Preservationists Eye Nine Spotsylvania Area Battle Tracts
By Kathryn Jorgensen
September 2004

SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. - The Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) and its allies in preservation are faced with what Trust spokesman Jim Campi calls "the perfect storm" in Spotsylvania County.

Nine battlefield properties "we knew were out there and were a concern suddenly all came up at once," he says. Now preservationists are faced with trying to save multiple properties at the battlefields of the Wilderness, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania Court House and Fredericksburg. Most of the land is outside the boundaries of Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park. One property is in Orange County.

"There isn't a lot of time to act," says Campi. "At some point we are going to be initiating a fundraising campaign to raise money to save these properties." Most of them will sell for multi-millions of dollars.

Campi feels the time is right because the atmosphere is more supportive in Spotsylvania County, where a major development proposed for the Mullins Farm at Chancellorsville was defeated.

Four of the tracts are to the west of Fredericksburg near Wilderness Battlefield. The largest is the Binns Tract at 1,203 acres, which could be put up for sale at almost any time, according to Campi. Its agricultural zoning allows one home on every 10 acres. The southern part of the property is core battlefield and abuts Chancellorsville Battlefield. Campi says the site lends itself to a compromise that would allow sensitive development of the northern part.

Nearby is the core battlefield Lyons Tract, which abuts the Wilderness. Its 361 acres are zoned rural, again allowing one home for every 10 acres, according to Campi.

Part of the Lyons land and the Link Tract are within National Park boundaries. The 93.9-acre Link site is near where Wilderness Tavern was and is close to Ellwood, the estate where Stonewall Jackson's arm is buried. Campi says this tract also is zoned agricultural and about 40 percent of it is core battlefield.

Farthest west and abutting Wilderness Battlefield is the Purcell Tract, part of which is core battlefield, and is in Orange County.

Best-known of the nine parcels is the 789-acre Mullins Farm at Chancellorsville. It was the focus of the Coalition to Save Chancellorsville Battlefield, which was successful in defeating a huge commercial/residential development last year. Up-scale housing developer Toll Brothers has started site work and will build 225 homes on 500 acres on the least historically significant northern portion of the farm.

The Trust has identified about 300 acres along Route 3 at the southern end as core battlefield on the May 1, 1863, opening day of the battle. Preservationists hope to get an agreement with Toll Brothers to preserve some of the land. The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star reported that preservationists are talking with a local developer who proposes age-restricted homes, a continuing care center and limited retail and office space on the farm's remaining 172-acre tract and the 55 acres that are zoned for commercial use.

South of Chancellorsville Battlefield at Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield, are three historic tracts of interest to preservationists - Dickinson, Alrich and Myers Hill.

The Civil War Preservation Trust's 10 most endangered Civil War sites and 15 "at-risk" sites list this year included Dickinson. Campi says the 205-acre site is immediately northwest of the Bloody Angle, the area where the Second Corps formed for the attack on the Angle. The Trust would like to preserve 70 to 80 acres and is talking to the residential development company that owns the tract.

Farther east and abutting the battlefield is the 168-acre Alrich Tract. Campi says the 168-acre farm is one of the few sites owned by the same family since the Civil War. The Trust seeks to protect the acreage closest to the park boundary.

The Virginia Department of Transportation is negotiating purchase of the farm and has approved a Spotsylvania Court House bypass that would go through the property. The CWPT is working with the state to preserve the historic 120 acres north of where the bypass is expected.

East of the battlefield is the 78-acre Myers Hill Tract of core battlefield. Preservationists are talking with the developer who recently bought the tract for $300,000 about a purchase or land swap. Campi says the tract is accessible only through a subdivision.

The ninth available battlefield site is the Pierson Tract of 202 acres that abuts Fredericksburg Battlefield. Campi calls it "One of the last properties that can still be protected that would allow us to interpret the fighting that occurred on the southern end of the battlefield."

The Central Virginia Battlefields Trust (CVBT) has taken the lead in negotiations. CVBT President Mike Stevens calls the Pierson Tract "a vitally important piece of hallowed ground, representing the last remaining ground over which the Union troops moved upon the Confederates during the Battle of Fredericksburg."

He says it is early in the process and other prospective owners are talking to the owner's representative. If the CVBT is successful, Stevens says the asking price will be in the multiple of millions "and we will require all the help we can get from the national preservation/environmental community, for sure."

Information about the CVBT is available at (540) 374-0900, webmaster@cvbt.org; www.cvbt.org