Expected Federal Purchase At Antietam Forestalls Court Case Over Statue
By Deborah Fitts
Feb./March 2004

SHARPSBURG, Md. - Court action to determine whether an equestrian monument to Robert E. Lee on the Antietam battlefield will remain or be removed was short-circuited in December, when the judge hearing the case decided to wait and see if the National Park Service (NPS) buys the statue and the land under it.

Purchase of the 39-acre tract by the park would make the statue's legality "a moot point," explained John Howard, superintendent of Antietam National Battlefield.

"Once it's federal property, county zoning no longer applies," said Howard. Wealthy retired businessman William Chaney erected the 24-foot statue in June on land that he owns inside the park boundary. The local preservation group Save Historic Antietam Foundation (SHAF) brought suit to force its removal, arguing, as president Tom Clemens said, that it was inappropriate to have a statue of Lee "smack in the middle of the Union lines."

At presstime in mid-January the park was awaiting the results of an appraisal to determine the value of Chaney's land. Howard predicted that purchase could take place in 60 to 90 days.
Chaney, who said he built the Lee statue to honor Confederate heritage, will retain ownership of 2.5 acres and the historic Newcomer farmhouse, which he has converted to a museum and shop. The Newcomer Farm straddles Route 34 by Middle Bridge.

Howard said Cheney "intended all along" to sell the land to the park, and "we've always wanted to acquire it." Clemens said his 700-member organization was "thrilled to death for the park to get the property." He expressed disappointment, however, that the case appeared unlikely to be heard, eliminating the chance to remove the statue and rectify what he saw as illegal action by
Washington County authorities.

The county's Historic District Commission had rejected the statue as out-of-keeping with the historic farmstead, but the Board of Zoning Appeals allowed Chaney to proceed on a technicality, when the county planning department failed to meet a deadline to issue the decision.

Chaney outbid the park several years ago in buying the 100-acre Newcomer Farm. Three years ago he sold the park 60 acres and the historic Newcomer Barn on the south side of Route 34, across the road from the house.

Howard said Chaney's interest in consummating the sale of the 39-acre parcel now was clearly prompted by the opportunity it offered to put the lawsuit behind him. "The timing was right," Howard said. "It gave him a way to get out from under legal problems."

The acquisition was put in motion after Chaney's lawyer approached Howard to inquire whether sale to the park would eliminate the court case.

Chaney then successfully petitioned the Washington County Court judge for a postponement pending the outcome of purchase negotiations. Clemens said he is hopeful that someday the park will move Lee. "The potential exists for it to get somewhere where it might make more sense," he said. He cited a spot near the National Cemetery, "where Lee spent the bulk of the day of the battle," Sept. 17, 1862. Another spot is the park-owned site west of Sharpsburg where Lee's headquarters tents were pitched.

Howard, however, dismissed talk of shifting the statue.

"I've got more things to do with my money than move Robert E. Lee around," he said. He also pointed out that the park's General Management Plan bars new monuments on the battlefield.

"I would say he's going to stay right where he's at."

In any case, Howard said, "The controversy is almost a singular sort of thing," with virtually no outcry against the Lee statue other than the efforts by SHAF. "To us it's not that big a deal," he said.

The property to be purchased has a 30-year-old easement on it, Howard noted, but it was so poorly written that it offers little protection. Once the land is acquired there will be visitor access from Richardson Avenue, and Howard said Chaney will also allow visitors to park in the lot adjacent to his museum-shop in the Newcomer farmhouse.

The park had negotiated for nearly five years to buy the Newcomer Farm, and had made an offer of $260,000 when Chaney stepped in at the last minute and bought it for $300,000. He eventually poured half a million dollars into restoration of the farmhouse, by his estimate - a restoration that Clemens agreed was excellent.

Meanwhile, the park is moving slowly ahead with plans to restore the barn, which was used as cover by both Confederate and Union snipers.