Plans For Bentonville Battlefield Expansion
By Sheree Watson
BENTONVILLE, N.C .

The Bentonville Battleground Historical Association (BBHA) is seeking federal funds to buy about 40 acres of battlefield to expand and enhance its 14-mile driving tour of the last and largest Civil War battle on North Carolina soil.

The funds, if obtained, would be matched with proceeds from the recent 135th anniversary reenactment, according to Bentonville Battleground State Historic Site Manager John Goode. The exact amount to be sought in a Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) grant was contingent on property appraisals not finished at presstime, but would require a 15 percent match.

The March reenactment netted $56,296, and another $4,800 is coming from a preservation march staged by reenactors representing the 86th Illinois. That march, led by Mike Murley of Fayetteville, N.C., raised $8,100, Goode said. Sixty percent was designated for Bentonville and the remainder for Averasboro, N.C., and McDowell, Va., battlefields.

Goode said BBHA believes it has more than enough funds to cover its share of any grant money it receives. He reported that one of the landowners is considering donating a portion of the property. Any funds left over would also be used for land purchases, he stressed.

The grant application must be made by June 15. It will cover a 20-acre tract that includes extensive remains of the line held by Maj. Gen. Robert F. Hoke's Confederate Division on the second and third days of the March 19-21, 1865, battle. The other tract contains a significant portion of the line held by Brig. Gen. J.D. Morgan's Union Division during desperate fighting below the Goldsboro Road on March 19. The Hoke and Morgan parcels would be added to the existing driving tour.

The state historic site is working with the Civil War Preservation Trust toward securing federal grant money. It is unlikely that more state money will be available in the near future because of the budget strain caused by damage from Hurricane Floyd.

The 6,000-acre Bentonville battlefield was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1996. Currently 150 acres are owned by the historic site and the remainder is in private hands. A 1998 preservation plan identified and prioritized battlefield tracts in terms of historical significance and preservation need.

"Land preservation is our first concern," Goode said. "Our whole goal is to make the battlefield more accessible to the public and interpret it for the public. At the same time, we want to ensure the battlefield stays a viable part of the community. If it weren't for people in the Bentonville community, we wouldn't have a battlefield today. They took care of it for all these years."

The battlefield was recognized by the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission as one of the most pristine of 384 surveyed. "We still have three and a half miles of original earthworks on the battlefield," Goode said. "We've worked hard to survey and catalog every foot of those through the National Park Service's Cultural Resources Geographic Information Systems Branch and we are completing a preservation plan specifically for field fortifications. The battlefield is, to a large degree, a diamond in the rough."

Negotiations on three other parcels of property are pending or in progress through the state property office in Raleigh. Last year, the site secured $150,000 in federal funds through the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act, which it matched with $300,000 in state money. Targeted for purchase with those funds are a 60-acre tract that includes portions of original 20th Army Corps line and a 16-acre tract that was part of the original Morris farm, where battling took place on March 19.

Earlier this year, BBHA was able to secure $60,000 in TEA-21 grant money to construct five roadside pull-offs at different points along the battlefield to enhance interpretation and provide safer access for motorists. The N.C. Department of Transportation is working with BBHA to establish appropriate pull-off sites, studying traffic, safety and other considerations.

The next step is to approach owners of the parcels in question. "We hope to do that by mid-summer, Goode said. The DOT would then handle design and construction.

The present tour includes 29 historical markers and covers 14 miles. Maps and brochures are available at the visitor center adjacent to the Harper House (tour marker No. 2) which served as a Union hospital. A local Sons of Confederate Veterans camp has expressed interest in setting up an audio system with interpretive cassette tapes to enhance the tour.

Another battlefield improvement proposal calls for a new visitor center that would feature a 100-foot by 10-foot mural by artist Keith Rocco focusing on the Cole Plantation at the time of the last grand charge by the Army of Tennessee on March 19, 1865. The Cole farmhouse and surrounding outbuildings were destroyed the next day by Confederate troops to prevent sniping. Rocco brought a rendering of the proposed mural for display during the 135th reenactment. Fund-raising ideas are being developed to pay for it.

The 1964 visitor center is small and cramped. Heightened public awareness of the battlefield has brought a need for a larger exhibition hall for the mural, exhibits and a research room. The existing center could then be used for office space and a gift shop.

Negotiations are also still under way to use money received in February 1998 from North Carolina's Natural Heritage Trust for acquisition of two tracts totaling 75 acres. "It can be a slow process," Goode said of negotiations.