(1) History of Civil War Canines Highlighted During Reenactment - Northern Virginia Daily
(2) Crowd Retraces John Brown's Incendiary Footsteps - Associated Press
(3) Virginia Side of White's Ford Slated For Park - Washington Post
(4) After 15 Minutes of Fame, Officials Focus on Bringing Visitors - Williamson Herald
(5) Gov. Manchin Kicks of John Brown Sesquicentennial - Martinsburg Journal
(6) Editorial: Fighting to Preserve Virginia Battlefields - Virginian-Pilot
(7) Preservationists Target Second Pizza Place - Nashville Tennessean
(8) Orange Fights Back - Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
(9) Editorial: Friends of Raymond Takes Impressive Step - Vicksburg Post
(10) Webb Urges More Funding for Battlefield Purchases - Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
(11) Bravery of Ancestors Prompts Vermonters to Erect Memorial - Newport News Daily Press
(12) Historic Find In a Storage Closet - Charleston Post and Courier
--(1) History of Civil War Canines Highlighted During
Reenactment -----------------------------------------------------
History of Civil War Canines Highlighted During Reenactment
By Sally Voth
10/20/2009
Northern Virginia Daily (VA)
http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2009/10/history-of-civil-war-canines-highlighted-during-cedar-creek-battle-reenactment.php
Visitors to the 145th anniversary Reenactment of the Battle of
Cedar Creek had the opportunity to learn about some of the Civil
War soldiers' most loyal and faithful companions.
A crowd ducked under the symposium tent -- and got out of a steady
rain -- Saturday afternoon to hear Michael Zucchero discuss some
of the tales related in his new book, "Loyal Hearts: Histories
of American Civil War Canines."
"Canine pets and mascots were as much a part of the American
Civil War as the soldiers who camped, marched and sometimes died
with them," he said. "These dogs are there, and they're
there in numbers, sometimes in mass numbers."
Nearly every regiment had a mascot, usually a dog, Zucchero said,
and their stories have long been lost or overlooked. But, he said,
the soldiers whose lives they shared wrote about them in diaries
and letters.
"Civil War soldiers, they had strong emotional bonds to these
dogs, just as we do today with our own dogs," Zucchero said.
"Unlike today's military working dogs, there's no evidence
that dogs accompanying Union soldiers and Confederate soldiers
fulfilled any military purpose. Often, they were strays that were
attached to a particular unit or regiment. These dogs often found
a regular niche within the lines."
Even President Abraham Lincoln, in reviewing the Army in April
1863, "doffed his hat while greeting Sallie, a handsome bull
terrier," who was with the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry
Regiment, according to Zucchero.
His book has photographs of the regiment's monument at Gettysburg
that features the dog. Sallie's four litters of puppies proved
"that there were other dogs present" in her camp, Zucchero
said to laughter.
Then there was Dog Jack, who started out as a firehouse dog in
Pittsburgh, and joined the firemen when they signed on with the
102nd Pennsylvania Infantry.
"Dog Jack was present here at the battle of Cedar Creek 145
years ago," Zucchero said.
Prior to the battle of Cedar Creek, Dog Jack had been captured
at Salem Church, and spent six months as a prisoner before he
was exchanged for a Confederate soldier, Zucchero said.
Dog Jack disappeared in Frederick City, Md., two months after
Cedar Creek, Zucchero said, and it's thought the silver collar
that soldiers presented to him led to his being targeted by a
thief.
And Harvey, a pit bull with the 104th Ohio Volunteer Infantry,
was so beloved that at a regiment reunion in 1886, soldiers and
their families posing for a picture included a large oil painting
of Harvey, Zucchero said.
"He was also featured on reunion buttons and ribbons, and
he was featured on reunion pamphlets long after the war,"
he said.
Kathy and Garry Luke, from Syracuse, N.Y., enjoyed Zucchero's
presentation.
"I thought it was excellent," Luke said. "It was
something that I didn't really realize."
This was the couple's first trip to the reenactment, but they
said they'd be back.
"We learned details of things that we never dreamed of,"
Mrs. Luke said. "We learned a lot about women, too, and the
war. Whoever we talked to, we learned something new."
"I was impressed by the intensity of the [reenactors],"
her husband said. "They're really into their history. I think
they're just waiting to have someone say, 'And what can you tell
us about this?'"
Signing copies of his book after his presentation, Zucchero, who
is from Ocean City, Md., said his interest in Civil War dogs'
stories began when he started collecting original photographs
of the animals.
"I started collecting these, and I started researching their
stories," he said. "I just found these stories are there.
They're little known. They've been sitting there in regimental
histories, diaries and letters, and they're just great stories.
It's just that nobody really thought it was important. They were
very important to the soldiers.
"They helped fill an emotional void. Young soldiers far away
from home, dealing with the realities of war. The dogs helped
them fill a void there. Dogs reminded them of home and comforted
them."
As Laurencio Lowe, 11, from Columbia, Md., was getting a copy
of his book signed, Zucchero told him he had a warning.
"Not all these stories have happy endings," he said.
Lowe found the presentation interesting.
"I loved the story about Jack," he said. "I felt
bad for Jack, but I also thought he was very cute. The story just
reminded me of my dog. The book sounded so good, that I just wanted
to buy it."
--(2) Crowd Retraces John Brown's Incendiary Footsteps
-----------------------------------------------------
Crowd Retraces John Brown's Incendiary Footsteps
By David Dishneau
10/17/2009
Associated Press
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h9mP6cIz5w_NxxUQDdF4I_qVnQhQD9BCHC0G0
Just as cold, damp weather couldn't quench John Brown's incendiary
fervor, it didn't discourage those determined to follow the radical
abolitionist's footsteps Friday, 150 years after he launched the
raid that kindled the Civil War.
Nearly 300 history lovers, some in period attire, stepped off
at 8 p.m. from the grounds of a well-preserved log farmhouse in
western Maryland to walk nearly five miles along dark rural roads
and across a Potomac River bridge to Harpers Ferry National Historical
Park in West Virginia.
The event led by park chief historian Dennis Frye kicked off the
Civil War sesquicentennial. Historians cite the failed attempt
by Brown and 18 fervent followers to seize weapons from the federal
arsenal at Harpers Ferry as the opening salvo in the War Between
the States because it incited strong passions, especially in the
South.
The war was fought from 1861 to 1865.
Friday's occasional rain and temperatures in the low 40s delighted
Frye, because the conditions mirrored those Brown and his raiders
faced when they set out from the Kennedy farmhouse near Dargan
that Sunday night in 1859.
"It adds a sense of reality and also a sense of misery to
the event - and a sense of foreboding of the unknown," Frye
said.
Frye, dressed in 19th century-style woolens and carrying a lantern,
planned the procession as a "reverent and soulful experience."
"These men are about to go to war," he said. "Most
of them will end up dead or captured in less than 48 hours."
The marchers, from across the country and as far away as England,
included at least four John Browns, bearded and dressed in black.
Not surprisingly, virtually all the participants considered Brown
a heroic martyr rather than a deranged terrorist.
"To say he is a homicidal maniac misses the point,"
said Kerry Altenbernd, 57, a law librarian from Lawrence, Kan.
"He is someone who could not live with 4 million people in
bondage and had to do something about it."
Janise Mitchell, 50, a middle-school social studies teacher from
Brooklyn, N.Y., called Brown a genius who championed equal opportunity
not just for blacks like her but for all Americans.
"What may be a terrorist for one group becomes a hero for
someone else," she said.
On the night of the raid, three of Brown's 21 disciples stayed
behind to stand guard. The rest quietly seized the arsenal by
midnight. But the situation turned into a standoff when local
militia and townsfolk sealed escape routes, killed some of the
raiders and surrounded the armory. Marines dispatched from Washington
finally broke in and captured the wounded Brown, who was hanged
for treason six weeks later.
The Harpers Ferry raid wasn't Brown's first campaign. Three years
earlier, he led a raiding party that hacked five slavery proponents
to death with swords at Pottawatomie Creek, Kan. Brown said the
killings were God's will.
--(3) Virginia Side of White's Ford Slated For Park -----------------------------------------------------
Virginia Side of White's Ford Slated For Park
By Linda Wheeler
10/17/2009
Washington Post (DC)
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/house-divided/2009/10/va_side_of_whites_ford_slated.html#more
We have good news from the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority
on the preservation front. Park officials have announced plans
to purchase a 275-acre farm on the Potomac River that includes
the ford where the Army of Northern Virginia crossed into Maryland
on Sept. 5-6, 1862, bringing the war to the North. Twelve days
later came Antietam.
The property, near Leesburg, Va., includes the home and farm of
Elijah Viers White, commander of the 35th Battalion of Virginia
Cavalry. The ford, named for him, is a wide, shallow crossing
on the river where the water is usually only a few feet deep.
On the Maryland side, the shoreline is already protected as part
of the C & O Canal National Park. Re-enactors often stage
a crossing on the September anniversary but have only been able
to enter from the Maryland side, cross over to Virginia, then
turn around and march back.
This is the place where historians often note how the Confederates
entered the North, with flags held high and regimental bands playing
"Maryland, My Maryland," a song written after the 1861
riots in Baltimore when Union troops were attacked as they passed
through that city. The song, a powerful indictment of the federal
occupation of the state, is now Maryland's state song.
Confederates were expecting hundreds to thousands of Maryland
men to immediately join their cause as they marched through the
state, but few did so.
White and the 35th Battalion fought in Jackson' s Valley Campaign
and were among the first units to arrive at Gettysburg.
After the war, White returned to his farm, ran successfully for
sheriff and took over operation of Conrad's Ferry, now known as
White's Ferry. The ferry, a few miles down the river from the
ford, was once one of about 100 ferries that crossed the Potomac
River but is the last one still in operation today.
According to a press release, the Authority plans for White's
Ford Regional Park to be used for camping, fishing and hiking
and will preserve White's house.
--(4) After 15 Minutes of Fame, Officials Focus on
Bringing Visitors -----------------------------------------------------
After 15 Minutes of Fame, Officials Focus on Bringing Visitors
By Mindy Tate
10/15/2009
Williamson Herald (TN)
http://www.williamsonherald.com/news?id=66804
Franklin's 15 minutes of fame from the Reinternment of its Unknown
Soldier may have passed, but that doesn't mean the spotlight has
been turned off as scores of passionate preservationists invaded
the county this week as part of the National Trust for Historic
Preservation meeting in Nashville.
The tours over three days to Williamson County sold out quickly,
with two different groups coming to town on Tuesday, including
a group focused on the African American experience in Franklin.
The word from those who visited the area? They will be back and
they will be bringing their friends, meaning organizations and
officials who are looking for new and expanded ways to draw more
tourists to Franklin and Williamson County better get busy.
Dollars talk
Historic sites like Carnton Plantation report continued growth
in the number of visitors touring the site, with the number almost
doubling in the last five years. And just a month or so ago, the
boards of The Carter House and The Historic Carnton Plantation
entered into a joint venture to manage the operation of Franklin's
two key Civil War sites in an effort to better coordinate heritage
tourism.
The Battle of Franklin Trust is the new nonprofit whose board
is comprised of comprised of five board members from each joint
venture partner plus an additional director without affiliation
to either.
This strategic alliance is seen as a way to greatly enhance the
visitor experience by offering such things as comprehensive battlefield
tours, combination tickets and seamless integration with other
battlefield sites. The interpretive approaches to the sites will
be preserved by the two boards that continue in their role as
fiduciaries of their respective associations, according to Battle
of Franklin Trust Board Chairman Marianne Schroer.
"Together, The Carter House and Historic Carnton Plantation
will have a more powerful significance," she said. "This
venture has the potential of joining the ranks of Gettysburg,
Richmond and Charleston as more local battle sites are reclaimed
for public access by such groups as the city of Franklin, The
Heritage Foundation and Franklin's Charge."
Julian Bibb III, co-founder of Franklin's Charge, sees Williamson
County at a unique crossroads.
"Franklin is in the midst of a revolutionary approach to
heritage tourism and the results thus far have been overwhelming.
Those results also portend an exciting future filled with opportunities,"
Bibb said. "Remarkably, this revolutionary approach to heritage
tourism has also spilled over to Leiper's Fork, Thompson's Station,
and Spring Hill. Never have the prospects for heritage tourism
in Williamson County been so bright.
It is not a magic pill or an overnight transformation, Bibb said.
"The revolution stems from the fact that three significant
parts of our community have come together to build a platform
for successful tourism experiences: preservationists, the private
sector that provides hotel and retail experiences for tourists,
and government.
"At present, tourism experiences are aimed at the unique
history, beautiful landscapes, and one-of-a-kind rich historic
sites that make up our county," Bibb said. "Nestled
between the Natchez Trace, the National Civil War Trails Program,
and the Tennessee Trails program, our community invites a diverse
brand of heritage tourism to come see what we have."
Bibb said that diverse brand includes Native American sites, African
American history, but the leading source of tourism in the county
remains "the rich depiction of the American Civil War."
"Tens of thousands of tourists are visiting our county and
all of the region's tourism experts predict that we are only at
the beginning of a heritage tourist explosion," Bibb said.
Walking the talk
Whether in town for the Reinternment of Franklin's Unknown Civil
War Soldier or one of the Trust tours, most said Franklin's reputation,
at least in the preservation community, is one of walking the
talk.
Michelle Meche, executive director of the Louisiana Trust for
Historic Preservation, had visited Franklin before, but the tour
she took Tuesday took her deeper and made her desire to return
even greater.
"I have been visiting in Nashville and had to come down to
Franklin because it is such a great historic town," Meche
said Tuesday. "I think it is fairly well-known (in preservation
circles). The National Trust named it one of its Dozen Distinctive
Destinations this year. The preservation aspect may not be as
well known with the regular joe.
"You walk a very fine line in whether you want to promote
it as a tourism destination or you want to promote it as a preservation
destination, but you can meld the two," Meche said.
For Frazine Taylor of Wetumpka, Ala., taking a Trust tour Tuesday
of Franklin was a must on her list of things to do.
"I wanted to see how the community evolved. I've never heard
much about this part of Tennessee, but I understand it has changed
there are so many big houses and they are so expensive,"
she said Tuesday. "I wanted to see how the Natchez Street
area has been able to keep their culture and their heritage and
their houses. There appears to be a group of people who are very
much involved in preservation. It is very important to look at
the environment, know who the people were who built it. It's because
of those people their background, their community and their beliefs
that played an important part in developing the community.
"Oh yes I will be back," Taylor said. "I very much
want to take more time to really see the area."
Montgomery, Ala., has a rich African American history, but Dorothy
Walker wanted to see how other people preserved what existed in
their communities.
"Coming from the area I am from, there is a lot of African
American history it's always good to go to other places and compare
what they have done to preserve the heritage, the architecture
and the way of life," Walker said. "I can compare Franklin
to Selma and Montgomery where there was a lot of history made.
There is a lot of similar architecture.
"But what amazes me the most is to see what the community
has been able to achieve themselves. People in my area are waiting
for others to come in and do it for them. I'd love to come back
and bring people from Alabama to see what can be achieved within
the community," Walker said.
Former Franklin historic preservation officer Shanon Wasielewski
was in town from her new position in a similar role in San Antonio,
Texas, for the Unknown Soldier burial and the Trust conference
and said the city is continuing to evolve.
"Honestly, I think Franklin is doing so much right,"
Wasielewski said. "You don't realize it when you are so close
that there are so many things Franklin is already doing that other
communities are just kind of figuring out. I think the sophistication
of advocacy in Franklin and some of the wins we have had in open
space conservation and historic zoning, even though there were
battles, ultimately I think the community gets that is what makes
us special."
Having been gone now a year, but active in the Trust, she said
people are impressed with Franklin for a variety of reasons.
"They are impressed by how much is intact and how much it
feels like such a special place. Also, just the variety of things
there are to offer. Obviously you have the Civil War things, but
then Harlinsdale. How fantastic is it that you have a horse farm
right by downtown and then a vibrant Main Street, the courthouse
building downtown. Just all those things that keep a community
alive. A lot of communities are excited to have one of those wins
and Franklin has had a whole list of them. It is definitely a
model," Wasielewski said.
Williamson County Convention & Visitors Bureau Director Mark
Shore said it is imperative Franklin and Williamson County maintain
their "unique sense of place."
"Unique sense of place can only be maintained by developing,
preserving and expanding our tourism product in a manner that
remains consistent with the image and brand of the destination.
The Downtown Franklin Historic District has recently been designated
one of the 10 Great Neighborhoods for 2009 by American Planning
Association's Great Places in America program," Shore said.
"This is recognition for the hard work our community puts
into preservation and planning but we cannot rest on past success.
Our locally owned businesses need the support of residents and
visitors alike to achieve economic vitality and to foster the
protection of our unique sense of place," Shore said.
--(5) Gov. Manchin Kicks of John Brown Sesquicentennial
-----------------------------------------------------
150 Years Celebrated: Gov. Manchin Kicks of John Brown Sesquicentennial
By Edward Marshall
10/15/2009
Martinsburg Journal (WV)
http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/526528.html?nav=5006
Gathering under a rain-soaked tent mere feet from the the engine
house known as John Brown's Fort, Gov. Joe Manchin III and other
officials helped kick off celebrations of the 150th anniversary
of John Brown's Raid at an opening ceremony Thursday hosted by
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.
Manchin was joined by members of the West Virginia Sesquicentennial
of the American Civil War Commission, and the ceremony preceded
several days of events at the park that will commemorate the famous
abolitionist's unsuccessful raid that many historians believe
set the stage for the Civil War.
"This is the beginning of quite a few events over the next
few years, and I'm excited what we all will be able to do to really
show off our state and what we've contributed to this great country,"
Manchin said. "You are here 150 years after the birth of
the state, and as far as I'm concerned, our nation."
The birth of the state, which came during the Civil War, was not
an easy one, he said. Thinking of Brown's 1859 raid and the Civil
War that followed, the governor said that the historic events
helped clearly define the founders' belief that all men were created
equal, as is written in the U.S. Constitution.
"We were created equal and this is what defined that we would
be treated equally," he said. "West Virginia, we should
be so proud of the part that we played to put the rest of that
definition in that wonderful document."
Thursday's patriotic atmosphere was punctuated by performances
of the "Star Spangled Banner" and "The Battle Hymn
of the Republic" by Washington High School's Washington Camerata
Choir.
Remarks from representatives of U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd and Congresswoman
Shelley Moore Capito, who were unable to attend the event, also
commemorated the sesquicentennial.
Dr. Mark Snell, co-chair of the West Virginia Civil War Commission,
described the historical significance of Thursday' date. In a
small farm house less than five miles from Harpers Ferry 150 years
ago on Thursday, he said Brown announced to his band of followers
that the next day they would set their plan in motion to capture
the federal arsenal building and its arms in an attempt to free
Virginia's slaves.
"Less than 13 months later, Abraham Lincoln was elected president
on a Republican political platform that included a pledge to stop
the spread of slavery," he said. "Soon events would
occur that would expedite the process that created the only state
born out of the fire of the Civil War ... our great state of West
Virginia."
Thursday's ceremony was also an opportunity to honor Harpers Ferry
Middle School Principle Joe Spurgas, who was a presented with
an award by the governor for the school's participation in the
"Of the Student, by the Student, For the Student" Serve
and Learn program. Seventy students took part in the program,
which told the story of John Brown through the eyes of students.
Students researched Brown with the help of the park and created
six Internet vodcast videos available for viewing across the globe.
Harpers Ferry Middle School teachers Toni O'Connor, Jason Hoffman
and Assunta Wight were also honored by the governor, as were students
Dante Price, Austin Peck and Blayne Ott, who represented the students
who took part in the program.
"We believe that this is a new way to bring the story of
West Virginia throughout the world ... by using technology that
they understand to help spread the story of history," said
Dennis Frye, chief historian of Harpers Ferry National Historical
Park.
Of course, the ceremony would not be complete without a few remarks
from the park's new superintendent, Rebecca Harriett, who thanked
her staff for planning the multitude of events that will take
place in the coming days.
"I would like to thank you for being here, thank you for
your support and thank you for helping us kick off the 150th anniversary
of John Brown's Raid, but also to kick off the sesquicentennial
of the American Civil War," she said.
--(6) Editorial: Fighting to Preserve Virginia Battlefields
-----------------------------------------------------
Editorial: Fighting to Preserve Virginia Battlefields
Virginian Pilot
10/15/2009
Virginian-Pilot (VA)
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/10/fighting-preserve-virginia-battlefields
Historic preservationists lose some big fights, as they did in
their recent efforts to block plans for a Walmart next to the
Wilderness battlefield near Fredericksburg. But they score many
victories, too, thanks to increasingly well-organized efforts
to buy significant sites before they end up on a developer's blueprint.
The Civil War Preservation Trust is one of many large and small
foundations acquiring portions of battlefields that aren't part
of national or state parks, as well as buying land to create buffers
between parks and nearby development. Since 1987, the group has
helped secure close to 30,000 acres in Virginia and 19 other states.
The group and others like it owe part of their success to federal
matching grants provided through the Civil War Preservation Program.
In the past decade, the grants have helped protect more than 15,000
acres in Virginia and other states.
One of the program's biggest champions on Capitol Hill is Sen.
Jim Webb, who introduced a bill two years ago to reauthorize the
effort. The Virginia Democrat also recently urged his colleagues
in the Senate to double its appropriation to bring it to the same
$9 million approved by the House.
Webb's call to action is timely for two reasons. The nation's
interest in the Civil War is likely to spike in two years with
the 150th anniversary of the epic conflict. And, with the real
estate market slumping, now is a good time to buy.
For taxpayers, few programs generate a better return on investment.
Tourism is one of Virginia's biggest industries, generating $1.28
billion in state and local taxes and supporting more than 200,000
jobs.
Civil War history is a major part of the state's tourism appeal.
A study commissioned by the Civil War Battlefield Trust showed
that 13 sites in various states - including battlefields in Fredericksburg,
Spotsylvania County and New Market - produce $15.3 million a year
in state taxes and $7.8 million in local government taxes.
Congress and taxpayers should maintain steady support for the
matching-grant program. It helps preserve key sites in our history
and, at a time when stimulating the economy is on everyone's mind,
it's one program that clearly generates results.
--(7) Preservationists Target Second Pizza Place -----------------------------------------------------
Preservationists Target Second Pizza Place
By Kevin Walters
10/15/2009
Nashville Tennessean (TN)
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091015/COUNTY090101/910150317/Franklin+preservationists+target+second+pizza+place
Franklin's reclamation of its battlefield land could take another
leap forward in time for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of
Franklin.
Organizers of local nonprofit Franklin's Charge are negotiating
to buy the Domino's Pizza restaurant and Four Star Market at the
corner of Cleburne Street and Columbia Avenue and convert them
into a new park, where a replica of a cotton gin that once stood
there would be built.
The buildings and land are owned by developer and longtime resident
Don Cameron, who says he's willing to give Franklin's Charge a
chance to buy the buildings for the park, but he says he won't
wait forever.
"I want to be more than fair about it," said Cameron,
who recently had the site reappraised. "It's time to fish
or cut bait with them. I've agreed to do it, and now it's time
for them to step up to the plate."
If the deal happens, it would be another reclamation of land where
hundreds of soldiers died when four Confederate divisions met
Union forces on Nov. 30, 1864, in the fighting of the Battle of
Franklin. The 150th anniversary would be in 2014. In 2005 a Pizza
Hut restaurant across the street from the land was demolished.
Details of the deal are emerging after a weekend in which thousands
of people and national media attention turned to Franklin for
the funeral and burial of an unknown soldier killed sometime around
1864. The soldier's bones were accidentally unearthed in May and
reburied Saturday in Rest Haven Cemetery.
Ernie Bacon, president of Franklin's Charge, said the high attendance
for the funeral proved there's great public interest in historic-themed
events and sites.
"I think it speaks very well for the value of heritage tourism,"
Bacon said.
Franklin's Charge is a local coalition of local nonprofit groups
first organized for the $5 million purchase of a 110-acre golf
course adjacent to Carnton Plantation that will be a Civil War
park.
Bacon says Cameron's land at that intersection is a key piece
to creating the larger plan for land begun years ago. He said
negotiations have been ongoing.
"We're reclaiming what land is available to us now,"
Bacon said. "The property on that corner is significant because
of the intense fighting that occurred during the Battle of Franklin."
Sale is 'not a business deal'
Cameron, who can trace his family roots here to the earliest days
of the city's founding, said he's previously turned down offers
to sell that land to other investors, including a bank.
"This is not about a business deal," Cameron said.
In 2005, city officials paid $300,000 for roughly a quarter of
an acre on the southern side of the intersection where the Pizza
Hut once stood. After a public ceremony was held where the restaurant
was torn down, a park was built commemorating where Confederate
Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne was killed during the Battle of Franklin.
Last year, Franklin's Charge bought a house and property at 1219
Columbia Ave. for $950,000 to add to land for the park. The Heritage
Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County already owns the
Carter Cotton Gin property, which adjoins this land. Carter House,
considered the site of the most intense fighting, is across the
street on Columbia Avenue.
Bacon, who was an alderman when the city bought the former Pizza
Hut land as well as the Eastern Flank property, said the group
would not seek public money to pay for this acquisition.
The group might turn to the Civil War Preservation Trust for grant
money.
"We're stepping up our fundraising," Bacon said.
Cameron declined to give the sale price of the land. County records
show Cameron Properties bought the site, which includes addresses
1221 through 1225 of Columbia Avenue back in September 1997 for
$620,000. No contract for a sale of the property has been made,
and Cameron declined to say what the sale price would be.
Bacon estimated that Franklin's Charge would spend $3.2 million,
including last year's purchase, the purchase of Cameron's property
and building a replica of the former cotton gin.
Meanwhile, plans are under way for this year's commemoration of
the Battle of Franklin. Volunteers will light 10,000 candles as
part of an annual commemoration of the battle, which is set for
Nov. 28 at the Confederate Cemetery at Carnton Plantation.
--(8) Orange Fights Back -----------------------------------------------------
Orange Fights Back
By Robin Knepper
10/14/2009
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star (VA)
http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/102009/10142009/500473/index_html?page=1
The Orange County Board of Supervisors is asking a court to dismiss
a lawsuit seeking to overturn its approval of a Walmart Supercenter
in the Wilderness battlefield area.
Calling the complaint filed by the National Trust for Historic
Preservation, the Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield and six
individual plaintiffs a "rambling set of allegations designed
to try to avoid dismissal prior to trial," the response filed
yesterday maintains that the plaintiffs have no standing or cause
to sue.
On Aug. 25, the Orange Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to grant
a special-use permit for a 240,000-square-foot retail development
on a 51.5-acre parcel northwest of the intersection of State Routes
3 and 20 and a quarter-mile from the entrance to Fredericksburg
and Spotsylvania National Military Park. Walmart plans to build
a 138,000-square-foot Supercenter as the anchor store.
On Sept. 25, opponents filed a legal challenge contending the
board's decision was "flawed in numerous respects."
It claims that supervisors "brushed aside" mounting
concerns about the negative impacts the store would have on the
battlefield and park.
In its response, the county says the "complaint displays
a lack of understanding of Virginia land-use law."
"Digested to its essentials, the complaint does not state
a cause of action. Rather, plaintiffs simply have a fundamental
policy disagreement with the board," the response states.
The response also notes that neither the federal nor state government
has prohibited development on the property, which has been privately
owned and zoned for commercial development since 1973.
"Plaintiffs want to prevent use of land that they do not
own and this suit is a contrived effort to enable them to do so,"
the response states.
None of the plaintiffs have standing to challenge the special-use
permit because none are "aggrieved persons" under the
Orange County zoning ordinance, according to the response.
"It is not legally sufficient to establish standing to sue
that the National Trust and the Friends are attempting to advance
some perceived public right or to redress some anticipated public
injury," it states.
Robert D. Rosenbaum, attorney for the National Trust and other
plaintiffs, disputed the main points of the county's legal response.
"The complaint made a very strong showing of standing to
bring this dispute to the court. The county's motion does not
rebut that case in any way," Rosenbaum, senior counsel with
Arnold & Porter in Washington, said in an interview.
"The county's motion fails to recognize the seriousness of
the substantive allegations in the complaint, and we look forward
to litigating the motion before the court."
No hearing date on the lawsuit has been set.
The board's approval of the retail project came after months of
controversy and three public hearings before the Planning Commission
and supervisors.
Opponents say the retail development and the traffic it would
bring would denigrate the Civil War battlefield where armies led
by Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant first clashed 145 years
ago. They have urged Walmart to find another site in Orange farther
from the battlefield.
Walmart supporters say the store will bring needed jobs and tax
revenue to the rural county. They note that the site is outside
the congressionally mandated boundary of the national park, and
that convenience stores, a fast-food restaurant and other commercial
enterprises already exist in the area.
Walmart officials have said the site is the only one in the area
that meets their criteria for zoning, size and road access. Work
has not yet begun on the store.
--(9) Editorial: Friends of Raymond Takes Impressive
Step -----------------------------------------------------
Editorial: Friends of Raymond Takes Impressive Step
Vicksburg Post
10/11/2009
Vicksburg Post (MS)
http://www.vicksburgpost.com/articles/2009/10/11/opinion/doc4acf88fc3fd2e375398760.txt
Persistence has paid off for the Friends of Raymond in the group's
effort to preserve more of a Civil War battlefield. The beneficiaries
will be generations to come.
Saturday, the self-formed group cut the ribbon to 67 additional
acres in Hinds County, part of the site where 16,000 soldiers
fought on May 12, 1863, and about 1,000 were killed, wounded or
declared missing.
The fighting between Union and Confederate troops was part of
the Campaign for Vicksburg, led by Gen. U.S. Grant. All previous
strategies to capture the city and, thus, split the Confederacy
and return control of the Mississippi River to the Union, had
failed. Grant had ferried his troops across the river from Louisiana
at Bruinsburg, west of Port Gibson, and in a mission fraught with
risks, was moving his army up central Mississippi as his supply
lines grew longer and longer. The stakes for Grant, and for the
future of the nation, were high.
Southern forces did not want to retreat into Vicksburg. Although
it was a natural fortress, it was clear enough that an army pinned
down would eventually be an army defeated. So, though the North
had vastly superior numbers, there was fierce fighting almost
every day as Grant tried to advance.
Last week, a PBS series by Ken Burns reminded TV viewers that
national parks didn't just happen. Preserving the nation's natural
and historic treasures almost always started at the grassroots.
Congress doesn't appoint committees to look at maps and decide
what to save. Individuals and organizations petition to advance
the process. Indeed, this is how the Vicksburg National Military
Park was created in 1899.
If or when the battlefield near Raymond will be submitted for
federal consideration is not known, but the efforts of the Friends
of Raymond, including Parker Hills, a retired general and past
president of the group, are certainly admirable. He has good reason
to celebrate the acquisition. "This is the core of the battlefield,
where I would say at least 85 percent of the actual combat took
place," he said.
The Friends of Raymond was chartered 11 years ago and has a mere
200 members. The group raised $115,000 and the Civil War Preservation
Trust added another $102,500. That left $217,500 needed from the
National Park Service's American Battlefield Protection Program
to complete the purchase.
Initially, interpretive trails and signs are planned. Over the
years, however, expect more, perhaps even monuments honoring the
soldiers.
What a great comment about America it is to see citizens initiating
preservation of our nation's history. It was everyday people who
struggled in combat. How fitting that everyday people are taking
action to assure how they shaped America is never forgotten.
--(10) Webb Urges More Funding for Battlefield Purchases
-----------------------------------------------------
Webb Urges More Funding for Battlefield Purchases
By Clint Schemmer
10/10/2009
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star (VA)
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/102009/10102009/499771
U.S. Sen. Jim Webb is urging his Senate colleagues to do more
to preserve America's endangered Civil War battlefields.
The Virginia Democrat has asked the chairmen of four powerful
Senate committees--Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, Diane Feinstein of
California, Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Lamar Alexander of
Tennessee--to increase funding for the American Battlefield Preservation
Program.
Webb wrote them this week to request that, during an upcoming
huddle with their House counterparts, they consider providing
$9 million for the federal program--matching the House appropriation,
which is twice what the Senate proposes.
"As America prepares for the 150th anniversary commemoration
of the Civil War, beginning in 2011, it is more important than
ever that we preserve these memorials of that tragic and nation-defining
conflict," Webb wrote the Senate committee leaders.
He noted that the battlefield program, created in 1996 after a
Walt Disney Co. theme park threatened Virginia's Manassas battlefield,
has already exhausted its fiscal 2009 appropriation.
And with fiscal 2010 about to start, 15 applications from states
and private groups have already requested more than $4.6 million
in grant money under the venture, Webb wrote.
Just a few weeks ago, the freshman senator visited a Virginia
battlefield that has benefited from the program. Webb joined the
Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation to celebrate the acquisition
of property where the Third Battle of Winchester was fought on
Sept. 19, 1864. Preservation of the 209-acre Huntsberry property,
where the Union Army's 19th Corps suffered devastating losses,
coincided with the 145th anniversary of the battle.
He praised the cooperative nature of the project, which leveraged
the federal investment nearly 3-to-1.
The $3.35 million purchase was funded through a partnership between
the valley Battlefields Foundation and the national Civil War
Preservation Trust, together with state, local and federal grants.
The federal preservation program, funded by legislation introduced
by Webb, issued a $1.23 million matching grant toward the $3.35
million effort.
Now, the Marine veteran of the Vietnam War is trying to persuade
Senate conferees to match the yearly sum included in the recently
passed House Interior-Environment appropriations bill.
"It's very important that the Senate agree to that number,"
said Jim Campi, spokesman for the Civil War Preservation Trust.
"We greatly appreciate Senator Webb's support."
Webb wrote the Senate chairman that the program's matching-grants
formula "encourages state and nonprofit investment, making
the program a model for public-private sector conservation partnerships."
To date, the American Battlefield Preservation Program has been
used to set aside more than 15,300 acres on Civil War battlefields
in 14 states.
In 2007, Webb introduced the Civil War Battlefield Preservation
Act in the Senate to reauthorize the program for another five
years. His measure was included in the Omnibus Public Lands Bill
of 2008, and signed into law by President Obama last March.
Webb estimated that 30 acres of prime battlefield land are lost
every day. If protected, the lands provide open space, create
tourist attractions and serve as outdoor classrooms, he wrote.
--(11) Bravery of Ancestors Prompts Vermonters to
Erect Memorial -----------------------------------------------------
Bravery of Civil War Forebearers Prompts Vermonters to Erect Memorial
By Mark St. John Erickson
10/8/2009
Newport News Daily Press (VA)
http://www.dailypress.com/news/breaking/dp-local_civwarmonument_1009oct09,0,6522912.story
Nearly 150 years after their forebears stormed across the Warwick
River, a Vermont-based Civil War preservation group has spent
$20,000 to remember the bravery and sacrifice shown by the Vermont
Brigade in a deadly 1862 clash known as the Battle of Dam No.
1.
Several members of group, which calls itself the 18th Vermont
Regiment, will join with Vermont Civil War re-enactors and local
historian John V. Quarstein Saturday afternoon to dedicate a memorial
at the battle site in Newport News Park.
"The 3rd Vermont didn't get any recognition for all the blood
it shed there - and all the lives it left on the battlefield,"
said Russ Slora, a trustee and past president of the preservation
group.
"So it's close to home for us in Vermont. They deserved a
memorial."
Commissioned after two years of fund-raising, the gray granite
obelisk is designed to mark the first test of fire for a legendary
brigade that - by the end of the Civil War - had suffered the
greatest loss of life of any brigade in the Union army.
Of 200 Vermonters who waded across the shoulder-deep water in
the first assault against a heavily defended Confederate position,
more than 120 were killed or wounded. Two Vermont soldiers - including
a 15-year-old fifer - were later awarded the Medal of Honor for
their heroic roles in the bloody engagement.
Union officers badly miscalculated the depth of the waters, Quarstein
said, leaving the Vermonters stranded on the opposite bank with
hopelessly wet ammunition. They also failed to reinforce the assault
when an officer charged with giving the signal was mortally wounded.
"The attack at Dam #1 failed because of mistakes in leadership,
not because of a lack of bravery," Quarstein said. "The
Vermont Brigade went on to become a legendary unit that proved
itself time and time again during the war. They always seemed
to show up at pivotal places in key battles."
The 3rd Vermont monument will be the second Civil War memorial
dedicated in the park, which spans much of the Confederate and
Union lines erected in the summer of 1862 during the Siege of
the Peninsula.
But with the 150th anniversary of the siege and the war approaching
in 2011, it may not be the last, Quarstein said.
"People are still fascinated by the Civil War," he said.
"And they still find it important to preserve and mark the
spots where our nation's future was determined."
--(12) Historic Find In a Storage Closet -----------------------------------------------------
Historic Find In a Storage Closet
By Diane Knich
10/2/2009
Charleston Post and Courier (SC)
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/oct/02/historic-find-in-a-storage-closet/
In the days leading to the Civil War, a battery of Citadel cadets
on Morris Island fired at the supply ship Star of the West as
it approached Fort Sumter, forcing the ship to turn around.
This is believed to be the original 'Big Red,' the flag flown
on Jan. 9, 1861, when Citadel cadets fired on the Star of the
West.
A red palmetto flag flew over the cadets during the attack on
Jan. 9, 1861, which marked a victory for them, and was a significant
precursor to the war.
The war officially began on April 12, 1861, with the Confederate
bombardment of Fort Sumter. But some Citadel alumni and others
consider the shots fired at Star of the West to be the first shots
of the Civil War.
The red palmetto flag became a powerful symbol for the state's
military college. The school adopted a replica of the flag as
its "spirit flag" in 1992 and called it "Big Red."
But nobody knew, until now, what happened to the original flag.
The school has found what almost certainly is the original Civil
War-era "Big Red" in a museum in Iowa.
The flag was donated to the museum by an Civil War veteran from
Iowa in 1919, and has been sitting in a storage closet for nearly
a century.
The State Historical Society of Iowa, which owns the flag, and
a history committee from The Citadel Alumni Association have determined
through forensic and historical research that the flag in Iowa
is very likely the one that flew on Morris Island on Jan. 9, 1861.
Finding the flag is great news for The Citadel, said Tex Curtis,
chairman of The Citadel Historical Council and a 1964 graduate
of the school. The flag is not only "a priceless, historic
artifact," he said. "It literally is The Citadel. It
goes right to the beginning."
After seeing a photograph of the original flag, Citadel leaders
now know that the replica they have been using has historical
inaccuracies, Curtis said.
A committee of the school's Board of Visitors voted Thursday to
begin using the historically correct version of the flag as its
"spirit flag," and to assign intellectual property rights
in "Big Red" to The Citadel Alumni Association. The
full board will take a final vote on the matter today.
The flag in the Iowa museum has a red background with a large
white palmetto tree in the center and an inward- facing white
crescent in the upper-left corner.
The replica the school has been using has a smaller white palmetto
tree on a red background, with a white outward-facing crescent
in the upper-left corner. The direction of the crescent is important,
Curtis said, because an inward-facing crescent was, at the time,
a common symbol of secession in the Charleston area.
The fact that the flag in Iowa carries the secession symbol makes
it more likely that it is the flag that flew on Morris Island,
he said.
Ed Carter, president of The Citadel Alumni Association, said his
group is now in discussions with the State Historical Society
of Iowa about bringing the flag to The Citadel on long-term loan.
From S.C. to Iowa
Michael O. Smith, director of Iowa's State Historical Museum,
said the museum has a collection of Civil War battle flags. The
red palmetto flag was donated to the museum by Willard Baker in
1919.
Baker, a Civil War veteran, said only that he "got the
flag in Mobile, Ala., at the end of the Civil War," Smith
said.
Because museum officials have such limited information about how
he acquired it, they can't guarantee the flag is original, he
said, but added that it likely is.
A report from The Citadel Alumni Association's Historical Council,
a four-member group that has been researching the flag for nearly
two years, states that Baker was a private in an infantry unit
involved in the capture of Fort Blakeley, which is near Mobile,
in April 1865.
The report also states that according to historical records, Capt.
James F. Culpepper, an 1854 graduate of the Citadel Academy, and
his battery were at Fort Blakeley when it fell.
Culpepper had been a student of Maj. Peter F. Stevens, who was
superintendent of The Citadel during the time "The Star of
the West" was fired upon.
According to the report, a news report in 1861 stated that the
Hugh Vincent family designed a red palmetto flag and presented
it to Stevens between Jan. 1 and 4, 1861, to be used by The Citadel
battery at Fort Morris.
It's likely that Culpepper and his men had the flag when they
arrived at Fort Blakeley, and that Baker got the flag from them,
and brought it home to Iowa, Curtis said.
Likely authentic
Curtis and Smith said The Citadel and the State Historical Society
of Iowa shared research and came to the same conclusions about
the flag's likely authenticity.
Curtis said the important factors included the inward-facing crescent,
results of forensic tests, written historical accounts and similarities
between the red palmetto flag and the other flags known to have
been made by Vincent.
Smith said the flag has been in a storage closet since 1919. Officials
knew it was from South Carolina because of the palmetto, but they
didn't know the flag's significance.
Curtis said a woman who wants to remain anonymous posted information
about the flag on the Internet in 2007. Some Citadel alumni saw
it and began conducting research with the State Historical Society
of Iowa.
It took nearly two years to determine that the 10-foot-by-7-foot
flag was likely the original "Big Red," Carter said.
"Until now, nobody knew what the real 'Big Red' looked like,"
he said. But soon, he said, "you'll see it on license plates,
T-shirts, logos and decals."