CWPT Needs $ For Tennessee Land
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) is raising $166,400 as its share of the $1.9 million purchase of nearly 650 acres of pristine Battle of Davis Bridge land, all of the battlefield east of the Hatchie River in southwestern Tennessee. The Oct. 5, 1862, Battle of Davis Bridge, or Hatchie Bridge, was the last significant combat around Corinth, Miss., and resulted in some 900 casualties. It was also the last Confederate offensive in Mississippi. According to a CWPT press release, this is the second largest land transaction in CWPT history in terms of acreage. A lumber company owned the tract. The Tennessee Heritage Conservation Trust fund has pledged $864,000 toward the purchase, which will be added to CWPT’s portion and leveraged against a $948,600 matching grant from the federal American Battlefield Protection Program. “While Davis Bridge may not be the most famous battle of the war, this land is critically important to telling the story of operations in the Western Theater,” said CWPT president James Lighthizer. He stressed that individuals have the power to make a tremendous difference in this purchase since there is a $12-to-$1 match. “In essence,” he said, “a $250 gift buys a full acre of this battlefield.” The property will be placed under a perpetual conservation easement and donated to the State of Tennessee. The property is contiguous with 196 state-owned acres west of the Hatchie River previously preserved through a similar partnership with CWPT. The 839-acre preserve would become one of the largest state Civil War parks in Tennessee. The action at the river took place when 8,000 Federal troops sent by Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant under Maj. Gen. Edward O.C. Ord met Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn’s army, which had abandoned Corinth the previous day. Ord hit the vanguard of the retreating Confederate column at Davis Bridge, two miles south of Pocahontas, Tenn. Ord’s troops drove the head of the column back across the river, seized the bridge, and charged into the thicket east of the river. Confederates defending the heights overlooking the crossing to the east inflicted heavy casualties on the Federals and checked their further advance. Van Dorn slipped between two converging enemy columns and crossed the river at\ Crum’s Mill six miles upstream, retreating to Holly Springs, Miss. Donations for the Davis Bridge purchase may be made online at www.civilwar.org. |
