(1) Civil War Group Seeks $2 Million in New Battle for Chancellorsville - US News & World Report
(2) Opinion: Gettysburg Casino Still a Bad Idea - Hanover Evening Sun
(3) Fort Monroe Eyed for Private Sector - Associated Press
(4) Work Begins on New Jefferson Davis Library - Associated Press
(5) Viewshed Protections Hearing Set - Manassas News & Messenger
(6) Hart County Won't Get Civil War Monument - Bowling Green Daily News
(7) State Retreats from Resaca Project - Chattanooga Times Free Press
(8) Gettysburg Casino Proposal Renews Debate - Hanover Evening Sun
(9) Civil War Museum on Spotsylvania Wish List - Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
(10) Bloodiest Day Lies Below the Surface of Living, Growing Franklin - Nashville Tennessean
(11) Science Digs Into Civil War Sites - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
--(1) Civil War Group Seeks $2 Million in New Battle
for Chancellorsville -----------------------------------------------------
Civil War Group's $2 Million Goal in the 2nd Battle of Chancellorsville
By John Aloysius Farrell
12/10/2009
US News & World Report (NAT)
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/john-farrell/2009/12/10/civil-war-groups-2-million-goal-in-the-2nd-battle-of-chancellorsville.html
At around 5:30 on the evening of May 2, 1863, the soldiers of
the Union Army's 11th Corps were taking it easy. Three miles to
the east, their comrades were fighting Robert E. Lee's Confederate
soldiers near a clearing called Chancellorsville, but the 11th
manned the far western end of the Union line, where things seemed
downright sleepy.
Weapons were stacked, and many Union soldiers were cooking supper
when a wave of deer and rabbits and other startled woodland creatures
emerged in a hurry from the woods to their right. The soldiers'
wonder at this strange sight quickly turned to dread as they heard,
from those woods, the Rebel Yell.
While Lee had held the Union Army at Chancellorsville, Stonewall
Jackson made one of the great flanking movements in military history
that day. The 11th Corps panicked, broke apart, and fled from
Jackson's surprise attack. Only nightfall, and the determined
stands of a few blue units, allowed the Union Army to avoid even
greater disaster.
One of those brave stands came near a small chapel called the
Wilderness Church, about halfway between the site of Jackson's
initial attack and Chancellorsville. Here, Col. Adolphus Buschbeck
organized a last stand of some 4,000 men. The two sides struggled
for 20 minutes of precious daylight, before the superior number
of Rebels outflanked Buschbeck and pressed forward in the gloom.
The population boom in the exurbs of Northern Virginia has threatened
much of the sprawling Chancellorsville battleground with development.
For generations, all the federal government had to do to preserve
the sweep and feel of the place was buy a few key plots: the Chancellorsville
crossroads, the place where Jackson first struck the Union line,
and so on. Now, the blood-soaked woods and farm fields that have
been held in private hands for 150 years may be filled with tract
homes and shopping centers, spoiling the vista and the experience
of visiting the battlefield.
And so it was a notable event when the nonprofit Civil War Preservation
Trust announced a few weeks ago that, despite the awful U.S. economy,
it would try to raise more than $2 million from private and government
sources to buy an 85-acre tract at the site of the Buschbeck line.
Retired national park service historian Robert Krick, who knows
the battlefield better than anyone, calls it a "preservation
coup." The maps and details of the fundraising effort are
available at the trust's website, itself an excellent and engrossing,
multimedia encyclopedia of the Civil War.
There is a growing recognition in Congress, and in state capitals
like Richmond, that there's no better way to commemorate the 150th
anniversary of the Civil War in 2011 than to save battlefields
like Chancellorsville from the bulldozers.
And in tough economic times, it is especially valuable when good-hearted
private citizens, like the members of the trust, donate their
own money to match government funds for battlefield preservation.
In many cases, the trust and groups like it will then give the
land to the rest of us (via the park service) so we can enjoy
the benefits of open space, and learn more about our history.
We owe them thanks.
--(2) Opinion: Gettysburg Casino Still a Bad Idea
-----------------------------------------------------
Opinion: Gettysburg Casino Still a Bad Idea
By Susan Star Paddock
12/9/2009
Hanover Evening Sun (PA)
http://www.eveningsun.com/ci_13952321?source=most_viewed
As long as Gettysburg is threatened with a casino close to hallowed
ground, there will be major local, national and international
opposition.
The reasons the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) rejected
the Crossroads application in 2006 are even more compelling now.
First, questioning the business plan, they said there was no "credible"
evidence Crossroads could compete with Charlestown for the Maryland
and Washington, D.C., gamblers. They also stated that "If
Maryland legalizes slots, Crossroads would generate the least
amount of money to the state."
Maryland did indeed license slots, so the currently "untapped"
Baltimore-Washington market will no longer exist when those are
completed.
Acknowledging that casinos revenues come from locals, (85 percent
of casino patrons are local repeat gamblers) the PGCB added, "The
Gettysburg area is primarily a rural area without large population
centers nearby to sustain the casino."
Despite the investors' characterization of the opposition as moralists,
the PGCB emphasized "overwhelming, sustained community opposition
based on history and impact on a rural community."
The current opposition is already growing significantly because
the Eisenhower Inn property is even closer, just over ? mile from
the border of the Gettysburg National Military Park. It is located
on two-lane Business Route 15, the nationally designated "Journey
Through Hallowed Ground." In a three-minute straight-line
drive from the "Mason-Dixon" casino, the road runs straight
through the line of Pickett's Charge, the most visited part of
the park.
Adams County is designated as a National Heritage area because
it honors the three-day battle that determined we would be one
nation free of slavery. The land was first preserved by locals
and then set aside by Congress as a national treasure. It is valuable
in its entirety, and no part is expendable or unimportant.
Because of its impact, the PGCB heard testimony from 29 local
groups and nine national groups, including the Association of
West Point Graduates, as well as dozens of individuals. We delivered
thousands of petitions to the PGCB. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
is the most memorized speech in the world, so news coverage in
the first casino battle spanned the entire United States, Australia,
China and all of Europe. Yet these are tough economic times, and
the investors are counting on that to cause people to relax their
grip on deeper values and jump at the chance of extra jobs and
some tax revenue.
This recession was caused by such get-rich-quick gambles disguised
as sound policy. The world has changed, and people now want sustainable
economic development that doesn't destroy more than it creates.
While every additional job may sound like a good idea, the promises
are inflated, since the complex is already staffed. The recession
has hit casinos too, and Penn National, the Meadows and others
have just laid off workers.
As for tax revenues, the mayor of Allentown has had to lay off
city workers and slash his estimate of slots revenues from the
Sands, saying he was "misled by the state." The mayor
of Pittsburgh is also disappointed.
For every job created in the casino, there may be others lost
elsewhere in Gettysburg for these three reasons:
1. The casino will divert business from existing businesses, since
every dollar lost in the casino is a dollar not spent at other
local businesses. Casinos attract gamblers, not tourists, and
studies show the only type of business outside a casino that makes
money are auto service stations.
A Nebraska Wesleyan University study of average annual growth
in taxable retail sales from 1996-2004 in 10 mid-size Iowa cities
with and without casinos found that, without casinos, taxable
retail sales grew 3.4 percent, while those with a casino grew
only 0.60 percent.
2. Our heritage tourists (our customers) are deeply offended by
the idea of a casino near hallowed ground, and in one 2005 survey,
53 percent of them said they would not come back if one were built
because it would change the character of Gettysburg. These are
stakeholders because they are customers and whether you consider
them rational or not, the customer is always right.
Tourists' anger at the first proposal motivated 178 Adams County
businesses to join Businesses Against the Casino in 2006. When
enough customers say, "I won't come back if the casino is
built," smart businesspeople listen.
3. With so many choices in casinos close by, most of the players
at the proposed casino will be local. Convenience of slots is
the major trigger for the development of gambling addiction which
will create more social costs to the county.
The first time around, and now too, people say this is a "done
deal." They were wrong then, and are wrong now. As an example
of the passion out there, our No Casino Gettysburg Facebook page
reached over 1,700 members in five days, and our networking website,
http://nocasinogettysburg.ning.com/ has attracted local, national
and international activists.
Many of the local opponents were part of our first grass-roots
movement, but others stood by in the past and now feel compelled
to step forward to protect our economic stability and historic,
family-friendly community.
Susan Star Paddock, a Gettysburg counselor and licensed clinical
social worker, is the head of No Casino Gettysburg.
--(3) Fort Monroe Eyed for Private Sector -----------------------------------------------------
Fort Monroe Eyed for Private Sector
By David Macaulay
12/7/2009
Associated Press (NAT)
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/ap/vas-fort-monroe-eyed-for-private-sector-78675722.html
Abraham Lincoln planned the attack on Norfolk while staying in
Old Quarters 1 within the walls of Fort Monroe during the Civil
War.
Today, it is the base of operations for another daunting, albeit
less bloody task for Bill Armbruster, a former military man who
is overseeing the departure of the Army from Fort Monroe and planning
for an uncertain future.
Armbruster is the executive director of the Fort Monroe Federal
Area Development Authority, the body created in 2007 to find a
new use for the post when the Army leaves.
Last month, the authority made a landmark decision when it voted
to create a national park out of historic parts of Fort Monroe.
But the National Park Service would only take over a small portion
of the site, assuming the move is backed by Congress.
Armbruster, who traveled to Washington, D.C., at the end of last
week to talk to lawmakers, estimates the National Park Service
will take over about 60 acres of the 564-acre site, but the size
of the park is yet to be finalized.
That's not to say large tracts will be opened up to developers.
"About 40 percent is open green space and wetlands, the natural
areas that we want to protect," he said.
Armbruster, a 74-year-old former Pentagon official with a Navy
background, is pleased that the future of Fort Monroe is now clearer.
"There's been a lot of misinformation out there," he
said. "There were those that felt the property was going
to be sold to developers and that the choice was either a national
park or high-rise condos. I've even heard casinos. I've heard
all sorts of stories out there. It's simply not true," he
said.
He said it is part of the development authority's plan for the
land at Fort Monroe to belong to the commonwealth of Virginia.
However, Armbruster and his team have a duty to make the future
Fort Monroe viable and the authority will have to work with a
large number of private sector partners to successfully run what
he describes as a "small city."
"Economic sustainability is crucial. We've got to make this
place pay for itself."
Under the plan backed by the development authority's board last
month, the National Park Service would take over Old Quarters
1, the historic stone fort that is the largest of its kind in
the United States, the moat, the outer works, Irwin and Parrot
batteries that were built just after the Spanish-American War
of 1898, and a radar station on the parapets.
The radar station, used for anti-submarine monitoring in World
War II, is an example of the famous Bauhaus school of architecture,
Armbruster said.
Old Quarters 1 is also famous.
"This is the oldest building on Fort Monroe other than the
lighthouse. In 1819, Lafayette entertained there. Lincoln spent
four nights there," Armbruster said.
"So much of the planning for the campaign on the Peninsula
and the attack on Norfolk was planned from here."
Armbruster hopes tax credits can be used to "adaptively reuse"
historic buildings on the site, with no new building proposed
within the moat of the historic fort.
"We can't tear them down. We don't want to," he said.
"We are bound to preserve them, but we do need to make them
useful to 21st-century occupancy."
He proposes "limited development" compatible with the
historic fabric of the existing buildings. Although the private
sector will be brought in, developers won't own any land.
"There will be no high rises," Armbruster said. Building
heights will be limited to three stories.
The new structures are likely to be office space and new homes.
Armbruster said the development authority is talking to a number
of potential tenants, nonprofit organizations, museums, and state
and federal agencies. They include the Hampton History Museum,
the Virginia Museum of Natural History and the Museum of the Confederacy.
"This has more of an academic campus feel than it does a
military feel," he said.
He wants the future Fort Monroe to be a "living, vibrant
community" rather than a park that opens in the morning and
closes in the evening.
"We see some opportunities for tourism-related hospitality
type facilities, maybe some small tea rooms or restaurants that
will support a growing tourism base. FMFADA project tourism numbers
of up to 250,000 a year.
"There already is a surprising number of tourists who come
here and go to the Casemate Museum," he said.
Armbruster said that in the future Fort Monroe would link to the
Historic Triangle of Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown to expand
tourism.
Steve Corneliussen, of Citizens for Fort Monroe National Park,
said the group is pressing for as large an area as possible to
be included in the national park.
"It's all a national historic landmark and all an environmental
treasure, so we hope Virginia's congressional delegation seeks
as large a national park as makes practical sense," he said
Saturday.
--(4) Work Begins on New Jefferson Davis Library -----------------------------------------------------
Work Begins on New Jefferson Davis Library
Associated Press
12/6/2009
Associated Press (NAT)
http://blog.al.com/live/2009/12/work_begins_on_new_jefferson_d.html
Bertram Hayes-Davis says the $10.5 million project to rebuild
the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library and Museum is another
opportunity to show his great, great grandfather's legacy shouldn't
be limited to a fight to preserve slavery.
"In the American people's minds, that specific association
is the only factor they know about Jefferson Davis. I'm working
to educate the American public on all of the great accomplishments
of this American patriot," Hayes-Davis said in an interview.
The 61-year-old president of the Davis Family Association was
the keynote speaker at a groundbreaking ceremony Sunday in Biloxi
at Beauvoir, the Mississippi Gulf Coast home where the Confederate
president spent the remaining years of his life.
Hurricane Katrina in 2005 damaged Beauvoir, and destroyed the
library and museum also located the beachfront Biloxi property.
The ceremony took place on the 120th anniversary of Davis' death
of pneumonia while he was on a riverboat in New Orleans.
Hayes-Davis, who lives in Dallas, said the reconstruction of the
presidential library will be a historic moment for his family.
"I think the completion of the library will again bring Beauvoir
back to its recognition point. We have restored Beauvoir to its
original condition," he said. "The library itself is
a focal point of documenting all of Davis' life."
Davis was a West Point graduate and an Army soldier who fought
in the Mexican War. He later served as a U.S. senator from Mississippi
and played a role in what would become the Smithsonian Institute
before he was named president of the seceding states that would
become the Confederacy.
Funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and its state
counterpart will pay 90 percent of the nearly $10.5 million project
because the site is a national historic landmark, said Beauvoir
Director Rick Forte.
Forte said other funding would come from money the museum had
before the storm and insurance. The reconstruction is scheduled
to be completed in August 2011. The 51-acre Beauvoir site is owned
by the Mississippi Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Beauvoir was built in 1852. A hospital was built on the grounds
in 1924 to serve aging Confederate veterans and their wives, Forte
said.
Katrina caused some structural damage to the house, ripping the
U-shaped porch off, and causing roof damage. The rooms and content
-- beds, chairs, and bookshelves -- were intact, Forte said.
"The Beauvoir House was built in the right spot. It's been
through about 30 hurricanes and it's still there," Forte
said.
But tourism traffic at Beauvoir has been down. Forte and local
officials cite the recession and the continued recovery of the
coast, where Katrina's surge left billions of dollars in damage
and initially scattered much of the region's population.
Forte said Beauvoir needs a consistent crowd of about 200 a day
to pay the entrance fees that range from $5 to $9 to break even.
He said daily visits now average between 100 to 150. The house
is open every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Biloxi city spokesman Vincent Creel said the project is significant
because the city will be among only a few in the country with
a presidential library.
Davis' library isn't officially recognized by the federal government.
"We think it enhances the cultural appeal of Biloxi,"
Creel said. "It will be something that's not only a showplace,
but a resource center for people who are studying the Civil War."
--(5) Viewshed Protections Hearing Set -----------------------------------------------------
Viewshed Protections Hearing Set
By Cheryl Chumley
12/3/2009
Manassas News & Messenger (VA)
http://www2.insidenova.com/isn/news/local/article/viewshed_protections_hearing_set/48171/
A plan to protect the outlying areas of Manassas Battlefield from
development is set for public hearing in January, but at least
one supervisor wondered if these new viewshed regulations might
halt construction on an electrical generating plant.
Viewshed preservation is concerned with protecting the property
that can be seen from a historical site. Viewshed supporters see
construction of a transmission line, for example, or erection
of a traffic sign, in those areas that can be seen from historical
sites like Manassas National Battlefield Park as a degradation
of the area's history.
"A few miles away from the park, we have a proposal to build
an electrical generating plant" that will emit steam, said
Supervisor Martin Nohe, R-Coles, following a recent presentation
to the board about viewshed findings. "There will be steam
that goes into the air a mile from the battlefield, and that will
be seen."
The point: Since soldiers fighting the Civil War didn't see such
steam, will any new viewshed regulations upset plans for the plant?
"There's always a balancing act," said Justin Patton,
county archeologist, who said viewsheds are somewhat nebulous
in nature. "You're not preserving land. You're preserving
across land and things that intrude into the view."
The county has yet to adopt any viewshed ordinance. Park and staff
presented the results of a study to supervisors a couple weeks
ago that identified certain areas of the county as top priority
for viewshed protection.
Proposed ways of saving the viewshed include creating a purchase-of-development-rights
program, amending the county Comprehensive Plan to include viewsheds,
or outright establishing the two Manassas battlefields as official
viewshed areas. The last would bring with it new land-use regulations
and restrictions.
"It's premature to establish that without further study,"
Patton said of the creation of a viewshed zoning label.
--(6) Hart County Won't Get Civil War Monument-----------------------------------------------------
Hart County Won't Get Civil War Monument
By Robyn L. Minor
12/3/2009
Bowling Green Daily News (KY)
http://www.bgdailynews.com/articles/2009/12/03/news/news6.txt
The National Cemetery Association has quietly decided that a Civil
War monument that originated in Hart County should settle into
Louisville's Frazier International Museum as its home.
The decision has at least one person questioning what was taken
into account in the process.
The Bloedner Monument, which was constructed near the Battle of
the Bridge site in Munfordville, was moved in 1867 to Cave Hill
Cemetery. It was taken from the cemetery last year for preservation.
"We are not aware of the thinking behind the NCA's decision,"
said Tres Seymour, director of the Battle for the Bridge Historic
Preserve. "After the public meeting, they didn't communicate
with us at all and didn't respond to a letter we sent requesting
more information. We had a number of parties provide letters of
support ... and received supporting comments from places like
the Louisville Civil War Roundtable.
"I realize that the National Cemetery Administration is the
agency that is responsible for the monument and has to take any
number of considerations into account. But there were some concerns
and misconceptions (by NCA) about what we were able to offer in
Hart County and they appeared to make up their mind early. The
information provided to them in a site visit never showed up in
any documentation.
"For a federal planning process, they have been very uncommunicative
with the stakeholders."
A representative from the NCA could not be reached for comment
but a statement on the organization's Web site said the Frazier
was selected "based on Civil War exhibit plans, controlled
environment and security, financial stability, annual visitation
and proximity to Cave Hill National Cemetery."
A new version of the Bloedner Monument will be placed at the cemetery
and direct visitors to the original version.
"In selecting a new home for the monument, NCA solicited
proposals and undertook site visits. NCA posted information regarding
the process on the Internet, mailed information to veterans and
Civil War heritage groups and held a public information meeting
to seek input," the Web site said.
The Patton Museum also submitted a proposal to be the home for
the monument.
While there is no indication on the Web site of this, Seymour
said he has the impression that the monument would only be at
the Frazier through the sesquicentennial of the Civil War.
"First and foremost, our concern is that the integrity of
the object is maintained because it is very fragile," he
said.
"But everything that they have said up to this point suggests
that wherever it goes, they intend to move it elsewhere after
a given time. We would hope of course that it would come to Munfordville
after whatever time it leaves the Frazier."
The monument was carved in 1862 and actually had its first home
in Hart County, the site of the Battle for the Bridge and where
Woodson House Museum is now.
The historic preserve and museum interprets the battles (including
the battle of Rowletts Station) that were fought at the site.
Seymour said they had planned to humanize the 11 people for whom
the monument was carved.
Seymour said he is not sure if the decision is final but he plans
to explore the group's options.
Courtney Norris, a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling
Green, said the congressman had not been informed of the situation
but his office plans to look into the matter and speak to local
officials.
--(7) State Retreats from Resaca Project -----------------------------------------------------
State Retreats from Resaca Project
By Andy Johns
12/3/2009
Chattanooga Times Free Press (TN)
http://www.tfponline.com/news/2009/dec/03/state-retreats-from-resaca-battlefield-project/?local
Gordon County commissioners voted Tuesday to lead the charge to
complete work at the Resaca Battlefield after the state department
overseeing the project made a retreat.
"They said, 'Look, if you want to see this project moved
forward you're going to have to do it,'" Commission Chairman
Alvin Long said of his talks with the state.
A group of local residents began pushing for a battlefield park
in the early 1990s and progress had advanced as far as a groundbreaking
ceremony before the Georgia Department of Natural Resources pulled
out due to a lack of funding.
The park is located where entrenched Confederate forces met Atlanta-bound
Union troops led by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman in May 1864.
But state officials hope the site, located next to Interstate
75, will be friendlier to modern visitors from the North.
Kim Hatcher, a spokeswoman for Georgia State Parks, said the state
had allotted $3.7 million for the project, but realized that wouldn't
be enough to complete it.
The original goal was to complete the project by the 150th anniversary
of the Civil War in 2011. With that date fast approaching, the
county stepped in and asked to take over the project, Ms. Hatcher
explained.
The DNR board signed the intergovernmental agreement Tuesday,
charging the county with building and maintaining the park in
exchange for revenues from visitors.
"We're just really excited that they're able to step in help
out with the project," she said.
Gordon commissioners were not as enthusiastic.
Mr. Long said he was disappointed the state wouldn't complete
the park because finances were tight for the county as well. He
hoped it could still be completed in 18 months.
"It's not the best economic time to do it, but it's the time
which we've been given," he said.
He said the state originally allotted $5 million for the project,
but diverted funds to another project. Ms. Hatcher said $3.7 had
always been the amount of the bond for the project and about $400,000
of it had already been spent on surveying.
Ken Padget, who was one of the battlefield's early supporters,
said the state had "dropped the ball on an excellent opportunity."
He thanked the commission as well as the cities of Resaca and
Calhoun for their contributions. He was also thankful that the
DNR transferred the funds to the county because if the money had
moved back into the general fund, it might not have come back,
he explained.
"Many of us feel we would have lost the development of the
park forever," he said.
--(8) Gettysburg Casino Proposal Renews Debate -----------------------------------------------------
Gettysburg Casino Proposal Renews Debate
By Erin James
12/1/2009
Hanover Evening Sun (PA)
http://www.eveningsun.com/ci_13902393
The leader of a movement that opposes gambling near the Gettysburg
battlefield is gearing up for another fight with the man whose
plan she and other opponents successfully derailed three years
ago.
In fact, Susan Star Paddock said, a proposed site on Emmitsburg
Road is "actually a worse location" for a casino than
the open field along Route 30 in Straban Township where Gettysburg
businessman David LeVan first proposed to build a casino in 2005.
LeVan announced last week that he has an option to purchase the
Eisenhower Hotel and Conference Center on Emmitsburg Road in Cumberland
Township. If he and his partner, Joseph Lashinger, can secure
a Category 3 gaming license, LeVan said, he wants to purchase
the 100-acre property and operate part of it as a casino. Slot
machines are definitely part of the plan; table games are a possibility
depending on state gaming-law amendments.
Paddock is the chairwoman of No Casino Gettysburg - the citizens'
group whose arguments against LeVan's earlier project influenced
the Gaming Control Board enough that they rejected the Crossroads
Gaming Resort and Spa in 2006.
"The Eisenhower complex is only one-half mile from an even
more significant portion of the Gettysburg National Military Park,"
she said. "That whole section between the Eisenhower (hotel)
and the town of Gettysburg is the most significant, most visited
part of the battlefield."
Paddock said she was referring to the general area of South Cavalry
Field and, more specifically, Little Round Top, the Peach Orchard
and the field of Pickett's Charge.
"I'm not sure why Mr. LeVan claims that it's further away
from the battlefield," Paddock said. "It's clearly much
closer to a more significant area."
The Eisenhower Center is about 0.8 of a mile by road from the
southern boundary of the battlefield, 2.9 miles from the Peach
Orchard and 5.3 miles from the center of town. By comparison,
LeVan's original site on Route 30 was 1.3 miles from East Cavalry
Field and 2.4 miles from Lincoln Square.
Last week, LeVan called the hotel site "further away from
the border of the battlefield than the Crossroads place."
He also said it "is distinctly away from the battlefield"
and stressed that he would be using an existing facility - unlike
the Crossroads proposal, which would have been built on an open
field.
LeVan's spokesman declined to comment on Paddock's criticism.
David LaTorre said he is "not going to debate this topic."
"What's unfortunate is people are pulling out tape measures
at a time when they should be thinking about jobs in this economy,"
LaTorre said. "Since Crossroads was rejected, the unemployment
rate in Adams County has more than doubled to close to 8 percent.
That should be the real discussion."
LaTorre said LeVan's partner, Lashinger, has "a tremendous
amount of experience and a great track record of success."
Lashinger, a former state representative from Montgomery County
and former executive with Penn National Gaming, is the lead partner
in Harrah's Chester Casino & Racetrack, located south of Philadelphia.
The Delaware County harness racing track was one of the first
operations in the state to open a slots facility.
"His project in Chester is literally transforming a city
that's been troubled for decades," LaTorre said. Whatever
the perspective, discussion about LeVan's latest idea has moved
quickly onto the Internet.
His supporters have been particularly vocal on BoroughVent.com,
an online discussion forum dedicated to Gettysburg issues.
The man who became the spokesman in 2006 for the pro-casino movement,
Jeff Klein, said he is just as supportive of LeVan's new idea
as he was the first time around - primarily because of the potential
for new jobs.
"That's really what we're after," Klein said.
Since LeVan's announcement last week, Klein said he is working
to revitalize Pro-Casino Adams County, the citizens' group that
countered casino opponents.
"We've never gone away," he said.
In her effort to quickly revive the No Casino Gettysburg group,
Paddock said she created a Facebook group page for those opposed
to LeVan's new plan. More than 1,200 people have joined since
last week.
She also created a new Web site for the group at www.nocasinogettysburg.ning.com.,
Paddock said, she is encouraging her supporters to contact their
legislators and Gov. Ed Rendell to express opposition to LeVan's
proposal.
Local residents who call state Rep. Dan Moul, however, are unlikely
to get the answer they are hoping for, regardless of their opinion.
Moul, R-Conewago Township, said Monday that he will not take sides
in the latest casino debate - though, he said, the anti-casino
group is actively seeking his support.
"The e-mails are just pouring in," he said. "Most
of the people that I guess were against it last time are totally
against it this time."
Moul said he would prefer to "let the process do what the
process does."
"I'm going to keep my nose out of it because I am not allowed
to try and influence the gaming oversight people," he said.
"The people that are for it need to rise up. The people that
are against it need to rise up. Dan's just going to stand back
and let the system work."
--(9) Civil War Museum on Spotsylvania Wish List -----------------------------------------------------
Civil War Museum on Spotsylvania Wish List
By Dan Tevlock
11/30/2009
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star (VA)
http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/112009/11302009/510864
Spotsylvania County could end up celebrating the Civil War's 150th
anniversary without a museum that tells the stories of the bloody
battles.
The county has the Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania Court House
and the Wilderness battlefields as top tourist attractions. But
the Board of Supervisors and county officials have had a tough
time with opening a first-class Civil War museum.
Terry Thomann, the Civil War Life Museum's director, closed his
museum at Southpoint I last week. He simultaneously opened a Civil
War-themed store on Caroline Street, where Fredericksburg Historical
Prints was located. He is preparing to open by the end of the
year a gallery for Civil War prints by artist Mort Künstler,
a tintype photography studio with authentic 1865 lenses, and a
3-D theater in the 2,000-square-foot building.
Thomann said the Southpoint location was tucked away in a shopping
complex, far from any battlefield. The county owns the building,
and Thomann had showcased his Civil War artifacts rent-free since
2001.
"The [city] location is just a thousand times better,"
Thomann said Friday. "This store is going to be a big asset
to the city."
Thomann said he is still interested in talking with the county
about opening a new museum, but he also hinted several times that
it will take monetary support to make it happen. He said the National
Civil War Life Foundation, which was established about two years
ago to raise $12 million for a new museum, meets later this month.
The members could still decide to try to open a museum in Spotsylvania,
Thomann said.
Originally, Thomann had planned to move to W.J. Vakos' Courthouse
Village project off the State Route 208 Bypass. On Friday, Thomann
said a location in that development does not make a lot of sense,
either.
"As far as I am concerned, the ball is in their court,"
Thomann said about the county supervisors making a decision.
Waite Rawls, the executive director of the Museum of the Confederacy
in Richmond, had proposed a museum at the Chancellorsville battlefield
almost two years ago. Rawls chose Appomattox to open the first
of three new museums by 2011, but the process has moved slowly.
The other planned spots are at Fort Monroe and somewhere in the
Fredericksburg area.
Spotsylvania supervisors said Rawls is focusing on the Appomattox
project and has had little contact with local officials.
Supervisor Jerry Logan said he would be disappointed if the county
did not have a Civil War museum open for the 150th anniversary.
He said county officials are still planning to open a Civil War
museum in Courthouse Village.
"We feel like we can make it happen, and the sooner the better,"
Logan said. "Whether it will be there by 2011 we can't say
for sure. but we are hopeful."
--(10) Bloodiest Day Lies Below the Surface of Living,
Growing Franklin -----------------------------------------------------
Bloodiest Day Lies Just Below the Surface of Living, Growing Franklin
By Mitchell Kline and Kevin Walters
11/29/2009
Nashville Tennessean (TN)
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091129/COUNTY090101/911290316/1164/COUNTY09
While digging a utility trench with a small trackhoe, Brad Thompson
watched another worker reach down and pull what looked like a
root out of the trench.
He was about to raise the trackhoe's bucket for another scoop
of dirt, but curiosity led him to the object. He picked up the
piece and after clearing away some dirt, realized he was holding
a human leg bone.
"I got down on my knees and started moving dirt with my hands,"
Thompson said. "I started finding little pieces of skull
and made a little pile. I kept digging and found a couple of ribs
and half of a jaw with three teeth."
Thompson, it was later determined, had uncovered the remains of
a Civil War soldier - likely a Federal trooper, archeologists
say. The bones were found near Columbia Avenue, where a Chick-fil-A
now is being constructed. It's not far from Winstead Hill, which
was used as a command post and lookout by the Confederate Army,
but a mile south of where the heaviest fighting occurred.
The discovery, which occurred in May, is a reminder that remnants
of Nov. 30, 1864, - Franklin's bloodiest day - still lay buried
just below the surface. The unknown soldier's bones give new fuel
to those who say developers should tread lightly on battlefield
land and that valuable pieces of the past are scattered throughout
the city. Members of groups such as Save the Franklin Battlefield
say they'll never stop pushing for battlefield preservation and
reclamation.
"I think Franklin is this great story of never saying never,"
said Joe Smyth, vice president of the Tennessee Civil War Preservation
Association and a board member of Franklin's Charge. "It's
a dangerous game to play when you ask how much is enough. As soon
as you say this is enough, anything that's left is suitable to
be destroyed."
North of where the bones were found, past a car dealership and
a gas station, is an open field that is being turned into a commercial
center. The land, once owned by the Werthan family, has been farmed
for more than a century. Left relatively unchanged for the past
145 years, it's an area some relic hunters say could offer clues
about what actually happened before the fierce fighting occurred
between the Carter House and the former Carnton plantation.
Tom Magli, an owner of the 55-acre property, said he doesn't believe
there is anything there to find.
"There really have been a lot of people looking out there,
but they never found anything," Magli said. "The prime
territory is really the BGA area, back toward the Carter House."
Many men have hunted for relics on the land. Larry Montgomery,
53, said he's among them and was once caught trespassing there.
He said he wasn't punished for being on the land.
"There are still relics there, but its been hunted a lot,"
said Montgomery, who has hunted for Civil War artifacts around
Franklin for years.
Montgomery said he knows 12-pound cannon balls, minie balls and
coat buttons were found there. Magli said he discourages relic
hunters from coming onto the land. A no trespassing sign is posted,
and Magli said there's too much of a liability to allow people
on the site.
'It all fits together'
Sam Huffman, treasurer of Save the Franklin Battlefield, said
there were artillery positions on the land and it's likely some
fighting occurred there.
"I haven't seen any reports that there were people killed
there, but I imagine there were people wounded or killed there,"
Huffman said. "It's all battlefield."
Magli said that an acre in what is planned as the Longview Commercial
Park - with restaurants, offices and retail areas - has been set
aside as a Civil War park.
"It's not big, but it's really valuable land on Columbia
Pike," Magli said. "We'll have three parks along Columbia
- Winstead Hill, the Pizza Hut park and now this little park.
How I see it is it all fits together. The overlook is where the
generals gathered. The Pizza Hut land by the Carter House and
BGA is really the epicenter of the battle. This new park in the
middle is where men gathered and where the battle lines were starting
to form."
The Pizza Hut park, as Magli referred to it, is a quarter-acre
tract that the city purchased for $300,000. At the corner of Columbia
Avenue and Cleburne Street, it's the site of some of the bloodiest
fighting, according to historians. A restaurant was built there
in 1970 and torn town in 2005.
Organizers of Franklin's Charge are trying to purchase land across
the street, where Domino's Pizza and the Four Star Market are
located. The group owns a house and property at 1219 Columbia
Ave. and wants to combine that with the Domino's land and the
Carter Cotton Gin property to create another park.
Ernie Bacon, a former Franklin alderman and president of Franklin's
Charge, said that if the property is acquired, an archaeological
dig could be performed there. Any relics would be cleaned and
kept on site to help tell the story of what happened there.
Montgomery said he suspects there's a long supply of artifacts
because of the thousands of troops involved in the battle and
the number of smaller fights that occurred elsewhere in the city.
"They'll never find it all," Montgomery said. "There
were so many skirmishes on Lewisburg Pike and by O'More (College
of Design,)."
Franklin resident Fred Reynolds, 58, said he used to hunt for
minie balls as a child. His family owned land that included Winstead
Hill, where Reynolds said there were cannon positions.
"You didn't have to dig very far to get them at that time,"
Reynolds said.
He's also found bullets around his home on Third Avenue and said
he dug a cannon ball out of a wall there.
Library site yielded nothing
Reynolds, a co-owner of Rock City Construction, which managed
construction of the Williamson County Library on Columbia Avenue,
said nothing was recovered at that site.
Work there started in 2002 and many relic hunters and historians
suspected there would be a treasure trove of artificats, including
a few skeletons. The site was off limits to relic hunters and
much of the dirt moved for the building's foundation was taken
elsewhere.
One place that might hold a trove of undiscovered artifacts is
the Park at Harlinsdale Farm.
The former horse farm turned city park was the site of a cavalry
battle between Union and Confederate troops during the war.
As far as city officials are concerned, Harlinsdale and all city
parks are off limits to relic hunters.
Using a metal detector at any Franklin park is prohibited by city
law, said Milissa Reierson, city spokeswoman.
Montgomery points out that the city's development also has cut
down on land where artifacts might be found. Some people aren't
so neighborly when it comes to having relic hunters poke through
their private property.
"Some people don't want you coming in their yard," Montgomery
said.
Yet after years of relic hunting, there doesn't seem to be any
signs in the pastime flagging - and of it not creating thorny
propositions for everyone.
The discovery earlier this year of the skeleton along Columbia
Avenue brought out historians and scads of media attention.
It also prompted someone to trespass at the grave on the Through
the Green development, said Nashville-based archaeologist Larry
McKee.
Nothing was harmed, but the visit didn't escape McKee's notice.
"The relic hunter chose to ignore it or chose to stay away
because it was something sensitive," McKee said.
State law protects grave sites. If a grave is found, it "may
not be disturbed in the area of 10 feet" around the grave's
perimeter. However, landowners can move human remains if they
are discovered, though it requires a court order.
Thompson, the man who discovered the unknown solider's bones on
Columbia Avenue, said he was pressured to keep quiet and keep
digging.
"There were other crews out there doing work and when they
saw us stop digging and we showed them the bones, they said, 'Ya'll
need to cover that up and get back to work,' " Thompson said.
"I said, 'I'm not going to do that. It's not right.' "
Thompson's boss, Nathan Massey, along with Mon McCartney, vice
president of Wolfe Co., the developer of the site, said he did
the right thing.
"They could have hidden it and kept on working, but that's
not the right thing to do," McCartney said. "You hope
you've got people that make the ethical decision."
In early October, the bones and a few buttons found with them
were placed in a coffin and laid to rest in Rest Haven Cemetery.
--(11) Science Digs Into Civil War Sites -----------------------------------------------------
Science Digs Into Civil War Sites
By Cameron McWhirter
11/28/2009
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
http://www.ajc.com/news/science-digs-into-civil-216938.html
Just north of I-20 on Moreland Avenue in Atlanta sits an intersection
on a low hill. There's a gas station and a liquor store and some
other businesses, but not much else.
Though you would never know it from the unremarkable view, thousands
of men died here 145 years ago in one of the fiercest fights of
the Civil War.
Confederate Private Sam Watkins, wounded in the battle that July
day in 1864, recalled bodies, horses, wagons and cannon "piled
indiscriminately everywhere" and "streams of blood."
"'Twas a picture of carnage and death," he wrote. It
was a day and a place he would never forget.
But Atlanta did forget. Since the war, the city has sprawled out
in every direction with buildings, roads and traffic, paving over
this battleground and others.
Today most people assume any archaeological record of the clash
of two enormous armies more than 160,000 men has been obliterated
by modernity.
Not so fast.
A small but growing number of Georgia archaeologists and history
buffs are starting to use high-tech gear, ground-penetrating radar,
metal detectors, new software programs and detective-style techniques
to detail with amazing precision what happened when U.S. Gen.
William T. Sherman made good on his promise to "make Georgia
howl."
Decades ago, archaeology was about spades, notebooks and educated
guesses. You found a field where you thought something might have
been, and you dug pits. Trying to piece together what happened
on a battlefield for several hours of one day more than a century
ago seemed preposterous.
This was especially true in metro Atlanta, where bulldozers have
been working overtime for decades. But now this loose group of
experts call them Civil War CSI are on the case. They still use
historical records and spades, but they also use a whole lot more.
Garrett Silliman, a 35-year-old archaeologist at an environmental
consulting firm, has started giving talks to experts in the area
and in other states on new approaches that are helping find new
Civil War sites and new information in this megalopolis of drywall
and asphalt.
"A lot of this technology has been around for years, but
now it's a lot cheaper and easier to use," he told The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution. "For some of us, it's becoming standard
operating procedure."
The technology includes:
GIS: geographic information systems technology detailed mapping
software that can give a three-dimensional view of an area, and
impose old Civil War maps on modern maps.
GPS: global positioning system, which uses satellite to pinpoint
the location of a found object or entrenchment.
Ground-penetrating radar. Developed by the U.S. Army to find enemy
tunnels during the Vietnam War, the technology used to require
a truck and many people to operate it. Today, one person can carry
it on his back. The radar can find disturbances many feet underground,
revealing Civil War earthworks or battles.
Soil and relic testing. Lab testing can give detailed reports
on everything from the age of an item to traces of blood.
Metal detectors that are far more precise than the clunky ones
popular with Civil War relic hunters.
Several Georgians are embracing these new tools.
William Drummond, a professor at Georgia Tech's College of Architecture,
has spent years promoting GIS technology for use in identifying,
analyzing and preserving battlefields.
Dan Elliott, an archaeologist who has been doing Revolutionary
War research and some Civil War research in coastal and central
Georgia, was trained to use ground-penetrating radar about eight
years ago. At the time, only four people in the state knew how
to use it - and almost no one was using it for archaeology. Today,
more than 20 people in the state are trained and it is a common
tool for archaeologists.
"Basically we're stealing ideas that medical technology had
20 years ago," he said. "It gives you Superman eyes
to see under the ground."
Lu Ann De Cunzo, president of the Society for Historical Archaeology
and a professor at the University of Delaware, said these technological
advances have given archaeologists an exactitude no one could
have imagined only a few years ago.
"We can really fine-tune what we are seeing," she said.
The precision this technology offers is startling. To demonstrate,
Silliman picked up a small plastic bag on his desk. Inside was
a bullet that he recently recovered from a site at Tanyard Creek
in Buckhead. Through global positioning he knew the exact location
where the bullet was found. Examining its markings, he was able
to tell it was a British-made bullet fired from model 1853 Enfield
rifle. Because it was slightly marked, he could tell it had been
rammed into a gun that had been fouled, probably from being shot
a lot that day. Because the lead bullet didn't have any impact
marks, he could tell it had not hit a target, but probably just
traveled through the air, then dropped to the ground. Military
records showed fighting at that location. Using mapping software
showing modern Atlanta overlaid with Civil War fortifications,
he traced back 1,100 to 1,300 yards the distance an Enfield-fired
bullet would travel - to Rebel earthworks.
Silliman held up the little gray missile and declared confidently
it was fired between 2 and 4 p.m. on July 20, 1864, by a retreating
Confederate soldier. The Rebel missed whatever he was trying to
hit.
A reporter asked Silliman if he was sure.
Silliman smiled slightly.
"Plus or minus 120 feet," he said.
Sitting in his small but ordered office in Smyrna, Silliman pulled
up on his computer a topographic map of modern Atlanta. He then
superimposed historical maps of Union and Confederate defenses,
soldiers' camps and where battles took place. Red lines signified
Confederate areas; blue showed Union areas. Purple showed areas
that have been surveyed by archaeologists. Very little of metro
Atlanta was purple.
Silliman, who with his lanky build and goatee could pass for a
Union corporal, hopes to see that change with new technology.
He said for years traditional archaeology has focused on small
sites that were inhabited for long periods, such as Native American
villages. The Civil War, he said, requires a different approach
especially in Georgia. Silliman, who was raised in New Hampshire
but earned his graduate degree at Georgia State University, is
the resident Civil War expert at Edwards-Pitman, a subcontractor
that does environmental and historical assessments for companies
and government agencies that are planning to develop land. Most
of his work is in metro Atlanta for the Georgia Department of
Transportation or agencies looking to see if any area has historical
significance. Silliman insists that huge swaths of metro Atlanta
do. The whole area for about a month in 1864 was one gigantic
war zone.
"Essentially everything from here up to Chattanooga was battlefield,"
he said.
That includes the low hill near the Moreland exit, and hundreds
of other places where the two armies fought around Atlanta. Under
the earth, evidence of the fighting survives.
Douglas Scott, an archaeology professor in Nebraska nationally
known as one of the pioneers in battlefield archaeology, said
this technological transformation of archaeology "really
has exploded, pun intended, in the last three or four years."
He said battlefield archaeologists in Europe, the eastern United
States and the West have started using these tools, and now the
South is embracing them. He said historical accounts, just like
eyewitness testimony in a criminal case, couldn't always be trusted.
"There's a precision that goes with finding stuff on the
ground," he said. "Think of historians as detectives;
these tools help us find the forensic evidence."