Preserving Civil War Battlefields: A Legacy for Virginias Future

1
Preserving Civil War Battlefields A Legacy for
Virginias Future

• Presentation to the Civil War Sesquicentennial
  Commission
• November 17, 2008
• By
• Kathleen S. Kilpatrick
• Director and SHPO
• Virginia Department of Historic Resources

2
Preserving a Legacy

• Gift to future generations
• Broad public benefit
• Tourism/Economy
• EnvironmentalOpen space, water quality
• Education
• Defining chapter in national struggle for freedom

Cedar Creek
3
The Process Ensuring Public Benefit

• Established rigorous criteria based on
  significance, threat, public benefit, willing
  seller
• Affirmative recruitment
• Encouraged the best of the bestsignificant
  battles high preservation and education impact
• Discouraged unlikely competitors

Brandy Station Then Now
4
The Results Protection for 1571 Acres of
Important Battlefield Lands

• 21 tracts on 15 different battlefields
• 3 easements and 19 fee simple purchases
• Distributed around the Commonwealth
• Partnerships with 4 non-profit organizations
• 2-1 Match means a cost to the Commonwealth of
  less than 3,500 per acre

5
Battlefields Protected Show the Scope of the War

• Spans the War from Cross Keys in the Shenandoah
  Campaign in June 1862 to the Wars end at
  Appomattox in April 1865
• Cavalry charges at Brandy Station, Cedar Creek
  and Trevilian station
• Lines of defense (Fishers Hill, Cold Harbor,
  Malvern Hill, 1st and 2nd Deep Bottom)
• Avenues of retreat (Sailors Creek, Appomattox
  Station)

Cross Keys looking toward the Union position
from the 15th Alabama lines
Confederate artillery crews dismantle their own
guns at Appomattox Station
6
Taking the Next Steps

• Confirm match and award funds for lands already
  purchased
• Ensure prospective purchases completed within 6
  months
• Negotiate and execute easements to protect the
  Commonwealths long term interest

First Deep Bottom
Dunns Farm/Trevilian Station
7
Milestones Along A Path

• Nationwide 30 acres of Civil War battlefield land
  are lost every day
• Threats are unrelenting (e.g. Wilderness
  Walmart, Chemstone Quarry)
• Roughly 50,000 acres identified as left to save
• Continuing studies broaden the field (e.g.
  Buckland and Unison)

Cold Harbor
Reenactment of the Battle of Unison