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 ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html