASHINGTON--
Trace Adkins isn't the typical, tweedy sort of fellow who often graces Civil War history events.
But this son of the South, a platinum-selling country-music star, knows plenty about what he calls the War Between the States. He brought that passion yesterday to the National Press Club to help the Civil War Preservation Trust unveil its 2008 list of the 10 most endangered battlefields.
"People say the Revolutionary War defined what we want to be," Adkins said. "I think the Civil War defined who we are, and who we want to be. That's what I'm trying to impart to my children and grandchildren."
The singer-songwriter hailed the trust's "History Under Siege" status report as "a wake-up call for all Americans who may not realize that our battlefields--once soaked with the blood of patriots--are in jeopardy."
The father of five, a native of Sarepta, La., played football at Louisiana State University, worked as a pipe-fitter on an offshore drilling rig, and wowed Texas and Louisiana honky-tonk bars before being discovered by Capitol Records' president in 1995 in a working man's bar outside Nashville. An author, he's now a contestant on Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice"--and hasn't been fired yet.
Adkins said he has "been a Civil War enthusiast all my life."
His interest was ignited by his grandfather, who sat him down at age 13 to tell him about his great-great-grandfather, who served in the 31st Louisiana Infantry before being wounded and taken prisoner at Vicksburg, Miss.
Adkins recalled that when he visited the Vicksburg battlefield and stood in the trench where his ancestor had stood, tears came to his eyes.
"This is something we can all be part of," he said of battlefield preservation.
Trust President O. James Lighthizer said the trust, created two decades ago, has preserved some 25,000 battlefield acres in 18 states. He estimated that eight years is all the time that's left to save the most vulnerable remaining sites, particularly those in Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia.
Rounding out the news conference was Alexandria resident Cricket Bauer Pohanka, a CWPT trustee and key supporter of the group's annual institute for teachers.
"Preserved battlefields are not just beautiful landscapes, they are outdoor classrooms that teach us what it means to be an American," said Pohanka, the wife of the late Civil War historian Brian Pohanka, one of the trust's founders.
Adkins capped the occasion with a solemn visit to the namesake of his 2005 single "Arlington," told from the perspective of a heroic soldier about to be buried in the nation's most hallowed ground.
Accompanied by trust leaders, Adkins crossed the Potomac for a wreath-laying at Arlington National Cemetery's Civil War Unknowns monument.
Dedicated in 1866, it is less well known than the cemetery's much-later Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but occupies a prize hilltop spot near Arlington House, former home of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
The monument stands in what was once part of Mary Lee's rose garden. After the Union Army seized Arlington, Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs ordered wartime casualties to be gathered and buried on the site, figuring the presence of graves would deter the Lee family from inhabiting their house again.
The granite tomb--final resting place of Arlington's first unknown soldiers--marks the remains of 2,111 Confederate and Union soldiers killed in the Manassas and Rappahannock campaigns.
civilwar.org
Clint Schemmer: 540/368-5029
Email: cschemmer@freelancestar.com
Online at: http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2...3132008/363159
View entire report.
Date published: 3/13/2008
By CLINT SCHEMMER
WASHINGTON--
Trace Adkins isn't the typical, tweedy sort of fellow who often graces Civil War history events.
But this son of the South, a platinum-selling country-music star, knows plenty about what he calls the War Between the States. He brought that passion yesterday to the National Press Club to help the Civil War Preservation Trust unveil its 2008 list of the 10 most endangered battlefields.
"People say the Revolutionary War defined what we want to be," Adkins said. "I think the Civil War defined who we are, and who we want to be. That's what I'm trying to impart to my children and grandchildren."
The singer-songwriter hailed the trust's "History Under Siege" status report as "a wake-up call for all Americans who may not realize that our battlefields--once soaked with the blood of patriots--are in jeopardy."
The father of five, a native of Sarepta, La., played football at Louisiana State University, worked as a pipe-fitter on an offshore drilling rig, and wowed Texas and Louisiana honky-tonk bars before being discovered by Capitol Records' president in 1995 in a working man's bar outside Nashville. An author, he's now a contestant on Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice"--and hasn't been fired yet.
Adkins said he has "been a Civil War enthusiast all my life."
His interest was ignited by his grandfather, who sat him down at age 13 to tell him about his great-great-grandfather, who served in the 31st Louisiana Infantry before being wounded and taken prisoner at Vicksburg, Miss.
Adkins recalled that when he visited the Vicksburg battlefield and stood in the trench where his ancestor had stood, tears came to his eyes.
"This is something we can all be part of," he said of battlefield preservation.
Trust President O. James Lighthizer said the trust, created two decades ago, has preserved some 25,000 battlefield acres in 18 states. He estimated that eight years is all the time that's left to save the most vulnerable remaining sites, particularly those in Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia.
Rounding out the news conference was Alexandria resident Cricket Bauer Pohanka, a CWPT trustee and key supporter of the group's annual institute for teachers.
"Preserved battlefields are not just beautiful landscapes, they are outdoor classrooms that teach us what it means to be an American," said Pohanka, the wife of the late Civil War historian Brian Pohanka, one of the trust's founders.
Adkins capped the occasion with a solemn visit to the namesake of his 2005 single "Arlington," told from the perspective of a heroic soldier about to be buried in the nation's most hallowed ground.
Accompanied by trust leaders, Adkins crossed the Potomac for a wreath-laying at Arlington National Cemetery's Civil War Unknowns monument.
Dedicated in 1866, it is less well known than the cemetery's much-later Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but occupies a prize hilltop spot near Arlington House, former home of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
The monument stands in what was once part of Mary Lee's rose garden. After the Union Army seized Arlington, Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs ordered wartime casualties to be gathered and buried on the site, figuring the presence of graves would deter the Lee family from inhabiting their house again.
The granite tomb--final resting place of Arlington's first unknown soldiers--marks the remains of 2,111 Confederate and Union soldiers killed in the Manassas and Rappahannock campaigns.
civilwar.org
Clint Schemmer: 540/368-5029
Email: cschemmer@freelancestar.com
Online at: http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2...3132008/363159