Celebrities Help CWPT Defend Battlefields; 10 Most Endangered Named
By Deborah Fitts
April 2003

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Champion Hill, Chancellorsville, Manassas, Richmond and Peters-burg are among the "10 most endangered battlefields" on the annual listing issued by the Civil War Preservation Trust.

Trust President James Lighthizer said the purpose of the list was "to highlight to the American people that a precious part of their national heritage is at risk of being destroyed." When our connection to the past - "the land where they did the deeds" - is lost, "the opportunity to remember and learn and honor is diminished."

The Trust released the list at a press conference Feb. 11 at the Willard Hotel. Lending their celebrity status were three major figures from the recently released "Gods and Generals" movie, producer and director Ron Maxwell, author Jeff Shaara and actor Stephen Lang, who portrayed Stonewall Jackson.

Two of the Trust's most endangered battlefields, Manassas and Chancellorsville, are depicted in the movie. Maxwell stirred the standing-room-only crowd of reporters and fans by rejecting as "the short view" and "selfish" the notion that battlefield land should give way to development "and that our lives are defined only by an economic dimension. What kind of world do we want to live in, where everything is reduced to the dollar?"

"I've lived with these men in blue and gray," Maxwell said. "I know what they expect from us. If they can give up their lives, and sacrificed so much, we can do no less than to go back to that same land and say [to developers], 'You will not stand!'"

Lang recalled "that rush of adrenaline" when, as a boy, he visited "the great battlefield of Gettysburg." Now, even as an adult, he said he feels "the same exhilaration, joy and pride visiting Antietam or walking through the park at Harpers Ferry, or at Little Round Top."

He added, "I look forward to fighting the fight with you all. You can't put a layer of concrete between me and the homeland."

Shaara paid homage to his father, the late Michael Shaara. The latter authored the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Killer Angels," the book on which Maxwell based his earlier movie, "Gettysburg." The younger Shaara wrote "Gods and Generals" as a prequel to his father's
work.

Shaara recalled a memorable incident in 1964, when he was 12 and his father brought him to the Gettysburg battlefield. "Something happened to my father by walking that ground, by walking Pickett's Charge in the footsteps of [Confederate Gen. Louis] Armistead," Shaara said. "He's telling me this wonderful story, and we get to the wonderful monument where Armistead fell, and it caught my father off guard. He started to cry. I'll remember that the rest of my life."

By contrast, more recently Shaara went to Petersburg, where he asked park historian Chris Calkins to take him to the spot where Union Gen. Joshua Chamberlain was shot through the hips. Chamberlain continued to direct his men into battle even as he sank to the ground
from loss of blood.

"We went into a subdivision and stopped in somebody's front yard," Shaara recalled. "There's no marker or monument or plaque. You can't see where the Confederate line was on the hill because it's a strip mall."

The four men answered questions from the assembled reporters, including several from states where battlefields are on the Trust's list. In Mansfield, La., Lighthizer rapped the publicly owned utility that is "literally destroying the land by surface mining for lignite, and seeming not to care." He said the company has refused to meet with him.

"We face a daunting task in publishing this list," Lighthizer said. "Hopefully through this exercise we can diminish the destruction."

Of the nation's 250,000 "really important" Civil War battlefield acres, Lighthizer said, 20 percent "is gone - paved over." Another 15 percent is protected by the National Park Service, and "what's left gets eaten up every day."

The Trust, along with the predecessor organizations that merged to form it, has saved about 16,000 acres, according to Lighthizer. Last year alone the Trust preserved 2,092 acres through outright purchase or purchase of development rights, at a cost of $7.3 million.

Lighthizer hailed the participation of the federal government, which he said has supplied $19 million in matching funds. "There are a lot of places where significant American history didn't happen," said Lighthizer. "We all need houses. But we don't have to do it on our national heritage."

This was the third year of the Trust's "most endangered" list. The Trust claims 43,000 members, making it the largest nonprofit battlefield preservation organization in the country.

The CWPT's 10 Most Endangered Battlefields:

• Bentonville, N.C., where only 240 acres of the 6000-acre site are protected. Proximity to interstates 95 and 40 make it vulnerable to development.
• Champion Hill, Miss., where sprawl threatens these important fields of the Vicksburg Campaign. A total of 893 acres are preserved along the Jackson Road, but the Raymond Road corridor is vulnerable. The Ellison House site is gone, and a subdivision is being built near
the Gen. Lloyd Tilghman monument.
• Chancellorsville, Va. - The biggest Civil War preservation battle in the U.S. today is being fought over the 790-acre Mullins Farm, where a developer is proposing a new city with nearly 2,000 homes and 1.2 million square feet of commercial development.
• Glorieta Pass, N.M. - State plans to widen Route 50 will destroy parts of the battlefield and threaten the last structure that remains from the time of the March 1862 battle.
• Manassas, Va. - The battlefields of July 1861 and August 1862 are surrounded on three sides by dense sprawl, and rush-hour traffic cuts through the heart of the battlefield. A proposed bypass could further isolate the site.
• Mansfield, La. - Only 12 percent of the battlefield is protected; of 177 acres preserved, 134 were acquired through a Civil War Preservation Trust grant. The biggest threat is a lignite mining operation run by Dolet Hills Mining Co. Large parts of the battlefield have already been destroyed, and Dolet is seeking a permit to mine 58 more acres.
• Nashville, Tenn. - Little is left of the Nashville battlefield, but a local group is working to reclaim key parts. The City of Nashville has earmarked $1 million to help restore Fort Negley, one of the most significant Civil War sites within the city limits.
• Petersburg, Va. - Although major parts of the eastern portion of the battlefield are preserved, much of the battlefield is unprotected. The Trust recently began a fundraising effort to save
land using an interactive computer mapping program.
• Richmond, Ky. - Although the battlefield remains much as it was in August 1862, Madison County is one of the fastest-growing counties in Kentucky. About 180 acres of battlefield were recently sold to private developers for residential subdivision and a golf course. Half the battlefield is inside the Bluegrass Army Depot.
• Rocky Face Ridge, Ga. - Although the Conservation Fund recently saved 625 acres, the battlefield's proximity to I-75 makes the rest vulnerable to development. Recently a logging operation destroyed rifle pits and six artillery emplacements dug by Union forces during
the battle.

The Trust also listed another 15 "at risk" sites: Averasboro, N.C.; Buffington Island, Ohio; Corinth, Miss.; Day's Gap. Ala.; Franklin, Tenn.; Gaines's Mill/Cold Harbor, Va.; Gettysburg, Pa.; "The Hell Hole," Ga.; Port Gibson, Miss.; Port Hudson, La.; Prairie Grove, Ark.; Spotsylvania Court House, Va.; Stephenson's Depot, Va.; Stones River, Tenn.; and Wilson's Creek, Mo.