Spotsylvania Event Highlights Battlefield Preservation
SPOTSYLVANIA COURTHOUSE, Va. — A reenactment based on the Battle of Harris Farm marked Spotsylvania County’s inaugural event of the Civil War Sesquicentennial. Five thousand spectators enjoyed two days of living history events, May 22-23, capped by daily reenactments by some 500 men wearing blue and gray, according to Rachel T. DeLooze, tourism marketing coordinator for the county government, which sponsored the event. Rain hurt attendance at a bluegrass concert to benefit historic preservation Saturday evening, but the overall weekend was a success and the county plans to repeat it next year, DeLooze said. The event was titled the “Battles of Spotsylvania” because of the four major battles fought in the Fredericksburg area. Two of them, Chancellorsville and Spotsylvania Courthouse, were fought entirely in the county and Fredericksburg and the Wilderness were partially in Spotsylvania County. “The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors (BOS) has been very proactive in recognizing the significance of what historical sites we have here and how the county can preserve them,” BOS Chairman Gary F. Skinner said at the welcoming ceremony. The county’s concern for historic preservation has been sustained despite its rapid population growth in the past 10 years — a 33 percent increase to almost 121,000 residents. Skinner said that Spotsylvania was the first county to pass a resolution supporting the 150th anniversary of Virginia’s participation in the Civil War, doing so May 8, 2007. “Working alongside partners such as the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT), the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust (CVBT) and the National Park Service (NPS), the county does realize, and wishes to preserve, this land that has become part of our nation’s history so that it does not disappear,” Skinner said. The event was the third reenactment in seven years, according to county supervisor and well-known historic preservationist Henry “Hap” Connors Jr., who spoke after Skinner. Connors said the weekend event was an important part of heritage tourism activities in Spotsylvania “which is not only good for our residents, but is good for visitors and good for our economy.” Thanking residents, visitors and the county’s non-profit partners, Connors said everyone worked together to preserve more than 500 acres of battlefield over the past seven years. One of those preservation victories was the site of the Battle of Harris Farm — 4.87 acres the CVBT preserved in 2004 through a combination of land purchase and easement. The reenactment scenario was based on the May 19, 1864, Battle of Harris Farm. It was one of the last battles of the Spotsylvania Courthouse Campaign (May 7-21, 1864). As Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s troops prepared to move south around the Confederate left flank, they met a reconnaissance-in-force by Confederate Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell’s corps. Fierce fighting ensued, pitting exhausted veteran Confederate troops against green Union heavy artillery units fighting as infantry. The fighting at Spotsylvania Courthouse “was a very interesting battle,” according to local NPS historian Greg Mertz in his presentation on the battles fought in the county during the Civil War. It was “an awkward battle because neither side had their regular intelligence-gathering operation,” according to Mertz, who noted the paucity of cavalry present for each side. “From the Union standpoint, they wear down some of the Confederate Army so that by the time it gets to the Richmond and Petersburg area its strength has been greatly diminished and it’s really just a matter of time until the war comes to an end,” Mertz said. He noted the Confederates suffered from the absence of the corps-level leaders who performed so well earlier in the war, like Longstreet (wounded May 6), Jackson (killed the previous year at Chancellorsville) and Stuart (mortally wounded May 11). For more information about Spotsylvania preservation visit www.civilwar.org, www.cvbt.org, www.nps.gov/frsp/index.htm and www.spotsylvania.org/tourism/tourism.htm
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