Cedar Creek Group Is In Odd Situation Over Battle Land's Future
By Deborah Fitts
October 2003

MIDDLETOWN, Va. - The Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation (CCBA) is in the unusual situation of making a last-ditch effort to raise funds for a 135-acre battlefield property, while the National Park Service has offered to pay the bill and take the parcel off their hands.

The small nonprofit purchased the $1.2 million tract in 2000. The donation of more than half a million dollars by the seller, plus federal grants and private donations, has reduced the outstanding debt to $338,000.

Meanwhile, responding to an appeal from the foundation, Congressman Frank Wolf (R-Va.) successfully sought funding last fall for the Department of the Interior's 2003 budget to pay off the debt. The parcel would necessarily become federal property, however.

The 11-member board of directors last spring signaled acceptance of the deal, but is awaiting NPS's terms of a management plan for the property before making a final decision. At issue is whether to hand over the debt and the property, or continue to struggle to raise funds for the purchase.

"I hope we can avoid turning it over," said CCBF Executive Director Suzanne Chilson. "We have a large support group that contributes to the foundation in many ways. They don't want the Park Service to take the land over."

Chilson particularly noted that letting the property go "doesn't sit well with reenactors," who attend by the thousands the annual Cedar Creek reenactment every October. One of the top events on the annual reenacting calendar, it is a major fundraiser for the foundation.

The property lies south of the Belle Grove manor house along the banks of Cedar Creek. It includes seven-tenths of a mile of earthworks built by the Union 12th Corps during the battle.

Chilson said she was hoping that "a big source of money" might come forward at the 11th hour. Otherwise, she indicated, the federal purchase appeared to be the only option.

CCBA's fundraising efforts were handicapped by the creation, in December 2000, of the 3,000-acre Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historic Park. Although NPS so far owns only eight acres inside the boundary, Chilson said, public perception that the battlefield is now preserved has been a major factor in driving down donations to 40 percent of their former level.

"The public perception is that we don't need to raise money any more," she said. "It's unbelievable how we can't get it through their minds that that is not so."

Chilson acknowledged that federal ownership would not be a detriment to the land itself. "Obviously, they do a wonderful job on the battlefields that they own," she said. "We don't mean to say this is not a good thing, but it's something we hoped to avoid."

The federal appropriation also caught the foundation by surprise. Somehow no one alerted CCBF until Chilson received an e-mail message last February that the money was available. And according to Chilson, the board was unaware till then that the use of federal funds, because the land is now inside a park boundary, meant that federal ownership must ensue.

"I was so shocked," she said.

Sandy Rives, superintendent of the new park, said NPS was not involved in obtaining the funding for the parcel, and agreed there was "a huge confusion factor" over the issue.

Rives said he understood the foundation's anxiety about losing control of the land. But he noted that a joint management plan now being drafted could give the foundation some long-term control of the property, including installing interpretive signs and walking trails.

"We're full partners with the foundation on management of this property," Rives said.

CCBF's fundraising efforts included commissioning a painting by Keith Rocco, "Reverse the Trenches," showing the Confederate assault on the 19th Corps's earthworks during the battle. Prints are available for purchase. The oil painting will be awarded during the reenactment weekend.

The 14th annual Cedar Creek battle reenactment will be held Oct. 18 and 19, the 139th anniversary of the Oct. 19, 1864, battle at which Union Gen. Philip Sheridan rallied troops for a counterattack and won the day over Confederates under Gen. Jubal Early.Camps open to the public at 10 a.m. each day. On Saturday night candlelight tours begin at 7. Saturday's battle is at 3, while Sunday's Battle of Cedar Creek reenactment will begin at 2:30.

Activities include talks, period music, and demonstrations by medical, signal and military branches.

The foundation also contracted for an archaeological survey on the property last year, and is partnering with the Blue and Gray Education Society to erect six signs on the property in the coming months.

CCBF, created in 1988, also owns the historic Heater House on the battlefield and 158 acres, plus 15 acres and a visitor center on Route 11. Both properties are debt-free. More information is available from CCBF at (888) 628-1864.