Not long ago rapid growth on the I-95 corridor between Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Va., stretched west from Fredericksburg and attempted to swallow the Chancellorsville Battlefield. Since the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) announced its 2006 Most Endangered Battlefield list, the eyes of preservationists have marched 10 miles farther, yes, into the Wilderness.

There they have found, standing guard, Friends of Wilderness Battlefield (FoWB). The nonprofit group welcomes the increased awareness of the threatened battlefield it has been protecting for the past 11 years.

Rolling farmland and forest still exist in and around the Wilderness Battlefield, but pockets of businesses have emerged, dotting the terrain. Where Brock Road reaches the Orange Turnpike, commercial use signs litter the roadside. A quarter mile beyond, at the intersection of Routes 3 and 20, there co-exist two convenience stores, two strip centers, and a used car lot.

McDonald's is present, also, but FoWB has worked with the fast-food restaurant's owner to create interior dˆÉ¬©cor that reflects the history of the area.

From north, south, east and west "" the front door, the back, door, and both side doors of the Wilderness "" the developers are looming, hoping to exert influence on the issue of widening Route 20, the very road on which Union and Confederate forces faced each other as the battle began on May 5, 1864. Sites of field hospitals may soon become residential neighborhoods.

Amidst the modern uproar there is an oasis atop which sits Ellwood, the 200-year-old house used as Union headquarters from May 5-7, 1864. The house and 180 acres belong to the National Park Service (NPS) but are managed by FoWB. Volunteer interpreters greet visitors and tell Ellwood's story on weekends and holidays from May through October. Other volunteers work weekly to maintain the grounds.

Started in 1995 by a group of concerned Wilderness residents, the FoWB mission was easy to define:To provide advocacy, educational programs and service projects for Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park (FRSP) in the Wilderness Battlefield of Spotsylvania and Orange Counties, Virginia.

Eleven years later the Friends organization continues to protect, preserve and interpret the battlefield, but its presence and impact are much more visible today.

Always in the back of FoWB founder Robert Williams' mind was Ellwood "" opening Ellwood to the public, seeking the funds necessary to restore the historic house's interior, and making it a preeminent destination in the Old Dominion.

When the NPS acquired Ellwood in 1977, much federal money was poured into stabilizing the structure and returning the exterior to its Civil War appearance. The site remained closed because of needed interior repairs. By the fall of 1997, the first of the Friends' goals for Ellwood, opening the house to visitors, was offered to the park in an "exceptionally well-prepared" Ellwood Action Plan.

May 9, 1998, saw the "fruition of a 20-year-old dream of the FRSP," per Sandy Rives, then Superintendent. Rives continued, "The opening of Ellwood illustrates what is accomplished in successful partnerships between public and private sectors."

By the second year 2,000 people a season were accessing Ellwood. Now FoWB puts over 3,000 visitors through during the limited six-month schedule.

Initially the focus of many was to pay respects to the burial site of General "Stonewall" Jackson's amputated arm. The bullet-damaged arm was removed from the general on May 2, 1863, at a field hospital one-half mile from Ellwood. The next day Jackson's chaplain, Beverley Tucker Lacy, buried in the Ellwood family cemetery the revered limb of that great man. At the time Ellwood was owned by Lacy's brother, James Horace Lacy.

Today the old plantation house is visited equally by those who long to touch something tangible from the Civil War era, to learn about the Union Fifth Corps headquarters, or to visualize any number of scenarios from our nation's history as exemplified at Ellwood.

Then in the year 2000, the Friends signed a second agreement with the Park Service, naming the group as the primary organization to raise funds for the interior restoration of Ellwood. The endeavor became a capital campaign in January 2003. Donors were generous, and what began as an effort to finance the restoration of the two most historic rooms surpassed that goal.

In preparation for restoring and furnishing not two rooms, but three, the NPS treated the house to a new roof, rewired the electricity and installed an HVAC system. The real prize of the preliminary work, however, was the uncovering of the 1790 floor. The floor that carried the generals' booted footsteps was found in very good condition.

It is expected that by the spring of 2007, the walls of the parlor, entry hall (with its grand archway), and north room will be whole again, and the early woodwork intact and painted as it was in 1864. When visitors enter the parlor, it will be as if they have walked into Gen. Gouverneur Warren's Union Fifth Corps headquarters office.

Yet the task will be but a third finished. In January of this year, Friends of Wilderness Battlefield launched Phase II of the Ellwood Restoration Capital Campaign.

The group is determined to bring Ellwood back to its former glory. For the next two years it will seek the finances to restore and provide exhibits for the remaining rooms.

No other original structure still stands in the Wilderness Battlefield, only the home on the plantation where Generals Lee and Grant first clashed. Appropriately Grant oversaw the Army of the Potomac from the northern tip of the property, while Lee directed the Army of Northern Virginia from the southern end.

Across the Wilderness Run valley on a hill higher than Ellwood's is an active dairy farm. Looking east from the front porch of Ellwood, this viewshed, even the sound and smell of the cows, is magnificent.

Once a part of Ellwood Plantation, the Lyons Dairy Farm will soon be for sale. One hundred and forty-two years ago Union soldiers witnessed there the "awful procession" of their "mangled" comrades retreating to the safety of the Ellwood plain. If that hillside becomes consumed by houses and peppered with cell phone towers, how will we teach our children of the slaughter and sacrifice that brought the peace and tranquility of the site today?

It would be devastating to compromise the Wilderness Battlefield. FoWB and FRSP take great pride in their partnership, but they alone cannot win the 21st century battle. The CWPT is directing the attention of all Americans to the job at hand.

Citizens, support your preservation-minded representatives. Developers, work with us. Adults-of-tomorrow, learn your history lessons.

Friends of Wilderness Battlefield is a non-profit, all volunteer organization devoted to assisting the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park in efforts to preserve the Wilderness Battlefield in Orange and Spotsylvania Counties. With more than 250 members, the Friends provide advocacy, educational programs and service projects for the battlefield. For information about additional FoWB, be sure to visit the group's Web site at www.fowb.org today.

Carolyn Elstner is Friends of Wilderness Battlefield vice president and Ellwood committee chairperson. Her family owned Ellwood from 1907 to 1971. She lives in Fredericksburg.