The U.S. House and Senate have included the largest ever single-year allocation for the federal Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program. If approved, $9 million will be allocated for the program in fiscal year 2010. The program utilizes government matching grants and private funds to permanently protect historic Civil War battlefields.
"This is tremendous news that could not come at a more critical time," said James Lighthizer, president of the nonprofit Civil War Preservation Trust. “Each day 30 acres of hallowed Civil War battlefield ground are paved over and lost forever. This money will allow us to preserve historic land that would otherwise be lost to development and urban sprawl."
The program targets unprotected Civil War sites outside National Park Service boundaries. The program's matching grants formula encourages state and private sector investment in historic land preservation. Since its creation during 1999, the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program has been used to protect more than 15,000 acres of hallowed ground at 60 battlefields in 14 states.
Virginia Farm Purchased
The Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority has announced plans to purchase a 275-acre farm on the Potomac River that includes the ford where the Army of Northern Virginia crossed into Maryland on September 5-6, 1862. This crossing brought the war into the north and the Battle of Antietam was fought 12 days later.
The property, near Leesburg, includes the home and farm of Elijah Viers White, commander of the 35th Battalion of Virginia Cavalry. The ford, named for him, is a wide and shallow crossing on the river where the water is usually only a few feet deep.
On the Maryland side, the shoreline is protected as part of the C & O Canal National Park. This is the location, according to historians, that the Confederates entered the Union with flags held high and regimental bands playing "Maryland, My Maryland." This song, the Maryland state song, was written after the 1861 Baltimore riots when Union troops were attacked as they passed through the city.
White and the 35th Battalion fought in Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson' s Valley Campaign and were among the first units to arrive at Gettysburg. Plans for White's Ford Regional Park include camping, fishing and hiking. White's house will be preserved.
Preservation in Franklin
The Tennessee city of Franklin continues to reclaim its battlefield land, much of which has been lost to development. Organizers of the nonprofit Franklin's Charge are negotiating to buy the Domino's Pizza restaurant and Four Star Market at the corner of Cleburne Street and Columbia Avenue. They plan to convert the land into a park and construct a replica of a cotton gin that once stood on the site.
The buildings and land are owned by longtime resident Don Cameron, who is willing to give Franklin's Charge a chance to buy the buildings for the park. But, he said he won't wait forever.
If the deal is finalized, it would be another reclamation of land where hundreds of soldiers died when four Confederate divisions met Union forces on November 30, 1864, in the Battle of Franklin. During 2005, a Pizza Hut restaurant across the street from the land under consideration was demolished to reclaim battlefield land. That Pizza Hut had been one of several land losses that had angered Civil War preservationists for years. Today a park is located on that quarter acre to commemorate where Confederate Major General Patrick Cleburne was killed during the battle.
Franklin's Charge is a coalition of local nonprofit groups first organized for the $5 million purchase of a 110-acre golf course adjacent to nearby Carnton Plantation that soon will become a Civil War park.
Civil War Books
The Class of 1861 by long-time Civil War enthusiast Ralph Kirshner tells the story about the West Point class that went to war. Jefferson Davis, when he was secretary of war, lengthened the curriculum from four to five years. Due to the war, Abraham Lincoln returned the study time to four years, with two classes graduating during 1861—the one that completed five years and the one that completed four and was to graduate a year later. One class graduated during May and the other during June.
George A. Custer was in the June class. John Pelham and Tom Rosser, both of whom joined the Confederacy before graduation, were in the May class.
The author reviewed letters, diaries and autobiographies to provide accounts by the officers.
Loyal Hearts: Histories of American Civil War Canines by Michael Zucchero is about the pets and mascots that were part of the armies, marched with the soldiers and sometimes died on the field of battle.
"Civil War soldiers...had strong emotional bonds to these dogs, just as we do today with our own dogs," said Zucchero. "Unlike today's military working dogs, there's no evidence that dogs accompanying Union soldiers and Confederate soldiers fulfilled any military purpose. Often, they were strays that were attached to a particular unit or regiment. These dogs often found a regular niche within the lines."
Zucchero said that even President Abraham Lincoln, in reviewing the Army in April 1863, "doffed his hat while greeting Sallie, a handsome bull terrier," who was with the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment. The regiment's monument at Gettysburg features the dog.
Dog Jack, who started out as a firehouse dog in Pittsburgh, accompanied the firemen when they joined the 102nd Pennsylvania Infantry. Dog Jack was present at the battle of Cedar Creek. Prior to the battle, Dog Jack was captured at Salem Church and spent six months as a prisoner before he was exchanged for a Confederate soldier.
Dog Jack disappeared in Frederick City, Maryland, two months after Cedar Creek and it's believed the silver collar that soldiers presented to him led to his being targeted by a thief.
