Civil War News Roundup - 12/28/2009
Courtesy of the Civil War Preservation Trust

 (1) Volunteers Reclaim Hollywood, Shockoe Hill Cemeteries ­ Richmond Times Dispatch

 (2) Newtonia Battlefields to Undergo Federal Study ­ Joplin Globe

 (3) Research on Hunley Spurs New Discoveries ­ Charleston Post and Courier

 (4) Preserving the Legacy Behind Bones of the Brave - Charlotte Observer

 (5) Civil War History Surfaces with Help of Archaeology Group - Austin American-Statesman

 (6) Battle of Franklin Trust Hires Leader - Nashville Tennessean

 (7) Key Penn. Games Dispute Said to be Settled - Associated Press

 (8) Trust to Save "Jackson's Flank Attack" Property ­ Washington Post

 (9) Historian: Paducah Site Could Yield Civil War Relics ­ Associated Press

(10) Platts Introduces Law to Expand Gettysburg Boundary ­ Gettysburg Times

(11) Park Authority Assumes Loan on Mosby Run ­ Leesburg Today

(12) Ohio Historical Society Names Civil War Advisory Board - Columbus Dispatch

(13) "General" Historic Site in Line for Makeover - Chattanooga Times Free Press

--(1)  Volunteers Reclaim Hollywood, Shockoe Hill Cemeteries -----------------------------------------------------

Volunteers Reclaim Hollywood, Shockoe Hill Cemeteries
By Katherine Calos and Jeremy Slayton
12/28/2009
Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/CEME28_20091227-215604/313869

The ravages of time, nature and society had left their marks on two of Richmond's most historic cemeteries.
Trash and debris littered Shockoe Hill Cemetery in Jackson Ward, where cars had crashed into the brick wall lining the perimeter of the city's first municipally owned cemetery not associated with a church.
Hollywood Cemetery near Oregon Hill was pummeled in 2003 by Hurricane Isabel, which toppled more than 100 mature trees to block every road and damage many monuments. Other headstones suffered from botched repairs, while tourist buses had wrecked important ironwork.
The cemeteries, both on the National Register of Historic Places, are the burial grounds for some of Virginia's most prominent people: U.S. presidents, Supreme Court justices, governors and mayors.
Now the cemeteries are benefiting from two volunteer organizations -- Friends of Hollywood Cemetery and Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery -- that formed recently to bring new attention to the riches and the needs of each place.
"We're reclaiming it and making it part of the city again," said Jeffry Burden of the Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery.
Hollywood Cemetery, established in 1847, was one of the nation's first cemeteries designed in the "rural style," with meandering roads that follow the contours of 135 acres overlooking the James River just west of downtown.
The center of attention is Presidents Circle, where Presidents James Monroe and John Tyler are buried. Other notables elsewhere in the cemetery include Confederate President Jefferson Davis, six Virginia governors, 22 Confederate generals, two Supreme Court justices, Confederate soldiers, business leaders and literary figures.
Monroe, who died in 1831, was moved to Hollywood in 1859. The sarcophagus of the nation's fifth president is topped by a 12-foot-tall cast iron "birdcage." Tyler, who died in 1862, is buried beneath a monolithic granite shaft erected by the federal government in 1915. At the top, a bronze Greek urn is supported by two eagles. A bronze bust of the 10th president stands on a pedestal at one side.
A survey by Pennsylvania consultant Robert Mosko in 2007 estimated that a full restoration of the cemetery and its monuments could cost $7 million. Even though Hollywood remains an active cemetery, income from about 200 burials a year produces only about half of the cemetery's $1 million to $1.5 million operating budget, with only about $75,000 allocated to restoration and preservation, said cemetery director David Gilliam. The rest of the operating budget comes from investment income.
So Friends of Hollywood was created to concentrate on raising money. The first phase has a goal of $1.5 million to $2 million, said Mary Hoge Anderson, a Friends board member. That amount would repair Presidents Circle and cover repairs in surrounding areas. Because the Friends group is set up as a 501(c)(3), it's eligible for grants and matching gifts that the nonprofit cemetery would not be able to qualify for under its 501(c)(13) status.
The project already has received $50,000 from the Roller-Bottimore Foundation and $20,000 from the Marietta M. & Samuel Tate Morgan Jr. Foundation, both of Richmond. Restoration work has begun within the circle to repair some of the damage, including from Hurricane Isabel.
Where a falling tree had shattered the marble cross for Mary Heath Davenport Newton in Presidents Circle, a replacement stone once again is identical to the cross of Elise Williams Atkinson beside it.
A new headstone has been created for Eliza Maury Withers, whose father, Matthew Fontaine Maury, is portrayed on Monument Avenue as the "Pathfinder of the Seas." A long-ago repair with mortar had left black streaks across the face of her headstone. The new marble stone is identical in size and shape to the original.
Other remaining projects include repairs to the ornamental cast iron fence, only a third of which remains intact across from Presidents Circle. The rest was destroyed by tour buses before the area was declared pedestrian-only.
"The cemetery is similar to a historic structure that you want to preserve," Anderson said. "That's what we're trying to do here."
"The challenge," Gilliam said, "is to build an endowment so that when we're no longer active with sales, we can operate."
Shockoe Hill Cemetery may be one of the most overlooked cemeteries in the city.
The city-owned cemetery, where Chief Justice John Marshall is buried, opened in 1822 on 12.7 acres in North Richmond as the cemetery at St. John's Episcopal Church in Church Hill neared capacity.
But through the years, as burials at Shockoe Hill became less frequent -- just three in the past 28 years -- the cemetery fell into a state of disarray. A few family plots remain, but otherwise, the cemetery is full.
When the John Marshall Foundation celebrated Marshall's 250th birthday at his gravesite in 2005, "the cemetery didn't look like we wanted. It was not being maintained," said Doug Welsh, who helped organize the Friends of Shockoe Hill group.
Maintenance of Shockoe Hill rests with the city, but the Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery is taking a vested interest in beautifying and promoting the cemetery near the Gilpin Court public-housing complex.
A few years ago, the John Marshall Foundation contributed $1,800 to have a historical marker placed at the cemetery. The Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery organizes groups of volunteers to take on duties such as providing upkeep for gravesites, raking leaves or cosmetic work with the Keeper's House.
Across Hospital Street lies Hebrew Cemetery, a private cemetery affiliated with Congregation Beth Ahabah. Hebrew and Shockoe Hill cemeteries form the largest parcel of land in Jackson Ward, said William B. Thalhimer III, chairman of the Hebrew Cemetery committee.
The two organizations work in conjunction to beautify their cemeteries in an effort to become a park environment for all of Jackson Ward, Thalhimer said.
Within the past six months, Welsh said, a plethora of volunteers have come forward to help with the cemetery --from high school groups to Revolutionary and Civil war groups.
O. Wayne Edwards, cemeteries manager for the city, said the city and the Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery have a good working relationship as they move toward the common goal of increasing public awareness of the cemetery.
"It's great what they're doing; we furnished the records and whatever help they need, they call me and we get it done," Edwards said.
The cemetery is filled with history and the remains of thousands of people, from the prominent to the poor. One section of Shockoe, along the intersection of Fourth and Hospital streets, is a site of single graves for Confederate soldiers, paupers and stillborn babies, Welsh said.
Ultimately, the Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery sees the cemetery becoming a place that attracts genealogical groups, historical groups, and families that want to visit their ancestors or reclaim burial sites. The group also aims for programming next year that celebrates the cemetery's rich history.
Despite being surrounded by the city, a tranquil quiet washes over the cemetery. Welsh said Shockoe Hill is his place to unwind and consider life among the headstones.
"Life goes by you quickly; we need as much time to reflect as we can," he said.

Return to Top

--(2)  Newtonia Battlefields to Undergo Federal Study -----------------------------------------------------

Newtonia Battlefields to Undergo Federal Study
By Derek Spellman
12/28/2009
Joplin Globe (MO)
http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_362005419.html

A study about whether Newtonia's Civil War battlefield sites will join the National Park Service and a documentary highlighting Native American involvement in the first Newtonia battle are both on tap for next year.
"It's just bang-bang," said Kay Hively, a member of the Newtonia Battlefields Protection Association, of the two developments announced this month.
The study will examine whether the Newtonia battlefields could be made a separate unit of the National Park Service or brought under the management of Wilson's Creek National Battlefield near Republic. It was authorized by legislation that was signed into law by President George W. Bush in May 2008.
Connie Langum, a historian at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, said the study will start next year and that she will help write the study's "statement of significance," which will show why the Newtonia site is unique among Civil War sites and sites in the National Park Service. Langum said that statement should be complete in the spring, although she could not say how long the entire study would take to complete.
The National Park Service previously told the Globe that the study would take an estimated 18 to 24 months to complete.
Also set to start next year is production of a documentary on the first Battle of Newtonia in 1862. Earlier this month, the Newton County Tourism Council announced that a $40,000 donation from the Quapaw Nation and Downstream Casino would fund the documentary.
"It's going to be one of those things that puts us over the top," said Steve Roark, of the Newton County Tourism Council, on the film's impact when it comes to the National Park Service study.
The documentary is to be complete next year.
In addition to interviews with scholars, the documentary will include an historical re-enactment of the battle, Roark said. Plans call for the historical re-enactment to take place the third weekend in May.
But Roark also said the documentary will touch on general Native American participation in the Civil War.
"There is a story to be told here," he said.
The documentary is to be shot by Paul Wannenmacher, who produced documentaries on Thomas Hart Benton and Charles Banks Wilson.
Hively said the production will likely look for a total of 250 re-enactors for the Union, Confederate and Native American forces. The re-enactment is to take place at the site.
"It's a big coordination," she said.
Newtonia was the site of two battles during the Civil War. About 350 men were killed or wounded in a skirmish in 1862, and 650 Union and Confederate soldiers were killed or wounded in the second battle in 1864. American Indians fought on both sides during the first battle, according to the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission.

Return to Top

--(3)  Research on Hunley Spurs New Discoveries -----------------------------------------------------

Research on Hunley Spurs New Discoveries
By Tony Bartelme
12/27/2009
Charleston Post and Courier (SC)
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/dec/27/research-on-hunley-spurs-new-discoveries

Water is just water, right? Not at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston, where researchers with Clemson University and conservators working on the H.L. Hunley use super-pressurized water in ways that could transform the preservation of metal artifacts, increase the durability of offshore windmills and even make paint cling better to ship hulls.
The secret of the water's transformation is tucked in a corner of the Lasch lab, in a room next to the Hunley and a pair of cannons from the Confederate raider Alabama.
"This is the big one," said Michael Drews, director of the Clemson Conservation Center at the Lasch lab, pointing to a panel of levers and pumps next to a waist-high metal cylinder.
Called a "subcritical reactor," the contraption is a sophisticated cousin of the pressure cooker and has nothing to do with radioactivity.
Instead, it creates pressures 50 times higher than what might be found in the open air, and this intense pressure causes materials to react differently. The boiling point for water, for instance, shoots from 212 degrees Fahrenheit to 392 degrees.
Just below this higher boiling point, water becomes "subcritical" and behaves like methanol and other solvents.
Drews and other Clemson researchers have been investigating whether subcritical water could preserve iron artifacts. They've tested the process on several of the Hunley's rivets, and so far, the subcritical technique has successfully preserved these pieces 10 times faster than other processes.
Paul Mardikian, the Hunley's senior conservator, has described the process as a potential "turning point in the history of archaeology and conservation."
This work also has led to new looks at how metal can be protected from corrosion, research that bolstered Clemson Restoration Institute's successful proposal to the federal government for a national wind turbine drive train test lab.
The $98 million wind lab will be built next to Lasch lab.
"Metal and the sea. It's all connected," Drews said. "The Hunley showed what happens to metal in the long term, and we're using what we're learning from the Hunley and applying it to modern metals."
New discovery
Iron and seawater have a complex relationship, one that sometimes resembles a love story with an unhappy ending.
Put a piece of iron, such as a submarine, in the ocean, and iron and water begin to merge, with iron swapping its ions with chloride ions in the seawater. As long as the iron stays under water, this relationship is stable, and the iron stays well preserved.
But if you remove the iron and expose it the air, the romance turns bad; new and often violent reactions begin as the iron oxidizes. After being pulled from the sea, old cannonballs have been known to spontaneously combust.
On the Hunley, metal shavings collected during the removal of some rivets got so hot they burned plastic bags. Had the sub's conservators removed the Hunley from the sea and left it alone, the sub would be a pile of dust today, Mardikian said.
Marine conservators always have wrestled with how to preserve iron once it was removed from the sea. They boiled artifacts, heated them and painted over them, but none of those techniques worked.
For the Hunley, conservators decided the safest course was to soak the sub in a caustic bath and zap it with electricity for a number of years to remove the chlorides.

By chance, the Hunley conservators discovered a new option. In the fall of 2001, Mardikian had a meeting at Clemson, and Drews, a professor in the university's material science and engineering school, happened to sit in.
Drews had been working with subcritical water and its effect in wastewater systems. As he listened to Mardikian, Drews wondered: Could subcritical water work on the Hunley? If it did, Drews thought, conservators might be able to preserve artifacts in a matter of weeks or months instead of years.
During the past several years, Drews and the Hunley's chemist, Nestor Gonzalez, tested subcritical water's effects on thimble-sized iron artifacts using a scuba-tank-sized reactor nicknamed "Felipe 1."
They studied how these artifacts did compared with artifacts preserved through slower methods. So far, Drews said, the subcritical technique has worked.
Useful for paint
Now they're poised to begin testing the process on artifacts in the new large subcritical reactor, which is big enough to preserve cannonballs.
Drews said someday the subcritical technique could be used on even bigger objects, such as cannons.
How about the Hunley?
That's not likely, Drews said. Years of tests on large objects still need to be done. "The Hunley is unique, and the risk (of something happening to it) is unacceptable." Besides, the need for a sub-sized pressure chamber probably would be limited to a few artifacts, making the construction of a large subcritical apparatus a tough investment to justify.
Research into the effects of subcritical water on iron artifacts also has led to other discoveries.
Drews said researchers learned that the process has an etching effect on metal that can be seen only with powerful electron microscopes. Drews said he didn't confirm this until the lab acquired such a microscope a year or so ago.
Researchers are now studying whether this etching effect could help paint cling to metal more securely, an important issue in maritime circles. Work on the Hunley also spurred research into new ways to prevent barnacles and other sea life from accumulating on ship hulls and foundations for offshore wind turbines.
Partly because of this metals research, the International Conference on Historic Metal Conservation will meet in Charleston in October.
About 300 conservators, museum officials and scientists from 50 countries are expected to attend. "The vision of what we wanted to do here is starting to fall into place," Drews said.

Return to Top

--(4)  Preserving the Legacy Behind Bones of the Brave -----------------------------------------------------

Preserving the Legacy Behind Bones of the Brave
By Elizabeth Leland
12/26/2009
Charlotte Observer (NC)
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/breaking/story/1145203.html

Robert Bohrn and another Civil War relic hunter uncovered the bones of an African-American soldier on Folly Island more than 20 years ago, and Bohrn said that startling discovery changed his life.
He feels as if he's a caretaker for the Union soldier and 18 others whose skeletons were also found.
Bohrn cannot forget them or the lonely outpost where they died. He wants to make sure we don't forget, either.
"It's one thing to find a coin, a slave tag, a person's ring," said Bohrn, who lives in Rock Hill with his two daughters. "It's way different to turn your shovel blade over and see a human being."
Bohrn is working with the state of South Carolina to erect a historical marker near the site.
African-American Union soldiers, he believes, deserve the same respect the South has given to Confederate soldiers.
A day of discovery
Bohrn, 53, grew up on James Island near Charleston. His fascination with Civil War history began in 1961, the year of the Civil War centennial. He was 5 and swore allegiance to the Confederacy. He got his first metal detector at 14, and combed in and around Charleston, uncovering slave tags, Confederate coins, Union buttons.
Relic hunting became his hobby, if not his passion.
He knew Union soldiers had camped on Folly Island, a barrier island about 12 miles south of Charleston, during the war and he hunted for relics on the back side over the years. But the woods there were dense with undergrowth and difficult to penetrate.
After a bulldozer cut a rough road through that area in 1987 for a new subdivision, Bohrn and fellow Civil War buff Erik Croen went looking.
They didn't find what they usually found, items that a soldier might drop, such as bullets, coins, pieces of knapsacks. The only relics they uncovered were badly deteriorated buttons. That was unusual.
Even more unusual was what happened next.
Croen dug up what looked like a root. On closer inspection, he realized it was a human femur.
They called state archaeologists. Bohrn said he remembers the conversation:
Are you sure they're not cow bones?
I don't know many cows wearing uniforms.
Lives sapped by sickness
Archaeologists retrieved the bones of 19 black men, ages 16 to 40, strong and muscular. All but one lay on their backs, hands across their abdomens. Only two skulls remained. Someone apparently had pilfered the others years before.
About 180,000 black soldiers fought for the Union. The best-known regiment was the 54th Massachusetts, immortalized in the movie "Glory." The men buried on Folly Island are thought to have been part of the lesser-known 55th Regiment, which fought alongside the 54th in the November 1864 Battle of Honey Hill.
It wasn't Confederate bullets that killed them. It was disease - dysentery, malaria, typhoid.
"They gave their lives for their country in a horrendous way," said Bohrn, a former chef now disabled by Crohn's disease. He said he can relate to the way they died; once he was so sick from diarrhea his weight dropped to 76 pounds.
"They didn't die instantly," he said. "They just withered away."
Their remains were reburied on Memorial Day 1989 at Beaufort National Cemetery.
Telling the story
The site of their first burial, Bohrn believes, should also be acknowledged.
"When you see that guy laying there, who never had a chance to go home, who never saw his family, that saddens me," Bohrn said. "It has always been my dream to have an historical marker put on Folly."
Historical markers must be privately funded in South Carolina. Bohrn said that with the help of a Web site for relic hunters, www.treasure_depot.com, he has raised $1,830 to cover the costs.
If all goes as planned, a marker will be erected at the island's community center on May 8, the 23rd anniversary of the discovery.
Tracy Power, coordinator of the S.C. Historical Marker Program, plans to help Bohrn with the wording.
"So few people know about the U.S. colored troops," Power said. "Anything we can do to help tell that story is a good thing."

Return to Top

--(5)  Civil War History Surfaces with Help of Archaeology Group -----------------------------------------------------

Civil War History Surfaces with Help of Austin Archaeology Group
By Mark Lisheron
12/25/2009
Austin American-Statesman (TX)
http://www.statesman.com/news/texas/civil-war-history-surfaces-with-help-of-austin-148311.html

The Battle of Galveston came alive for Bob Gearhart with a dive into 46 feet of visually impenetrable Texas City Channel water.
Surveying, site mapping and dredge scheduling gave way to the acrid smoke of cannon and rifle fire of a surprise attack on Jan. 1, 1863, which for a time, returned the city of Galveston to Confederate control. In the chaos of the following morning, the USS Westfield, flagship of the Union blockade there, ran aground in 7 feet of water near Pelican Spit in Galveston Bay.
As Cmdr. William B. Renshaw prepared to destroy the Westfield rather than allow her to be captured, the side-wheel ferryboat exploded, killing Renshaw and a boat crew assisting him. What hadn't been carried off by the crew before the explosion remained deep in the Texas City Channel.
The passage is deep, but not deep enough for satisfactory international ship navigation. In 2004, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced a
$71 million partnership with the oil and refinery businesses that depend upon a navigable Texas City Channel to deepen it. To ensure the integrity of archaeological preservation, the corps hired a nautical archaeology group from Austin headed by Gearhart, who works with PBS&J, a national engineering, environmental and construction planning company.
Many of the assignments Gearhart has taken on in his 20 years with PBS&J involve disproving the archaeological significance of areas in the way of construction or improvement. Of the five sites with possible historical significance that PBS&J surveyed for the Texas City Channel, four yielded finds, such as a sunken channel buoy and a thick piece of steel cable.
The importance of the fifth was confirmed when a diver in the black water bumped into an 11-foot-long piece of metal with an opening at one end.
On Dec. 10, that piece of metal - a 10,000-pound Dahlgren cannon, one of 1,200 made during the Civil War and one of only 50 recovered - was unveiled at Texas A&M University's Institute of Nautical Archaeology.
"It's the pinnacle for me so far for projects like this," said Gearhart, who is cataloging everything recovered by the Westfield wreck.
"This was the flagship of the Union fleet. The surrender of Galveston Island took place on the Westfield. You think about how the war might have been different had she not run aground," he said. "It's so cool."
The members of Gearhart's team was relatively certain they had located the Westfield as early as 2005. Their plan to recover her permits from the Texas Historical Commission and the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command . The diving expedition to locate her was made in 2008, Gearhart said. The raising of the cannon Nov. 22 and the recovery of the rest of the salvageable metal followed almost a year of planning for the dredging of the channel by the Army Corps of Engineers, he said. The cost of the archaeological portion of the dredging bill was about $3 million, he said.
What the team found was the metal leftovers of a craft built by tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt to be a Staten Island Ferry but was instead sold to and armed by the Union with the outbreak of the Civil War.
"There was no part of the hull left, just a scattering of metal artifacts," Gearhart said. "When the ship ran aground, much of the material pertaining to the war was probably taken off. The Confederate Army also salvaged some of the Westfield later in the war because they needed the metal."
After some testing to ensure nothing would be damaged, the team employed a powerful electromagnet with a face 5Â? feet in diameter to pull up larger metal pieces. The team recovered several thousand artifacts, down to tiny, rust-encrusted nails. Other items included 19 cannon balls and 11 oval-shaped U.S. Army buckles, their lead faces stripped of their brass coating.
"We were surprised and pleased to discover that the firebox was intact," Gearhart said. "The iron grates, side by side, where the coal was shoveled in, were still in place."
The tagging, description and cataloging of each artifact should be completed by the end of January, Gearhart said. The items will all eventually be taken for preservation at the Conservation Research Laboratory at the Institute of Nautical Archaeology in College Station .
"This is a part of history I knew nothing about until we got started," Gearhart said. "I have an appreciation now for the role that the Westfield played in the Civil War. In my experience, this is my best project so far."

Return to Top

--(6)  Battle of Franklin Trust Hires Leader -----------------------------------------------------

Battle of Franklin Trust Hires Leader
By Kevin Walters
12/24/2009
Nashville Tennessean (TN)
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091224/WILLIAMSON01/912240305/0/WILLIAMSON01/Battle-trust-hires-leader

The story of the Battle of Franklin is bringing historian Jennifer Esler here to lead the city's two main museums.
The story and love, that is.
Esler, 53, has been named the first chief executive officer of the Battle of Franklin Trust, the organization that oversees the Carter House and Carnton Plantation.
She will start work in Franklin on March 1.
For years, she has been the executive director of the $20 million Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, Va. But she's had ties to Nashville since November 2008, when her husband, Howard Kittell, became president and chief executive officer of The Hermitage, home of President Andrew Jackson in Nashville.
Esler's job in Franklin will give her a chance to follow her husband to Middle Tennessee and help spread the message of Franklin's past to new visitors.
She wants more people coming to Franklin to learn what the Battle of Franklin meant to the city and the Civil War.
"It needs to be told," Esler said. "It's a national story. It's a story of extraordinary human courage and extraordinary human kindness. These two historic houses tell that story."
The Battle of Franklin erupted between Union and Confederate troops the afternoon of Nov. 30, 1864. It left 8,000 casualties in just a few hours' time. The Carter House was the site on what is now Columbia Avenue, where troops fought in bloody hand-to-hand combat; Carnton Mansion was later a field hospital.
Coordination aimed at attracting visitors
Esler is joining the trust at what could be a propitious time for the city and the two museums.
In October, Franklin again drew national attention for preservation work with the reburial of an unknown Civil War soldier that drew thousands of visitors.
That comes just a few months after leaders at Carter House and Carnton Plantation created the Battle of Franklin trust to help both sites work more in concert with one another, improving the visits by tourists and raising more money.
Trust leaders saw Esler's experience as the selling point to hire her. She will help lead the planning, development and construction of a newly planned Carter House interpretative center.
"While we were impressed with many of the candidates, Jenny stood out as the ideal candidate to lead us in our aggressive efforts to further enhance the visitors' experience of the historic Battle of Franklin and the sites related to the Battle," said Marianne Schroer, trust chairwoman in a prepared statement.
Schroer is the wife of Franklin Mayor John Schroer.
Esler said her first task will be to talk to staff and community leaders about what they want for both sites.
"I'm big on building a team and so I'm hoping that we can create a sense of team between both organizations and both boards," Esler said.

Return to Top

--(7)  Key Penn. Games Dispute Said to be Settled -----------------------------------------------------

Key Penn. Games Dispute Said to Be Settled
By Marc Levy
12/24/2009
Associated Press
http://www.pennlive.com/statehouse/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1261624209109110.xml&coll=1

Legislative leaders have apparently resolved a key disagreement that is holding up a bill to expand casino gambling in Pennsylvania. The resolution portends enough revenue to stop Gov. Ed Rendell from laying off more state workers.
Two people briefed on a Wednesday telephone conversation among legislative leaders said the group has agreed on a provision of the bill that would allow new applicants to pursue the state's last remaining resort casino license. The agreement also would potentially create another license in 2017.
The bill must still pass the Legislature to become law.
Whether the new provision would create a new opportunity for Gettysburg businessman David LeVan was unclear. He has expressed interest in developing a casino at the Eisenhower Hotel & Conference Center in Cumberland Twp., just south of the Adams County borough.
House Democratic leaders have been at odds with Senate leaders over the provision in the bill, which also would legalize table games at the state's slots casinos.
"I think the attempt on our side was to get the process moving," said House Gaming Oversight Committee Chairman Dante Santoni, D-Berks County, who was briefed on the conversation. "We have to get this bill passed by the time we get back into session so employees don't get laid off."
A second person who was briefed on the telephone conversation spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak about the agreement.
In October, Rendell and legislative leaders agreed to legalize table games and tap existing slot-machine revenues to help the state resolve a recession-driven, multibillion-dollar revenue shortfall. The state budget deal assumed that the bill would raise $250 million and be passed promptly, but the bill became mired in the disagreement over the last available resort casino license.
Last week, Rendell warned that, without the additional gambling revenue promised by the bill's passage, he would have to cut spending, including laying off "a minimum" 1,000 state employees beginning Jan. 11.
In an effort to resolve the disagreement, legislative leaders spoke by telephone Tuesday and Wednesday. The chambers are expected to reconvene on Jan. 5.
A resort casino license allows the owner to operate up to 500 slot machines. The state's larger casinos are allowed to install 5,000.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is considering two applicants for the license -- the owners of the Reading Crowne Plaza Hotel in Wyomissing and the owners of Fernwood Hotel & Resort in the Pocono Mountains.
However, that license is about to become more valuable. The bill under discussion would not only legalize table games, but it would allow a resort casino to operate 100 more slot machines, for a total of 600, and would relax the rule over who may gamble there.
As a result, other potential applicants, including the owner of Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in southwestern Pennsylvania, have stepped forward to express interest in the license.
LeVan, who unsuccessfully sought a Category II casino license for Adams County in 2006, said last month he obtained an option to buy the Gettysburg-area hotel site. He said that if he and partner Joseph Lashinger could get a resort license -- it would allow up to 600 slots and 50 table games -- they would buy the 307-room center and redevelop it. Lashinger is a former Penn National Gaming executive who helped develop the racetrack casino in Chester.
To satisfy the heightened demand, the House Democratic majority supported a plan to create a third resort license.
But Senate leaders opposed the immediate creation of another license and warned that it could prompt a lawsuit by an existing casino seeking to protect its turf. They said new suitors should be allowed to compete for the existing resort license.
House Democrats countered that eastern Pennsylvania senators with casinos in their districts were simply trying to limit the chances that a potential competitor to those businesses would land in Reading or the Poconos.

Return to Top

--(8)  Trust to Save "Jackson's Flank Attack" Property -----------------------------------------------------

Trust to Save "Jackson's Flank Attack" Property
By Linda Wheeler
12/21/2009
Washington Post (DC)
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/house-divided/2009/12/land_where_jackson_made_famous.html#more

All the battlefield preservation campaigns that the Civil War Preservation Trust has initiated have been important, but the current one may top them all. The Trust has announced an effort to purchase the piece of the Chancellorsville battlefield where Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson made his famous
flank attack, an audacious 12-mile silent march around the Army of the Potomac.
The cost of the 80-acre farm is $1.525 million and much of that will be covered by Virginia and federal matching grants if the Trust can raise $516,667 by Dec. 31, when the state matching grants expire.
Trust president Jim Lighthizer is well known for his hard-sell campaigns for each of the properties the Trust has wanted to buy, and his appeals to save hallowed ground have worked. More than 28,000 acres of battlefield land have been purchased by the Trust in the last decade. Most of it has been or will be transferred to the National Park Service.
He refers to the Jackson flank attack property as "the most historically significant piece of hallowed ground CWPT has ever saved," and "the most dazzling jewel in the CWPT's long and impressive history of preserving hallowed ground."
I agree. I have been to Chancellorsville many times and Jackson's flank attack has always fascinated me, but most of the land where he led his troops was in private hands. We could only look at it from a distance.
I am going to send the Trust a check. I want to be able to walk that land.

Return to Top

--(9)  Historian: Paducah Site Could Yield Civil War Relics -----------------------------------------------------

Historian: Paducah Site Could Yield Civil War Relics
Associated Press
12/20/2009
Louisville Courier-Journal (KY)
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20091220/NEWS01/912200360/1008/news01/Historian++Paducah+site+could+yield+Civil+War+relics

A Western Kentucky historian is calling for the site of a defunct hotel to be excavated and searched for any relics from a Civil War battle.
Human remains and artifacts from the Battle of Paducah, which was fought in 1864 at the site of Fort Anderson, could be buried where the Executive Inn once stood in Paducah, said Murray State University professor Ken Carstens.
The Paducah Sun reported that 20th-century industrial development and the 1980s construction of the hotel and convention center disturbed some battlefield areas.
Carstens said there could still be significant artifacts. He also said some areas of the fort have not been disturbed.
"We all realize the importance of developing a new hotel and want that to happen," he said. "My point is historic preservation."
The hotel initially closed in April 2008 and operated sporadically thereafter. It shut down for the last time in June after the electricity was turned off. The hotel is also at the center of a $3.5million lawsuit over a loan.
The city plans to complete the purchase of the closed hotel this week and wants to have the building torn down next year. Authorities say they will solicit proposals from private developers for a new hotel.
City Manager Jim Zumwalt said he's aware of the federal requirement to survey sites that may have archaeological significance. An archaeologist will be hired to conduct the required study, he said.
Zumwalt said the historic significance could be incorporated into later plans, such as having public recognition of the fort and archaeological findings.
Carstens said the Battle of Paducah included members of the 8th and 13th Kentucky Colored Heavy Artillery Unit. He wants any archaeological work completed before the hotel is demolished.
Zumwalt said any digging can probably wait until after the structure is torn down because that doesn't involve deep ground penetration.

Return to Top

--(10)  Platts Introduces Law to Expand Gettysburg Boundary -----------------------------------------------------

Platts Introduces Law to Include Railroad Station in Park Boundary
By Scot Andrew Pitzer
12/18/2009
Gettysburg Times (PA)
http://www.gettysburgtimes.com/articles/2009/12/18/news/local/doc4b2b68893104c844396073.txt

As expected, U.S. Rep. Todd Platts is proposing legislation to include the downtown Gettysburg Railroad Station within the boundaries of the 6,000-acre Gettysburg Battlefield.
Platts introduced a bill this week, noting that the historic depot was the location where President Abraham Lincoln arrived and left town via train in 1863, when he gave the immortal Gettysburg Address.
The Park Service is negotiating with the Borough of Gettysburg to obtain the station - in a deal believed to be valued at $722,000 - but the sale cannot move forward until the two-story depot is included in the park's boundary.
"The preservation of the Lincoln Train Station will help inspire future generations to better appreciate the significance of the Gettysburg Campaign, the Civil War and the bravery of the soldiers who, in President Lincoln's words, gave the last full measure of devotion," said Platts, whose Congressional district includes Gettysburg.
Platts' bill is not unusual - the park's boundaries were expanded five years ago to include the David Wills House on Lincoln Square, when the three-story structure was sold by the borough to the park.
The bill also includes language to include 45 acres of donated land along Plum Run in Cumberland Township within park boundaries.
According to GNMP spokeswoman Katie Lawhon, the land was donated to the park earlier this year, and the site abuts Park Service property. The Hills donated the land to the park's private fundraising and management partner, the Gettysburg Foundation, in April. Lawhon explained that the property is located at the southern end of the Gettysburg Battlefield, at the base of Big Round Top. "The Gettysburg Foundation plans to donate it to the National Park Service, once it's in the park boundary," said Lawhon.
Borough officials remain optimistic about the Train Station sale, even though negotiations have crawled along for nearly two years. The borough and park are currently working out legal issues, such as obtaining clearance from the CSX Corporation.
"We're still under a letter of intent with the Park Service," veteran Councilman Ted Streeter explained previously.
"The Park Service is proceeding. We're both acting in good faith," added Streeter.
Town leaders have also expressed confidence that the recent demotion of GNMP Supt. John Latschar to a desk job in Maryland will have little influence on the train station sale.
"It's probably not going to have that big of an influence...we've checked, we've asked," said Councilman Bob Krummerich. "The leadership transition (at the park) is going smoothly, and it shouldn't really negatively impact the train station sale."
Krummerich continued: "There are a couple of details being ironed out by lawyers, and the federal government is involved, so it will happen when it happens, and there's not a lot we can do to push it along."
If the sale occurs, and officials are confident that it will, the station will be operated in accordance with the Gettysburg Interpretive Plan as a downtown visitor orientation center.
The station was donated by the Olinger Family to the borough in the late 1990s. Following the transfer, the borough launched a capital campaign to restore the rundown structure.
Federal and state grants were obtained as part of a $2.5 million restoration project, and the station was re-dedicated in Nov. 2007.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Gettysburg Railroad Train Station served as a hospital during the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, transporting wounded soldiers after the battle.
The station is the official home of the Pennsylvania Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and it has been operated for the past two years by the National Trust for Historic Gettysburg.

Return to Top

--(11)  Park Authority Assumes Loan on Mosby Run -----------------------------------------------------

Park Authority Assumes Loan on Mosby Run
By Margaret Morton
12/17/2009
Leesburg Today (VA)
http://www.leesburg2day.com/articles/2009/12/17/news/9949mosby121709.txt

The Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority is moving ahead on two segments of its planned 155-acre regional park east of Gilbert's Corner.
The authority has assumed the $1.1 million loan on the 88-acre Mosby Run property on the north side of Rt. 50, which was formerly owned by the Mt. Zion Church Preservation Association. The association earlier this year had been unable to make the payments on its loan with VRA.
The parks authority also announced it has completed the lease on a 67-acre parcel west of Mosby Run that was purchased earlier this year by the Piedmont Environmental Council. The lease will run initially for five years, according to NVRPA Director Paul Gilbert.
The last piece of the three-way arrangement engineered earlier this year between the Mt. Zion Preservation Association, the county and the regional park authority is the transfer of the county-owned Mt. Zion Baptist Church on the south side of Rt. 50 to the park authority. The Board of Supervisors has completed its part of the transaction and final transfer documents are awaiting completion in the County Attorney's office, according to Gilbert.
The deal was spearheaded by a number of individuals and government leaders interested in seeing the property converted to parkland, including Del. Joe T. May (R-33) and Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge), who had worked with NVRPA Chairman Su Webb on the deal.
"It was a very complicated transaction that took longer than expected," Gilbert said this week.
The 155-acre park will have mostly passive uses with historic interpretation, particularly focusing on the area's rich Civil War history.
"We would like to have a trail, parallel to Rt. 50," Gilbert said, noting that one day, "we would hope to have it run all the way to Aldie."
The 155-acre park will extend from Watson Road almost to Rt. 15, to a 30-acre plus parcel on the northeast corner of the Rt. 15/Rt. 50 intersection, which is owned by a group of investors.
"We are eager to have the Mt. Zion property transferred so we can start working on interpretation programs," Gilbert said.
The park will be managed from Aldie Mill, also owned by the NVRPA, under the direction of Park Manager Teresa Martinez. Describing Martinez as an experienced park manager, Gilbert noted she received earned her master's degree in historic resources management from George Washington University. As part of her degree study, Martinez completed a semester at Gettysburg for Civil War experience. Martinez also has considerable practical experience in managing historic properties, having worked at Carlyle House in Alexandria, Anderson House in Washington, DC, and at Woodlawn Plantation near Alexandria.
But not everything is rosy in the NVRPA's Loudoun park scenario, as its application for another of its planned parks, White's Ford Regional Park north of Leesburg, is meeting opposition from neighboring property owners and the county Planning Commission.
The concerns center on road improvements needed on unpaved Hibbler Road to provide better access to the 300-acre track along the Potomac River. The park authority has offered to undertake spot improvements, such as widening the road in parts. It also has taken off the table all proposed uses that would use trailers or motorized boats at the park, according to Gilbert.
Neighbors are concerned about increased traffic and safety problems the park would bring to the narrow road, a concern shared by some planning commissioners.
"While we would be good neighbors, we are building this for the larger public for historic preservation and for outdoor recreation," Gilbert said. "What we planned at this stage won't drive significant traffic."
The park authority has not yet closed on the purchase of the property, and Gilbert said that if NVRPA is unable to get a commission permit for the park from the county the project faces an uncertain future.
The land along the Potomac has historic significance and should be open to the public, rather than developed in residential housing, Gilbert said.
The opposition to the park took the authority by surprise, Gilbert conceded. "It was sort of unexpected. We don't look for land with great road access, that's not our criteria. We are willing to limit uses because the road is not great."
It would cost about $2 million to widen and pave the road.

Return to Top

--(12)  Ohio Historical Society Names Civil War Advisory Board -----------------------------------------------------

Ohio Historical Society Names Civil War Advisory Board
By Alan Johnson
12/12/2009
Columbus Dispatch (OH)
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/12/12/CIVIL_WAR_ADVISERS.ART_ART_12-12-09_B5_02FVL76.html?sid=101

The Ohio Historical Society has appointed 15 Ohioans to the Civil War 150 Advisory Committee to help plan the state's observance of the 150th anniversary of the War Between the States.
Among the appointees is Dispatch columnist John Switzer, who for many years wrote a weather column that often ventured into historical issues.
The announcement came from Jim Strider, acting executive director of the Historical Society. The panel will help the society develop state and local programs related to the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, to be observed from 2011 to 2015.
"These individuals represent men and women who have a deep interest in Ohio history, particularly its Civil War heritage," Strider said.
The appointees include James Bissland, a journalism professor from Bowling Green; Tom Brinkman Jr., a former state lawmaker from Cincinnati; Andrew Cayton, a history professor from Miami University; Bob Davis of Canal Winchester, commander of the Department of Ohio, Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War; Gainor Davis of Cleveland Heights, president and chief executive officer of Western Reserve Historical Society; and Paul LaRue, a social-studies teacher from Washington Court House.
Also, Roger Micker, of Wheeling, W.Va., a social-studies teacher at Steubenville High School; Bob Minton of Fostoria, colonel of the Army of the Ohio Reenacting Battalion; Don Murphy of Cincinnati, chief executive officer of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center; state Rep. Mark Okey of Carrollton; Dave Roth of Columbus, co-founder and publisher of Blue & Gray Magazine; and Switzer, of Columbus.
Also appointed were Diana Thompson of Piqua, executive director of the Miami County Visitors & Convention Bureau; Catherine Wilson of Xenia, executive director of the Greene County Historical Society; and Eric Wittenberg of Columbus, author of more than 10 books about the Civil War.
The Historical Society and Cleveland State University's Center for Public History and Digital Humanities created a Web site, www.ohiocivilwar150.org, to commemorate the 150th anniversary.

Return to Top

--(13)  "General" Historic Site in Line for Makeover -----------------------------------------------------

"General" Historic Site in Line for Makeover
By Andy Johns
12/11/2009
Chattanooga Times Free Press (TN)
http://www.tfponline.com/news/2009/dec/11/general-historic-site-in-line-for-makeover/?local

The Sons of Confederate Veterans wants to help Catoosa County commissioners spend a $2,500 grant awarded to the county in 2007.
The state grant can be spent only for improvements to the site where The General locomotive was abandoned at the end of the Great Locomotive Chase in 1862. The money has been sitting in an account since it was awarded as officials tried to determine how it might best be used.
Members of the local Sons of Confederate Veterans camp brought up the issue at a recent County Commission meeting.
"They just needed somebody like us to agitate them or at least present (ideas) to them," said John Bryson, a member of the camp.
In 1862, a group of Union soldiers and a Union spy stole a locomotive, The General, in what is now Kennesaw, Ga., and drove the train toward Chattanooga while trying to burn bridges and cut telegraph wires along the way. The General ran out of steam about two miles north of Ringgold, where a large marble marker has stood since 1901.
The grant will be used for improvements to the site, but commissioners and Sons of Confederate Veterans camp members have debated about an additional plaque, directional signs informing drivers of the marker or more parking space along state Highway 151, where the marker sits.
After the initial meeting, commissioners agreed the county probably could get more "bang for its buck" if they opted for a marker or plaque, but commission Chairman Keith Greene asked for the veterans group to come up with recommendations.
The group met Wednesday and appointed a committee to consider the options.
Committee member Tom Poteet said all the options were improvements, but whatever is done needs to be completed by the 150th anniversary of the chase in 2012.
Agencies have plans to promote Civil War sites across Georgia during the sesquicentennial in hopes of promoting history.
"We definitely need to get it done before that," Mr. Poteet said.
Bill Clark, another member of the committee, said the marker would help inform local residents, many of whom might not even know the story of the chase.
"The old-timers do," he said. "The people new here in the last 15 or 20 years, I doubt it."

Return to Top