The CIVIL WAR PRESERVATION TRUST has issued its annual report, ‘History
under Siege : A Guide to America’s Most Endangered Civil War Battlefields’
for 2009.

http://www.civilwar.org/historyundersiege/2009%20Most%20Endangered%20Report%20webversion%20-%20email.pdf



Virginia has three of the “Top Ten Most Endangered Sites” :



CEDAR CREEK, VIRGINIA



In the autumn of 1864, Union Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan inflicted a series of
punishing blows on his adversaries in the Shenandoah Valley, a region known
as “the breadbasket of the Confederacy.” By mid-October, it seemed the end
was near for his opponent, Lt. Gen. Jubal Early. But the Confederate army
was not ready to give up and launched an audacious attack on isolated
portions of Sheridan’s force. After a daring night march, Early’s
Confederates burst out of the foggy dawn near Cedar Creek and routed
Sheridan’s troops. Sheridan, however, arrived from his headquarters in
Winchester in time to rally his troops and launch a devastating
counterattack. Sheridan’s destructive assault won the battle and shattered
any hope of further Confederate offensives in the Valley.



*Threat:* Limestone mining operations across portions of the Cedar Creek
Battlefield have long been one of the most dramatic and visible threats
facing any Civil War battlefield. Heavy machinery and slag piles are already
visible from many battlefield locations, including Belle Grove Plantation.
Despite vehement public opposition and the local planning department’s
recommendation, in May 2008 the Frederick County Board of Supervisors
rezoned 394 acres for extractive manufacturing, greatly increasing the size
of the mine and threatening to destroy significant sections of the northern
part of the battlefield. The Cedar Creek and Belle Grove Coalition — made up
of local, regional, state and national preservation groups — continues to
pursue all available means to reverse this decision before mining can expand
in earnest. Cedar Creek is also one of approximately 15 battlefields across
Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia threatened by a proposed
network of high-voltage electric transmission lines. These controversial
power lines would have a negative impact on hundreds of acres of land across
the region under conservation easement.



NEW MARKET HEIGHTS, Virginia



Union Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler’s various attacks on Confederate Gen. Robert
E. Lee’s defenses north of the James River in September 1864 are
collectively known as the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm. Among the participants
in the wide-ranging battle were 3,000 African American solders in Union blue
anxious to prove themselves. The United States Colored Troops (USCTs)
crossed the Confederate position and captured the heights, but found most of
the Southerners had fallen back to a new line. Although Lee’s troops lost
ground, they held firm, blocking the direct Yankee path to Richmond. The
USCT’s attack was bloody but valorous; they lost more than 800 men in one
hour. Of the 16 Medals of Honor awarded to African American troops during
the Civil War, 14 were earned by soldiers fighting at New Market Heights.



*Threat:* Despite New Market Heights’ indisputable historic significance, no
portion of the battlefield has been protected by any preservation
organization, including the National Park Service. Henrico County purchased
land within the core of the battlefield several years ago, but it is not
open to the public. Only one roadside marker acknowledges the location of
the battlefield.

   Some significant portions of the battlefield close to the area where
Union troops crossed the James River near Deep Bottom have already been
destroyed by a housing development. Additional residential construction
underway on the north side of Virginia Route 5, the historic New Market
Road, will destroy key Confederate artillery positions. Growing traffic
congestion in the region will ultimately necessitate the widening of Route
5, threatening approximately 75 acres of still pristine battlefield land
fronting the road.





WILDERNESS, VIRGINIA



The Battle of the Wilderness was the first action in Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses
S. Grant’s monumentally bloody Overland Campaign. On May 5, 1864, elements
of Grant’s army attacked parts of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s troops on
the Orange Turnpike and on the Plank Road. In the thick growth of the
Wilderness, fighting was confusing, difficult and deadly. The result of the
battle was inconclusive but the large human toll was not in doubt: more than
25,000 combined casualties, including 13 general officers killed, wounded or
captured.



*Threat:* After several major victories in recent years, preservationists in
Orange County, Va., are facing an uphill battle to stop Walmart from
building a supercenter less than a quarter mile from the Wilderness National
Battlefield, but within the historic boundaries of that battlefield. If
built, the store would be the fifth Walmart within a 20-mile radius and
would increase pressure for additional development in the battlefield
gateway area. A coalition of local, regional, state and national
preservation groups working to protect the battlefield has offered to fund a
comprehensive planning study of how best to balance preservation priorities
and local economic development goals. Some proponents of the plan argue that
the area has already been compromised by limited development at the
intersection of Routes 3 and 20. However, the 138,000-square-foot store
would dwarf the minimal amount of development currently existing at the
site.





Virginia has one of the fifteen additional “At-Risk Sites”



Fort Monroe, VIRGINIA

As the deadline for the Army’s departure approaches, the Commonwealth of
Virginia, preservation groups and local citizens continue to grapple with
how best to balance protecting the site’s historic character with allowing
for economic development. The proposed reuse plan under review by the
Department of Defense has won praise from many quarters, but it does not
specify which state or federal agency would oversee the site.

The complete report is on-line at:

http://www.civilwar.org/historyundersiege/2009%20Most%20Endangered%20Report%20webversion%20-%20email.pdf

-- 
Jon Kukla
www.JonKukla.com

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