(1) Confederacy Museum Could Soon Be a Reality in Appomattox ­ Lynchburg News & Advance

 (2) Wilderness Is on National Trust's Endangered List - Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

 (3) Williamsburg Battle Site Considered At Risk - Newport News Daily Press

 (4) 147 Years Later, Wisconsin Soldier to Receive Medal of Honor - Associated Press

 (5) Students Help Excavate Civil War Prison - Port Clinton News Herald

 (6) City Plans to Take Over Care of Statue - Nashville Tennessean

 (7) Civil War Anniversary Prompts Push to Get Records Online - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

 (8) Lawsuit Halted in Cedar Creek Skirmish - Winchester Star

 (9) Western Peak Is among Nation's Most Threatened Civil War Sites - Associated Press

(10) Cedar Creek Battlefield on Endangered Top-10 List - Northern Virginia Daily

(11) Preservation Group: Fort Stevens Among Endangered Civil War Sites - Washington Post

(12) Preservation Group: Casino a Danger to Battlefield - WHTM ­ ABC27

(13) Virginia's Battle Sites Are in Danger - Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

--(1)  Confederacy Museum Could Soon Be a Reality in Appomattox -----------------------------------------------------

Confederacy Museum Could Soon Be a Reality in Appomattox
By Nolan Connelly
5/21/2010
Lynchburg News & Advance (VA)
http://www2.newsadvance.com/lna/news/local/article/confederacy_museum_could_be_reality_in_appomattox_soon/27211/

The Museum of the Confederacy has raised $6 million of a needed $7.5 million in funding for a satellite location in Appomattox.
"We're getting really close," said Sam Craghead, a public relations specialist for the museum. "The groundbreaking is in the foreseeable future."
Most of the funding has come from private individuals and grants. Craghead said that after a public fundraising effort begins soon, construction could start this year.
The museum's expected completion date is "early 2012" after a projected 18 months of construction.
The museum initially planned an opening in late 2011, but was delayed by fundraising issues and an expansion of the original museum plans.
The new design is 11,000 square feet and located on eight acres of land near the intersection of U.S. 460 and Virginia 24. The proposed site is a mile away from the Appomattox Court House National Park.
The satellite location in Appomattox is part of an effort to expand the number of Confederate artifacts on display. Craghead estimated that visitors to the Richmond museum see less than 10 percent of the entire collection.
The Appomattox site, Craghead said, will have artifacts and exhibits related to Appomattox, including General Robert E. Lee's uniform and sword and the pen he used to sign surrender documents at the McLean house in Appomattox Court House.
Other satellite sites will include locations in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania and Fort Monroe near Hampton Roads.
The museum is a perfect fit for the location, Craghead said, because the site "is close to the courthouse, (has) easy access to the roads" and could help to keep visitors in the area.
Craghead said the museum is looking forward to participating in the ongoing sesquicentennial observations of the Civil War, which will end on April 9, 2015 - 150 years after Lee surrendered at the Appomattox Court House.
"That's the important date," he said. "But we'll be doing all of other things out there before then."

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--(2)  Wilderness Is on National Trust's Endangered List -----------------------------------------------------

Wilderness Is on National Trust's Endangered List
By Clint Schemmer
5/20/2010
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star (VA)
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2010/052010/05202010/549312

America's largest preservation advocate just put Virginia's Wilderness battlefield on the front burner.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation yesterday declared the battlefield to be among the 11 most endangered historic places in the country.
The Wilderness, where Gens. Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant's forces first clashed in combat, is now caught in the crossfire over a Walmart-anchored retail development in eastern Orange County.
Paul W. Edmondson, the trust's vice president and general counsel, announced the designation yesterday at Ellwood Manor, a historic home that headquartered two Union generals during the Battle of the Wilderness in May 1864. It's now part of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, less than a mile from the planned Walmart site.
"If Walmart does not change course, the Wilderness battlefield will not be endangered, it will simply be lost, engulfed in commercial sprawl," Edmondson said.
The 250,000-member trust, he said, fears that the 240,000-square-foot retail center proposed just north of State Routes 3 and 20 "would destroy hallowed ground, encroach on the national park and spoil the gateway to rural Orange County."
The 51-acre tract where a 150,000-square-foot Walmart Supercenter is planned lies a quarter-mile from the national park. Only a portion of the battlefield is within the park.
Preservationists are particularly concerned that the development will dramatically increase traffic and force the widening of Route 20, itself a historic road, through the park--undermining visitors' experiences of the historic landscape, Edmondson said.
"But perhaps even more importantly, Walmart's project would open the floodgate to more large-scale commercial sprawl on other parcels adjoining the national park," he said.
Last August, the Orange County Board of Supervisors approved a "big box" special-use permit required for the project.
"That approval, our view, was shortsighted--and it was wrong," said Edmondson, a veteran of many preservation battles in his years with the trust.
He said the trust--which owns Montpelier, President James Madison's home in Orange--is glad to support a lawsuit brought against the county by the Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield and local residents to block the development.
Edmondson said the trust understands Orange's need for jobs and tax revenue, but believes other viable commercial sites are available to Walmart, close by but away from the battlefield and the national park. Walmart has said the Wilderness site is the only tract in Orange's Route 3 corridor that meets its criteria.
Since 1988, the trust's annual most endangered lists have highlighted important examples of architectural, cultural and natural heritage at risk of destruction or irreparable harm.
Most of the sites on it are historic structures, but it has also included the Gettysburg, Antietam, Chancellorsville battlefields and Lincoln's Cottage in the District of Columbia--where the 16th president drafted the Emancipation Proclamation.
Zann Nelson, president of the all-volunteer Friends of Wilderness Battlefield--which hosted the press conference--introduced Edmondson, welcomed attendees, and spoke movingly of the battle's 160,000 participants and 29,000 casualties.
Park Superintendent Russ Smith expressed the National Park Service's thanks to the trust, FoWB and other groups for their backing. "There is no higher honor or support you can get in historic preservation than to make the National Trust's most endangered list," he said.
Chris Miller, president of the Piedmont Environmental Council, expressed optimism that the controversy can be ended, calling for a "positive set of solutions to what is an eminently solvable problem.
"We can find a good site for Walmart," said Miller, whose Virginia group is part of the preservationists' Wilderness Battlefield Coalition. "We can find a way to compensate the landowner who would give up development potential. We can help Orange take advantage of the tourism that this site will draw as a historic resource."
But if Walmart proceeds, Miller warned that Orange risks sacrificing "the natural competitive advantage we have as a state"--one of the most important pieces of Virginia's Civil War history.
"The sesquicentennial of the Civil War is coming up, and we're told that more than 2 million additional visitors are to come to visit Gettysburg, Manassas, Wilderness."
He noted that Orange is the southeastern entrance to the Journey Through Hallowed Ground, a multi-state heritage-tourism area that extends from Gettysburg to Monticello.
"Now, what do you want those people to see? Do you want them to see Walmart?" Miller asked. "Or the vista that's there today, which is very much the experience you would have had on that road back during the conflict?"
Friends of Wilderness Battlefield and the Civil War Preservation Trust nominated the battlefield for the National Trust designation.

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--(3)  Williamsburg Battle Site Considered At Risk -----------------------------------------------------

Williamsburg Battle Site Considered At Risk
By Tyra Vaughn
5/20/2010
Newport News Daily Press (VA)
http://www.dailypress.com/news/williamsburg/dp-nws-williamsburg-battlefield-20100520,0,4568061.story

For an area that prides itself on its rich history, Williamsburg is being recognized for neglecting one of its little-known chapters.
The national Civil War Preservation Trust has again listed the site of the 1862 Battle of Williamsburg in its annual report of the 25 most-endangered Civil War battlefields.
The national Civil War Preservation Trust has again listed the site of the 1862 Battle of Williamsburg in its annual report of the 25 most-endangered Civil War battlefields.
"People are surprised to know that Williamsburg is a Civil War town because, for a long time, that fact was lost amid the area's colonial history," said Mary Koik, a spokeswoman for the national trust. "There was a significant battle there in the spring of 1862, and we currently consider the site at risk. We don't want to see Civil War history be eaten away by development."
Over the years, roadways and commercial development have encroached on the battle site. Today, less than a quarter of battlefield remains, Koik said.
Most recently, the city of Williamsburg approved Riverside Healthcare Association's plans to build a hospital and housing development in and around portions of the battlefield. The association, however, agreed to dedicate a 21-acre Civil War park that preserves two embankments.
For Williamsburg Resident Drew Gruber that isn't good enough.
"Our green fields are getting fewer and fewer by the day," said Gruber, who added he is active in trying to preserve Williamsburg's Civil War history. "It strikes me as odd, as a resident of the city, that we're choosing to build on a green site when we could attract nearly 30,000 Civil War tourists."
Koik agrees. She predicted the upcoming 150th anniversary of the Civil War will bring about new interest in the historic event.
The Williamsburg battle was fought on May 5, 1862 in a driving rain. Nearly 73,000 troops- that's more than six times Williamsburg's current population - fought in the muddy woods between the College of William and Mary's Wren building to the north and the Yorktown line to the south. During the battle, Confederate forces stalled a huge Union contingent moving up the Peninsula to take Richmond.
This is the third time the battle site has appeared in the trust's report. It was last mentioned in 2005, Koik said.
The Williamsburg Battlefield is always nominated for the report, Koik said, and there are more endangered sites than the national trust can list.
The national trust recently bought an acre of land at the Williamsburg battle site to preserve. The $75,000 purchase was made possible through state and federal grants, Koik said.
"We would definitely like to purchase more, but this is a start," she said. "We'd like more people to know more about Williamsburg's Civil War history."

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--(4)  147 Years Later, Wisconsin Soldier to Receive Medal of Honor -----------------------------------------------------

147 Years Later, Wisconsin Soldier to Receive Medal of Honor
By Dinesh Ramde
5/19/2010
Associated Press (NAT)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_civil_war_medal_of_honor

Seven score and seven years ago, a wounded Wisconsin soldier stood his ground on the Gettysburg battlefield and made a valiant stand before he was felled by a Confederate bullet.
Now, thanks to the dogged efforts of modern-day supporters, 1st Lt. Alonzo Cushing shall not have died in vain, nor shall his memory have perished from the earth.
Descendants and some Civil War history buffs have been pushing the U.S. Army to award the soldier the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration. They'll soon get their wish.
Secretary of the Army John McHugh has approved their request, leaving a few formal steps before the award becomes official this summer. Cushing will become one of 3,447 recipients of the medal, and the second from the Civil War honored in the last 10 years.
It's an honor that's 147 years overdue, said Margaret Zerwekh. The 90-year-old woman lives on the land in Delafield where Cushing was born, and jokes she's been adopted by the Cushing family for her efforts to see Alonzo recognized.
"I was jumping up and down when I heard it was approved," said Zerwekh, who walks with two canes. "I was terribly excited."
Cushing died on July 3, 1863, the last day of the three-day battle of Gettysburg. He was 22.
The West Point graduate and his men of the Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery were defending the Union position on Cemetery Ridge against Pickett's Charge, a major Confederate thrust that could have turned the tide in the war.
Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was planning an invasion of the North; both sides knew how important this engagement was.
Cushing commanded about 110 men and six cannons. His small force along with reinforcements stood their ground under artillery bombardment as nearly 13,000 Confederate infantrymen waited to advance.
"Clap your hands as fast as you can - that's as fast as the shells are coming in," said Scott Hartwig, a historian with the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. "They were under terrific fire."
The bombardment lasted two hours. Cushing was wounded in the shoulder and groin, and his battery was left with two guns and no long-range ammunition. His stricken battery should have been withdrawn and replaced with reserve forces, Hartwig said, but Cushing shouted that he would take his guns to the front lines.
"What that means is, 'While I've got a man left to fight, I'll fight,'" Hartwig said. Within minutes, he was killed by a Confederate bullet to the head.
Confederate soldiers advanced into the Union fire, but finally retreated with massive casualties. The South never recovered from the defeat.
The soldier's bravery so inspired one Civil War history buff that he took up Cushing's cause by launching a Facebook page titled "Give Alonzo Cushing the Medal of Honor." Phil Shapiro, a 27-year-old Air Force captain, said such heroism displayed in one of the nation's most pivotal battles deserved recognition, even at this late date.
"We need to honor those people who got our country to where it is," said Shapiro, of Cabot, Ark.
Zerwekh first started campaigning for Cushing in 1987 by writing to Wisconsin Sen. William Proxmire. Proxmire entered comments into the Congressional Record, she said, and she assumed that was as far as it would go. But current Sen. Russ Feingold later pitched in and helped Zerwekh and others petition the Army.
After a lengthy review of historical records, the Army agreed earlier this year to recommend the medal.
More than 1,500 soldiers from the Civil War have received the Medal of Honor, according to the Defense Department. The last honoree for Civil War service was Cpl. Andrew Jackson Smith of Clinton, Ill., who received the medal in 2001.
The Cushing name is prominent in the southeastern Wisconsin town of Delafield. A monument to Cushing and two of his brothers - Naval Cmdr. William Cushing and Army 1st Lt. Howard Cushing - stands at Cushing Memorial Park, where the town holds most of its Memorial Day celebrations.
Shapiro, the Facebook fan, said he thought of Alonzo Cushing plenty of times last year as he faced a number of dangerous situations during a five-month stint in Iraq.
"I'd think about what Cushing accomplished, what he was able to deal with at age 22," Shapiro said. "I thought if he could do that then I can certainly deal with whatever I'm facing."

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--(5)  Students Help Excavate Civil War Prison -----------------------------------------------------

Students Help Excavate Civil War Prison
By James Proffitt
5/18/2010
Port Clinton News Herald (OH)
http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/article/20100518/NEWS10/5180315/Students-help-excavate-Civil-War-prison

Danbury eighth-graders spent several days this month helping a Heidelberg University professor excavate the Johnson's Island Civil War prison.
"I really think the kids need to know about the district and its history," Danbury Middle School technology teacher Sue Hartman said. "And some of these kids learn better by doing."
Hartman said learning about history hands-on in the field is far better than walking through a museum.
"They'll remember it much longer," she said.
Hartman said she visited the site last summer so she'd know what to expect for the field trips.
The 17.1-acre site, purchased by a Civil War preservation group in 2003, has been hosting archaeological digs since 1989.
"We go down to the subsoil, which is about 8 to 10 inches," said Heidelberg University professor David Bush, director of the Center for Historic and Military Archaeology. "If there are any intrusions, we dig deeper."
Bush said he and others have found evidence that Confederate inmates tried to tunnel their way to freedom.
Danbury students found numerous items, including pieces of glass, pottery and homemade jewelry.
Collin Bush sifted an interesting item from a pile of dirt that had been excavated.
"I think this is the base of a medicine bottle," he said.
Students cleaned, tagged and displayed the items they found each day on a board. Those items will become part of the permanent collection of artifacts at Heidelberg.
Bush said about 8,195 significant finds have been made.
Immaculate Conception School students also recently visited Johnson's Island. They helped Bush excavate artifacts from the Civil War, when the island was a prisoner of war camp. They participated in excavating and screening artifacts from prison block number eight. The students also visited the Johnson's Island prison cemetery, where they learned about the deaths of 250 prisoners and viewed a memorial statue made by Moses Ezekiel. Bush helped identify field specimens a sixth-grade social studies class found.
Drew Wicks, Danbury seventh- and eighth-grade social studies teacher, said he plans to attend a weeklong summer program for teachers.
"I'm looking to try to incorporate more hands-on activities," he said. "This is a perfect opportunity to do that."

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--(6)  City Plans to Take Over Care of Statue -----------------------------------------------------

City Plans to Take Over Care of Statue
By Kevin Walters
5/17/2010
Nashville Tennessean (TN)
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100517/WILLIAMSON01/5170309/2023/WILLIAMSON

Franklin's Confederate solider has kept a sharp eye on the city for 110 years. Now it's time he started to look sharper himself.
City officials are set to take over the upkeep of the iconic Civil War statue in Franklin's Public Square per a new agreement with the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Franklin Chapter No. 14.
Members of the UDC erected the marble statue on Nov. 30, 1899, to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Franklin. Since then, the heritage group has watched out for the statue's condition.
If approved, Franklin and the UDC will work together to make sure the statue stays in good condition. Aldermen could vote on approving the contract later this month.
"Our chapter worked hard to preserve and maintain the monument throughout these years," said Louise Beauchamp, UDC chapter president. "It does mean a lot to us. We think it means a lot to the citizens of Franklin."
One thing the statue needs is a good cleaning. Moss has grown on its backside - which is the side facing north - and has discolored the statue. The 6-foot-6-inch statue, which has a chipped hat, stands atop a 37-foot pedestal.
City Administrator Eric Stuckey said the moss can be removed with mild soap and water. No exact time for the cleaning has been set, but crews might do it at night to avoid traffic, he said.
In 1899, the monument was erected at a cost of $2,700. Over time, it has become synonymous with Franklin.
"Everytime you see a commercial about Franklin or see Franklin on TV, you almost always see the Confederate statue," Beauchamp said.
In other Civil War-related news, Franklin Mayor John Schroer wants to create a Franklin Battlefield Preservation Commission that would replace the city's Battlefield Task Force.
The 18-member commission would formally advise aldermen and the city on matters related to the city's military history and serve as Franklin's "historic and cultural preservation brain trust," according to the ordinance.

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--(7)  Civil War Anniversary Prompts Push to Get Records Online -----------------------------------------------------

Civil War Anniversary Prompts Push to Get Records Online
By Leah Thorsen
5/16/2010
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/BB4761F624C6672D86257724007EA133?OpenDocument

The Civil War Sesquicentennial, which begins next year, is expected to heighten interest about what happened on and off the battlefields 150 years ago.
That means archivists are scrambling to post information online to feed that curiosity.
Missouri State Archivist John Dougan detailed the effort to those at the St. Louis Genealogical Society's 40th annual family history conference, the largest such gathering in the Midwest, on Saturday.
Organizers said about 300 people were at the conference at the Maryland Heights Centre, and some wanted to learn what role their families had played in the Civil War.

The war has always been a popular subject among historians. The role of Missouri, which trails only Virginia and Tennessee in the number of battles on its soil, is of special interest, Dougan said.
"During the Civil War in Missouri, every member of every household was affected," he said. And that means that mountains of documents remain - a treasure trove for those looking to track down records of ancestors. Such records include pension papers, court claims of damage to property, loyalty oaths and military prison data.
Dougan hopes to make it easier to access such documents by getting as many of them posted to the website missouridigitalheritage.com. The site was launched about two years ago and has received more than 100 million hits since then, Dougan said.
For the last five years, one full-time employee of Dougan's office has been devoted to posting documents from the Office of the Adjutant General, a constitutional office created in 1820 to oversee the state militia, to the website. But much work remains, and Dougan said not all the information would be posted even by the time the sesquicentennial ends in 2015.
That means that thorough research will involve paper records, he said.
Ann Fleming, treasurer of the St. Louis Genealogical Society and a ninth-generation St. Louisan, said less than 5 percent of the records available to genealogists can be accessed online. Members of her group have made it their mission to gather St. Louis and St. Louis County records, walking through graveyards to document burial sites and wading through mountains of public documents and microfilm.
Pat Gatz, 70, of Des Peres, knows about chasing a paper trail related to the Civil War. She obtained the pension records of James Jenkins, her great-great-grandfather who died in 1862, just months after being discharged from the Union Army because of chronic dysentery. Gatz said her family saved his letters, in which he described Cairo, Ill., as a "swampy mudhole" and told of his fury when someone stole almost all his possessions.
Pete Piotrowski, 76 and a self-described "full-time RVer," said his interest in the Civil War stemmed from learning about his great-great-uncle John Wimer, who served two terms as mayor of St. Louis before being killed in 1863 in a battle in Hartville, Mo.
He said everything he learned about the Civil War made him want to learn more, both about his family and what led to the war itself.
"You can be a good historian without being a genealogist," Piotrowski said. "But you can't be a good genealogist without being a historian."

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--(8)  Lawsuit Halted in Cedar Creek Skirmish -----------------------------------------------------

Lawsuit Halted in Cedar Creek Skirmish
By Vic Bradshaw
5/14/2010
Winchester Star (VA)
http://www.winchesterstar.com

A lawsuit filed against the Frederick County Board of Supervisors over a controversial 2008 rezoning case has been dropped.
The lawyer representing 20 Middletown residents who sued over the board's May 28, 2008, decision to rezone 394.2 acres to allow mining operations filed a motion of non-suit in Frederick County Circuit Court.
The order was signed Thursday by Judge John R. Prosser.
The motion, however, enables the plaintiffs to refile their complaint within 180 days.
The action halts a nearly two-year legal skirmish over the rezoning, a fight attorney Mark Moorstein said the plaintiffs ultimately could not afford.
"The clients really weren't able to pursue financially the claims at this time," said Moorstein, from the Vienna law firm Rees Broome PC.
"While we believe they had a valid and justifiable claim, these cases can be very expensive."
Efforts to reach some of the plaintiffs in the case were unsuccessful Thursday night.
Officials with the county government and Carmeuse Lime & Stone, the Belgium-based company that owns the mine, expressed relief that the civil action was dropped.
"We're pleased that the litigation is concluded," County Attorney Roderick Williams said.
"We are aware that the lawsuit has been dismissed," said Kevin Whyte, general counsel for Carmeuse, which was added as a defendant in the case, "and we're pleased it has been dismissed."
Whyte said mining operations in the rezoned area will not begin within the next year.
The land slated for quarry expansion is part of the area where the Battle of Cedar Creek was fought during the Civil War.
On Thursday, the Civil War Preservation Trust placed the battlefield on its annual list of the most endangered battlefields in America, citing the mining effort as the threat.
In October 1864, Union forces defeated their Confederate foes on and around land now preserved as part of the Cedar Creek Battlefield and Belle Grove Plantation. The engagement proved to be the decisive battle in the Shenandoah Valley campaign, giving the Union dominion over the region.
Moorstein said another reason the legal action was halted is that Carmeuse and officials with the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) might reach an out-of-court compromise on some key issues. The nonprofit preservation organization attempted to be added as a plaintiff in the case, but its motion was denied.
"I believe," he said, "there's more than a fair chance ... that they may be able to reach certain accommodations without litigation. There's a good level of cooperation. It made no sense to proceed with the litigation if it can be worked out."
Whyte said the company remains willing to discuss concerns with residents and historical groups.
"We are sensitive to the concerns of local citizens and want to be a good neighbor," he said. "We want to conduct our mining operations in a manner to minimize any impact on historical sites or communities."
The legal battle over the land was launched two years ago by the supervisors' 4-3 vote to rezone the land. The public hearing on the request drew nearly 400 citizens and lasted about four hours.
The lawsuit's two major complaints involved questions of proper public notification and whether the board's decision was reasonable.
Moorstein said the case was more expensive than many rezoning appeals because it would have set precedent in Virginia.
He said the residents contended that their property and its value would be diminished because of mining activities, such as blasting, and its byproducts, such as dust.
The rezoning approval, therefore, could be seen as having resulted in the taking "of a bundle of rights from the homeowners."
"It's a legal theory that hasn't been tried in Virginia yet," Moorstein said, "but it's coming very close in a number of areas. There has to be a showing of future events, that there's a likelihood of damages."
Robert Nieweg, director of the Southern field office for the NTHP, said the organization called for additional study of the area before the rezoning decision to make sure important historical resources wouldn't be affected.
The rezoning vote left the organization in the position of trying to mitigate harm to the property, particularly its most significant and sensitive areas, by negotiating with Carmeuse.
"Given the adversarial nature of this controversy to date," Nieweg said, "it's an achievement that we have had constructive dialogue."
He said the NTHP hopes to determine this year how expanding the mining operation might affect the battlefield and Belle Grove.
"This is an extraordinarily important historic place," Nieweg said. "The Battle of Cedar Creek in 1864 was fought on that landscape.
"We deeply regret that the quarry anticipates expanding and destroying the land. Given that the local approval is in place and Carmeuse is intent on moving forward, our focus is on preserving for the American public what is likely to remain into the next century."
Whyte, the attorney for Carmeuse, said the company has been sensitive to the historic nature of the site.
Carmeuse reduced by proffer the number of acres it might mine from 635 to less than 395, has donated land to be preserved, is restoring a cemetery on its site, and has joined with James Madison University in an archaeological survey that will result in relics being donated to the Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation.

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--(9)  Western Peak Is among Nation's Most Threatened Civil War Sites -----------------------------------------------------

Western Peak Is among Nation's Most Threatened Civil War Sites
By Steve Szkotak
5/14/2010
Associated Press (NAT)
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/05/14/ariz_park_is_called_a_threatened_battlefield/

A desert peak where cavalry clashed nearly 150 years ago has joined an annual list of the nation's most endangered Civil War battlefields because state budget cuts are set to close the park that marks the site.
Picacho Peak in Arizona, the Western frontier in the battle between North and the South, was named for the first time on the Civil War Preservation Trust's list of 10 historic battlefields most threatened by development or neglect.
In addition to Pennsylvania's Gettysburg and the Wilderness Battlefield in Virginia, the list includes sites of some memorable battles waged in states where the Civil War still resonates on the eve of its 150th anniversary, primarily in the South and Mid-Atlantic.
Picacho Peak stands apart from the rest. The state park is scheduled to close June 3 because of budget cuts.
On April 12, 1862, Lieutenant James Barrett led Union cavalry to the rocky spire 50 miles northwest of Tucson and skirmished with Confederate Rangers. While Barrett was killed and the Union army retreated, Union forces from California eventually moved on to Tucson and snuffed out a Confederate settlement.
The battle, while a footnote in history, still attracts annual visits by re-enactors.
"A lot of people who come from the East use it as a vacation,'' Ellen Bilbrey, a spokeswoman for Arizona State Parks, said of the Civil War reenactors.
A fund drive launched in nearby Eloy, Ariz., is attempting to keep the park open, and the inclusion by the trust in its annual endangered list is a boost to that effort, she said.
"Any attention, of course, is going to assist people who are trying to keep that park open,'' she said.
Called History Under Siege, the most-endangered list is intended to highlight threats to what the trust calls "tangible links to our shared history.''
With the nation about to mark 150 years since the start of the Civil War, the 2010 installment was released with the support of Jeff Shaara, a member of the trust's board and author of "Gods and Generals,'' among other books on the Civil War.
"Nothing creates an emotional connection between present and past like walking in the footsteps of our Civil War soldiers,'' Shaara said in remarks prepared for the formal release of the list yesterday in Washington.
His father, Michael Shaara, wrote "The Killer Angels,'' a historical novel on Gettysburg. The battlefield where 160,000 Union and Confederate soldiers fought in the summer of 1863 is on the endangered list because of a second attempt to bring casino gambling within one-half mile of Gettysburg National Military Park.
Like Gettysburg, Virginia's Wilderness Battlefield was making a repeat appearance on the list. In this case, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is facing fierce resistance to building a Supercenter within a cannon's shot of where Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant first met on the field of battle.
The others in the top 10 and the threats, as defined by the trust, are:
• Camp Allegheny, W.Va., where wind turbines on a high ridge across the border in Virginia threaten to blot the view from the battlefield.
• Pickett's Mill, Ga., which is amid cuts in public funding. Last fall, its footbridges and portions of a mill were damaged by floodwaters.
• Fort Stevens, Washington, D.C., threatened by a proposed church community center that would tower over the fort where President Lincoln was the target of sharpshooters.
• Cedar Creek, Va., where a mine expansion would chew up nearly 400 acres of battlefield.
• Richmond, Ky., where a new highway interchange would probably attract commercial growth.
• South Mountain, Md.; the issue is possible development of an energy plant.
• Thoroughfare Gap, Va., which could see construction of a 150-foot communications tower.
Besides issuing the 10 most-endangered list, the trust also identified 15 "at risk'' sites.

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--(10)  Cedar Creek Battlefield on Endangered Top-10 List -----------------------------------------------------

Cedar Creek Battlefield on Endangered Top-10 List
By Preston Knight
5/14/2010
Northern Virginia Daily (VA)
http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2010/05/cedar-creek-battlefield-on-endangered-top-10-list.php

The Cedar Creek battlefield extended its streak on a high-profile endangered list to three years Thursday.
The Civil War Preservation Trust released its 10 most endangered battlefields in its annual report, "History Under Siege: A Guide to America's Most Endangered Civil War Battlefields," and for the third year in a row, Cedar Creek has a spot. Again, the threat is limestone mining operations across portions of the battlefield, based on the Frederick County Board of Supervisors' approval of O-N Minerals Co.'s plan to expand its facility adjacent to Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park.
Nearly 400 acres of the battlefield could be destroyed, the report states. The Civil War Sites Advisory Commission has ranked Cedar Creek as a Priority I, Class A battlefield, its highest designation. The site was host to one of the most decisive battles in the Valley Campaign of 1864.
The report was unveiled Thursday morning during a news conference in Washington. Author Jeff Shaara, who penned "Gods and Generals" and serves on the trust's board of trustees, joined other officials in sharing remarks, according to a press release.
"Nothing creates an emotional connection between present and past like walking in the footsteps of our Civil War soldiers," he says in the release. "I hope that by drawing attention to endangered Civil War battlefields, Americans will see this hallowed ground in a new way and understand that these sites must be preserved for future generations to experience."
Tim Stowe, president of the Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation's board of directors, said the list is "somewhat subjective," but concedes that there are always ongoing issues with battlefield land preservation. He said all his organization can do is preserve what it can and continue to educate the public about battle sites.
"We feel that we are moving forward and gaining traction," Stowe said.
Park Superintendent Diann Jacox could not be reached for comment. Her comments last year, when the report was released, still apply.
"I think that not only are they concerned about the battlefield, but also the fact that a relatively small amount of the battlefield is protected," Jacox said in March 2009. "It's an ongoing issue. ... I'm hopeful that we will get off their list [if ever] the threats are no longer there. But right now, that's not the case."
The report also includes 15 "at-risk" sites, including the Third Winchester battlefield. A recent rezoning of adjacent property from rural to light industrial is the cause.

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--(11)  Preservation Group: Fort Stevens Among Endangered Civil War Sites -----------------------------------------------------

Preservation Group: Fort Stevens Among Most Endangered Civil War Sites
By Michael Ruane
5/13/2010
Washington Post (DC)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/13/AR2010051302213.html

The Civil War Preservation Trust announced Thursday that Washington's beleaguered Fort Stevens, where Abraham Lincoln came under enemy gunfire in 1864, has again been placed on the trust's annual list of most endangered Civil War battlefields.
The fort, off Georgia Avenue at 13th and Quackenbos streets NW, is one of 10 endangered Civil War sites threatened by development and other factors across the country, the trust said as it in issued its annual "History Under Siege" report at the National Press Club.
The list comes ahead of next year's 150th anniversary of the war.
"All across the country, our nation's irreplaceable battlefields -- these tangible links to our shared history -- are threatened by inappropriate development, misguided public policy . . . and, in some cases, simple apathy," the trust's president, James Lighthizer, said in written statement. "Next year marks the sesquicentennial of the bloodiest conflict in our nation's history, and [this] . . . is an opportune time to shine a spotlight on the places that tell America's story."
Also on the endangered list are three sites in Virginia, one in Maryland and one in Pennsylvania.
Fort Stevens, which also made the list in 2006, was among the ring of forts that protected Washington from Confederate forces during the war. Lincoln came under rebel sniper fire when he visited the fort in 1864 during a Confederate campaign that reached the city's suburbs.
The fort has largely been absorbed into the city's Brightwood neighborhood and now faces the construction of a large church community center planned in the vicinity, the trust said.
In Virginia, the trust listed the Wilderness battlefield, west of Fredericksburg, as endangered. The Wilderness was the site of a bloody struggle in 1864 between the chief armies of the Union and Confederacy in the war's eastern theater.
It was the first battle between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, both of whom suffered heavy casualties, and marked the beginning of the war of attrition that eventually led to Lee's surrender nearly a year later
The trust said the battlefield is threatened by a massive commercial development that could put a Wal-Mart and other retailers near its border.
Also in Virginia, the trust said the Cedar Creek battlefield, site of a another 1864 battle, near Strasburg, is threatened by the expansion of a limestone mine. Cedar Creek also made the list in 2008.
The third endangered Virginia battlefield is at Thoroughfare Gap, near Haymarket in Prince William County, where the site of an 1862 battle is threatened by the possible erection of a tall cell phone tower.
In Maryland, the trust said the South Mountain battlefield, near Frederick, was threatened by the possibility of the construction of a natural gas compression station.
And at Gettysburg, just across the Maryland border in Pennsylvania, the trust said the war's most storied field still is threatened by the possibility of a gambling casino on the outskirts of town.
The Washington-based trust says its endangered list has helped protect more than 29,000 acres of battlefield in 20 states.
"Nothing creates an emotional connection between present and past like walking in the footsteps of our Civil War soldiers," Civil War author Jeff Shaara, who also appeared at the list's unveiling, said in the statement. "I hope that by drawing attention to endangered Civil War battlefields, Americans will this see hallowed ground in a new way and understand that these sites must be preserved for future generations to experience."

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--(12)  Preservation Group: Casino a Danger to Battlefield -----------------------------------------------------

Preservation Group: Casino a Danger to Battlefield
By Myles Snyder
5/13/2010
WHTM ­ ABC27 (PA)
http://www.whtm.com/news/stories/0510/735792.html

A preservation group has once again named Gettysburg as one of the nation's ten most endangered Civil War battlefields.
The Civil War Preservation Trust, an organization focused on saving and preserving America's Civil War battlefields, says the latest threat to Gettysburg is a proposed resort casino that, if granted a license by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, would operate about a half-mile away.
The group says the Mason-Dixon Casino and Resort, which would be located at the Eisenhower Inn and Conference Center along Emmitsburg Road in Cumberland Township, would change the appeal of the historic town.
"It's a gamble Gettysburg can't afford," said Nicholas Redding, a policy associate with the Civil War Preservation Trust.
Redding says Emmitsburg Road, a spot crossed by many soldiers, is no spot for gaming. "It's already a busy two-lane country road," he said. "Putting that much more traffic on it is going to be very difficult to do."
Those who support the casino say it's what this part of Pennsylvania needs.
"Gettysburg is a town that depends heavily on tourism, and we think tourism and the people that would come into the town as a result of visiting Mason-Dixon Resort is going to help a lot of people in and around Adams County," said Dave La Torre, a spokesman for the Mason-Dixon Resort.
La Torre says the resort and casino would bring about 900 jobs.
Redding says he recognizes the need for job creation, but says the casino would have a domino effect. "It's a question of how many jobs they then take from that same economy, because they are going to attract away local dollars that could go elsewhere in the economy," he said.
Redding says people looking for a historic trip don't want to take their family to a "casino town."
"Americans for over 140 years have had the good sense to preserve this place, and we don't want to be the first generation to betray that trust," he said.
La Torre says the resort should not be a concern because it's not on battlefield property. He said a housing developer recently purchased a piece of land on the battlefield, and that is where the concern should be.
Redding says the Civil War Preservation Trust is aware of the developer and says that land is a concern, but he says the plans for that piece of land are still up in the air.

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--(13)  Virginia's Battle Sites Are in Danger -----------------------------------------------------

Virginia's Battle Sites Are in Danger
By Clint Schemmer
5/13/2010
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star (VA)
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2010/052010/05132010/547678

Virginia was the most fought-over ground of the Civil War.
So it remains in the 21st century, though today's issue is what happens to the hallowed places where men battled, bled and died.
Three Virginia sites--the Wilderness, Cedar Creek and Thoroughfare Gap--rank on the list of nation's 10 most endangered battlefields, the Civil War Preservation Trust will announce today.
The Wilderness battlefield in Orange and Spotsylvania counties is being pressed by development and mounting traffic, CWPT and its allies say.
The most pressing threat there remains a 250,000-square-foot retail center planned at the gateway to Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, the trust says. The development, just north of the intersection of State Routes 3 and 20, would be anchored by a 138,000-square-foot Walmart Supercenter.
The project's scale, more than four times that of existing development at Routes 3 and 20, "would forever change the gateway to the battlefield. Worse, it would act like a magnet, attracting still more sprawl," the trust says in the 2010 edition of its annual "History Under Siege" report.
"The preservation community has maintained that it is not opposed to development within the county, and has attempted to work proactively with developers and local officials to encourage long-term planning and consideration for historic resources--a position endorsed by more than 250 historians and state officials," the trust says.
The Orange County Board of Supervisors approved a "big box" permit for the venture last summer. A lawsuit to overturn that decision, filed by local residents, Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is being heard in Orange County Circuit Court.
CWPT and the National Parks Conservation Association have filed briefs supporting the litigation.
In Northern Virginia, a scenic, lesser-known battlefield in Prince William and Fauquier counties is threatened by construction of a 150-foot-tall T-Mobile cell tower. The firm proposing the tower did not conduct balloon tests to simulate its height and impact on the land where the Battle of Thoroughfare Gap was fought, CWPT says.
"Preservationists fear that a cell tower hovering about this most famous of all Bull Run Mountain gaps would dramatically malign the picturesque, interpretive setting at the base of the gap near Chapman's Mill," the trust's forthcoming report states. The slopes of the pass were the scene of heavy fighting during the Second Manassas campaign in 1862.
And out in the Shenandoah Valley, a coalition of local, state and national groups are fighting a Belgian company's expansion of its mine next to Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park.
Union Gen. Philip Sheridan's last-minute victory at Cedar Creek in 1864 curtailed enemy offensives in the valley known was "the breadbasket of the Confederacy."
"A generation of local citizens have worked to save Cedar Creek, and overnight, the expansion of this quarry will frustrate those efforts," Robert Nieweg of the National Trust for Historic Preservation said yesterday. "This is a radical expansion of an industrial operation. It's not compatible with good preservation or Americans coming from across the country to see their heritage."
CWPT will release its list during a press conference this morning at the National Press Club in Washington.

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