(1) Virginia Battlefields Get Grant Money from Feds - Potomac News

(2) Civil War Trails Markers to Be Unveiled Today - Knoxville News Sentinel

(3) Pipeline Plans Upset Those Planning for Bull Run Anniversary ­ Washington Post

(4) Supporters Rally for Proposed Newtonia National Park - Neosho Daily News

(5) Chambersburg Area High School Student Places Third in Essay Contest - Chambersburg Public Opinion

(6) Teachers Hope Augmented Reality Can Change Battlefield Learning - York Daily Record

(7) Modern Day Battle over Casino Plan - New York Times

(8) Gettysburg Casino Plan Raises Hackles of Historians - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

(9) Fort Monroe Shift Hitting Home Stretch - Associated Press

(10) Civil War Group Zeroes in on Next Projects - Nashville Tennessean

(11) Civil War Reenactors to Honor Bravery of Pennsylvania Regiment - Philadelphia Inquirer

(12) Money Will Protect Battlefields, Extend River Trail System - Petersburg Progress-Index

(13) Cell Towers Put Georgia Battlefield "at Risk" - Chattanooga Times Free Press

--(1)  Virginia Battlefields Get Grant Money from Feds -----------------------------------------------------

Virginia Battlefields Get Grant Money from Feds
By Cheryl Chumley
7/12/2010
Potomac News (VA)
http://www2.insidenova.com/isn/news/local/article/virginia_battlefields_get_grant_money_from_feds/60556/

The National Park Service has awarded more than $1.2 million in grants to preserve and protect 100 battlefield properties across the nation.
"These lands," said, Jonathan Jarvis, NPS director, in a written statement, "are symbols of individual sacrifice and national heritage that we must protect so that this and future generations can walk these places and understand the struggles that define us as a nation."
Virginia received three of the grants.
Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation won $61,500 to "create a new battlefield preservation and planning website in preparation for the Civil War Sesquicentennial," the NPS reported. The website will include a mapping application for the 15 battlefields located in the Shenandoah Valley.
Shenandoah Valley Network, meanwhile, was given $21,500 to "secure improved local zoning and planning in two Shenandoah Valley counties," according to the NPS. "The effort will preserve the rural character, agricultural base and national and historic resources on which the futures of six nationally significant Civil War battlefields depend."
And finally, Stafford County was selected to receive $77,700 to help recognize one of the first naval engagements of the Civil War, the Battle of Aquia Creek. At this site, which was considered a gateway between the cities of Richmond and Washington, D.C., Union and Confederate forces fired nearly 1,000 rounds.
"This project," NPS reported, "will conduct an archeological survey that will include underwater archeology and will produce a National Register nomination application."
Acceptance onto the National Register opens the door to even more federal funding.

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--(2)  Civil War Trails Markers to Be Unveiled Today -----------------------------------------------------

Civil War Trails Markers to Be Unveiled Today
By Matt Lakin
7/11/2010
Knoxville News Sentinel (TN)
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/jul/11/civil-war-trails-markers-set-to-be-unveiled/

The battle ended in 20 minutes, the war a year and a half later.
The legacy endures today - even though the battlefield's long gone.
Two new markers will commemorate the site of Knoxville's defining Civil War battle and one of the city's few surviving forts from that era. The Civil War Trails markers, set to be unveiled today, commemorate the Battle of Fort Sanders near what's now the University of Tennessee campus and Fort Dickerson off Chapman Highway in South Knoxville.
Preservationists hope to see more such markers planted around the county and the state in time for the war's 150th anniversary next year and an expected tourism boom. About 200 markers now dot Tennessee, part of a nationwide network of Civil War historic sites.
"It's an indication that there is an interest, and it's a reminder to people who are in the area," said Steve Dean, president of the East Tennessee Civil War Alliance, which works to promote the region's heritage. "It's a great first step, and there's still a lot more to be done."
The Nov. 29, 1863, battle at Fort Sanders, named for fallen Union Gen. William Sanders, marked the end of the Confederacy's failed attempt to recapture Knoxville from Union forces. The marker will stand in the parking lot of the Church of the Redeemer on 17th Street, near the spot where historians believe Fort Sanders' northwest bastion stood before it fell to suburban development in the 1920s.
Fort Dickerson and 15 other earthworks ringed Knoxville during the Confederate siege, holding off cavalry raids and other attacks. Its marker will stand in the park that bears the fort's name.
The signs bring Knox County's total of Civil War Trails markers in Knoxville to five so far, Dean said. Other markers already stand at Old Gray Cemetery on Broadway, resting place of various local Union and Confederate leaders; Bleak House on Kingston Pike, which served as headquarters for Confederate Gen. James Longstreet during the 1863 Siege of Knoxville; and the Farragut Folklife Museum off Campbell Station Road, near the site of the 1863 Battle of Campbell's Station.

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--(3)  Pipeline Plans Upset Those Planning for Bull Run Anniversary -----------------------------------------------------

Pipeline Plans Upset Those Planning for Bull Run Anniversary
By Derek Kravitz and Jennifer Buske
7/10/2010
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/09/AR2010070905141.html

An Oklahoma-based energy firm is seeking to expand and replace a natural gas pipeline under a Northern Virginia Civil War battleground, work that local officials and history enthusiasts fear would disturb the Manassas hallowed ground and disrupt next year's planned 150th anniversary of the war's first major land battle.
Williams Cos. of Tulsa is planning about three miles of work on underground pipes along its 10,500-mile Transco pipeline, which stretches from South Texas to New York, to meet increased demand for natural gas in the Washington region, said company spokeswoman Cindy Ivey. The Mid-Atlantic Connector expansion project would provide gas to about 600,000 homes by November 2012, the company says.
If approved by federal officials, a new 1 1/2 -mile section of pipe would be laid from Centreville to Manassas and about 1 1/3 miles of existing pipeline would be replaced in Fairfax County. But part of the project in Prince William County runs underneath a section of Manassas National Battlefield Park, the site of two key Civil War battles in 1861 and 1862, said Ed W. Clark, the national park's superintendent.
"It'd be nice if they got rid of that pipe," said Gregg Jones, 60, a government consultant and Civil War reenactor who lives in Midland, Va. "It'd be nice to have the vegetation still there instead of a strip cutting through the park. But that's what you get when you have a natural gas line."
Prince William, Manassas and the National Park Service are preparing for a massive commemoration next summer of the First Battle of Bull Run. The July 21, 1861, clash, also referred to as the First Battle of Manassas, was unexpectedly bloody and came just three months after the start of the war at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Wealthy families rode in carriages from Washington to watch the battle, expecting to see a staid Union victory. When Confederate troops overran Union lines, the Yankees fled east toward the capital, becoming entangled with the fleeing spectators.
Williams Cos. has had an easement on the Manassas property since the Transco lines were built in the 1950s, Ivey said, and most of the heavy drilling would be concentrated underneath adjoining Interstate 66. Engineers would work on a 1,900-foot-long stretch of battlefield parkland that has been leased back to a local hay farmer.
And much of the hallowed ground at Bull Run has already been disturbed, officials said.
"My great-grandfather and my great-great-grandfather fought in the Civil War, so I'm definitely sensitive to the land being disturbed," said Creston M. Owen, 45, of Catlett, Va., who has helped rally nearby landowners and politicians to invest in the 150th anniversary commemoration. "That being said, almost every square inch of land, from Centreville to Fauquier County and a 30-mile radius around Manassas, had skirmishes break out and important battles."
But Civil War reenactors fear that construction will affect next year's commemoration, which organizers have estimated could draw 150,000 people for a string of events July 21-24. Prince William County Supervisor John T. Stirrup Jr. (R), whose Gainesville district includes the battlefield, called the anniversary "a huge draw to the county, so we don't want to have any disruptions."
Stirrup said county officials are looking for potential reenactment sites and have asked their congressional delegation to waive a law that bans such events in national battlefield parks. "Not only is this the 150th anniversary of the First Battle of Manassas, but this will be the first of several commemoration events that could be going on for the next few years," he said.
The lack of a firm date for the reenactment, however, has prompted many Civil War enthusiasts, including Jones, to wonder whether the Manassas re-creation will live up to the hype and rival other Civil War-themed events, including one at Gettysburg, Pa., in 2013.
"I'm just hoping Prince William gets its act together," said Jones, who attended the last reenactment held at Bull Run, in 1961. "We'd like to see this be big."
The 1961 centennial commemoration at Bull Run, with reenactors wearing cheap blue or gray work shirts and stuffed dummies positioned to look like corpses, drew about 2,500 reenactors and 100,000 visitors, overwhelming National Park Service staff and damaging areas of the park.
Critics dismissed the event as a commercialized, Coney Island-style circus, and reenactors haven't been allowed to use the battlefield since.

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--(4)  Supporters Rally for Proposed Newtonia National Park -----------------------------------------------------

Supporters Rally for Proposed Newtonia National Park
By Todd G. Higdon
7/9/2010
Neosho Daily News (MO)
http://www.neoshodailynews.com/news/x1849228827/Supporters-rally-for-proposed-Newtonia-national-park

Should Newtonia Battlefields be included into the National Park Service?
That was the question proposed by NPS officials to Newtonia residents, area business leaders and individuals during Thursday night's meeting at the Newtonia Commun-ity Center.
"(This meeting's main purpose) was to let people know what the study consists of, what we will be doing to evaluate the battlefield, either as its own unit or as an addition to Wilson's Creek (near Springfield, Mo.), and what they can expect for the next couple of years as the study goes on," said Ruth Heikkinen, planner with the National Park Service's Midwest regional office.
Heikkinen gave a PowerPoint presentation at the beginning of two meetings (one at 5 p.m. and the other at 6:30 p.m.), and after each meeting she held a question and answer session with the audience. There was an estimated crowd of 60 people who showed up during the two meetings.
During the Civil War, Newtonia saw two battles. The first battle occurred on was Sept. 30 1862 and saw an unprecedented number of Native American units fight on both sides. The second battle in Oct. 28, 1864 battle was the last one fought in Missouri, a state that had more Civil War clashes than any other beside Virginia and Tennessee. Approximately 350 soldiers were either killed or wounded in 1862, and 650 casualties were reported in the 1864 battle.
One of the slides in the PowerPoint told about four elements of the special resource study: Significance, suitability, feasibility and management alternatives.
· Significance: Does the site qualify as a National Historic Landmark?
· Suitability: Are there comparable sites already preserved and interpreted for public enjoyment?
· Feasibility: Can the site be efficiently managed by NPS at a reasonable cost? Sustainable use and enjoyment of the resource given potential impacts.
· Management alternatives: Different scenarios for preservation and interpretation by NPS or by other organizations. What are the implications of different types of management?
After her presentation, Heikkinen went into the question and comments section. She proposed four groups of questions to the crowd.
· What kinds of experiences do you want to have at the Newtonia Battlefield? What do you think would need to be done at the site to facilitate these experiences?
· Do you have any concerns about preserving and interpreting the Newtonia Battlefields? What are they?
· Which organizations do you think should be involved in preserving and interpreting the Newtonia Battlefields? What should they do?
· Do you have any other ideas or comments you would like to share with us?
"We lack the richness here that this site deserves.," said Steve Roark, president of Newton County Tourism Council. "I want the family that is out looking around sites in this region of the country to do something other than just drive by here and say they went to Newtonia battlefields. I would like for them to be able to get their feet on the ground, and experience the richness of what this has to offer. In that same thing, I think that this could be an incredible resource for our students in this region of the country, to come here and learn about a significant part of our Civil War history."
Heikkinen then asked if any students do come and tour the Ritchey Mansion and grounds.
Newtonia Battlefields Protection Association (NBPA) is a 501c3 non-profit organization and currently owns around 25 acres of the battlefield and the Ritchey Mansion. The rest of the battlefield sites are in private ownership. NBPA was formed in 1994.
Long time historian and Newtonia resident Tom Higdon said students do visit the site, adding tours are done by appointment only.
They have had five or six different groups (of students) this year.
Pete Hall, a hotel manager from Joplin, emphasized the need to have the mansion more accessible.
"One of the things that I think would be good to have is to have the mansion and the different facilities more accessible at more times" Hall said.
Another comment from the floor came from business leader Rudy Farber of Neosho.
"I think that it would be nice to have an ongoing presentation," Farber said.
Local historian Kay Hively also would like to see something done to Newtonia.
"I would like to see this be a place to where so if I was a scholar or just an interested historian or Native American, that this would be the place where I will come to learn about Native American involvement in the Civil War," she said.
After the meeting, David Weems, a longtime resident of Newtonia, was asked what he thought about the NPS possibly coming into Newtonia.
"I do (think that it is a good idea), because it will be permanent," Weems said. "The NBPA has done a wonderful job, to have our own little organization here, we have really accomplished a lot. But I would like to see some permanent step, know that it is going to be taken care of in the future."
When Weems was growing up in Newtonia and attending school there, he noted the Civil War in Newtonia was hardly mentioned.
"Having lived here all of my life, one of the strange things was when I was in school (in Newtonia) we knew almost nothing about this battle," he said. "We would hear a few stories of older people that knew there was something about that there was a battle, but we almost knew nothing about it, and we lived right here. The Civil War to us was back east in Virginia. I think that is too bad that we don't know heritage."
Another resident, Bill Turner, has been in Newtonia since the age of 3.
Also asked what is so significant about NPS coming into Newtonia if they decide to, he said, "I think that it would boost the community along and help out that way. Eventually, it might bring a little business of some kind here I hope that everything goes good and they get the thing going, because it would be good for the community."
Heikkinen mentioned that the meeting went well and "sounded like the crowd was very supportive."
Heikkinen will take the information back to her office and start phase two. She also encouraged those in attendance to submit comments by way of mail or by e-mail to www.parkplanning.nps.gov, once at that site, click the "plans/docs" and then select "special resource study," scrolling down to "Newtonia battlefields."
"We have to do the evaluation of those three steps: significance, suitable and feasible," Heikkinen said. "And then we have to develop a series of alternatives and we will come back and bounce some ideas -much more specific ideas - about how we might manage this place. that is sometime in the next year."

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--(5)  Chambersburg Area High School Student Places Third in Essay Contest -----------------------------------------------------

Chambersburg Area High School Student Places Third in Essay Contest
By Amber South
7/8/2010
Chambersburg Public Opinion (PA)
http://www.publicopiniononline.com/ci_15473309?source=most_emailed

A Chambersburg Area Senior High School student with a love of Civil War history and a desire to save historic battlefields has won third place in a nationwide essay contest co-sponsored by the Civil War Preservation Trust and the History Channel.
Jessica Whitmore, going into her junior year at CASHS, won a $50 prize for placing third in her age category. She was among six winners in a field of more than 100 contestants.
"Saving battlefields is dear to my heart," Whitmore said. "People don't realize how much the Civil War has affected the country."
Whitmore had to write an approximately 300-word essay that used the motto "Take Action: Save Civil War Battlefields" as the title and answered the following prompts:
- If you had only one minute to convince your elected officials to stop a developer from destroying a Civil War battlefield, what would you say?
- Why is it better to preserve a historic Civil War battlefield than build a strip mall and housing development?
- Why should a community fight to protect their battlefield?
- How will saving the battlefield benefit a community -- and future generations?
- Why does preserving a battlefield make us better people in the long run?
To answer, Whitmore spoke of how the Civil War is a common ground among great diversity in the country, both past and present. At a time in American history when immigrants were arriving in abundance, "the Civil War changed everything," Whitmore wrote in her essay.
"The Civil War brought together people from every background and united them together for one cause, as one army, as one nation, as Americans," she wrote.
To tie in the required battlefield preservation theme, Whitmore talked about the battlefields' common role of saving and uniting the nation. She said it would be "incredibly disrespectful and ignorant" to develop on the grounds of which soldiers sacrificed their lives to create a united nation.
"The Civil War preserved our nation; therefore, our nation should preserve the Civil War," Whitmore said.
According to the CWPT website, the essay contest was open to students in grades four through 12 and was divided into two levels: junior, which was grades four through six, and senior, grades seven through 12. Three winners were chosen in each level. First place in each received $200, second place got $100, and third place won $50.
The teacher of each winner received an equivalent amount in a History Channel gift certificate. Whitmore said her history teacher at CASHS, John Ambrosio, received the prize for her achievement.
Whitmore said she plans to re-enter the contest next year. She said she hopes to do something in the future with her great interest in the Civil War by becoming a National Park Service historian.
With more than 55,000 members, the CWPT is the nation's largest nonprofit organization devoted to preserving endangered Civil War battlefields. It has saved about 29,000 acres of land in 20 states since it began in 1987. Regional battlefields that have been saved by the CWPT include 698 acres at Gettysburg and 240 acres at Antietam Battlefield in Maryland.

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--(6)  Teachers Hope Augmented Reality Can Change Battlefield Learning -----------------------------------------------------

Teachers Hope Augmented Reality Can Change Battlefield Learning
By Jeff Frantz
7/4/2010
York Daily Record (PA)
http://www.ydr.com/ci_15435690

It happens all too often, when a teacher takes a class on a field trip to learn about history.
The kids get off the bus. Some of them are really interested, some really interested in being out of the classroom, but generally pretty excited. Then this:
"They have to stand there and listen to someone for half an hour and get maybe five percent of it," said Jeff Mummert, who teaches history at York College and Hershey High School.
Mummert and two other teachers are trying to develop programs that would run on smart phones, tablet computers and viewing stations to make it easier for students and tourists alike to understand Pennsylvania's Civil War history.
In a few years, they envision, you will be able to call up an app on your smart phone and track Confederate movements through York County in the days leading up to Gettysburg. Or students will be able to use a modified tablet computer to simulate the battle for Little Round Top.
Friday, the group launched a fundraising campaign for its Civil War Augmented Reality Project on Kickstarter.com, with a goal of raising $7,600 by Aug. 25. With that money, Mummert said, they could begin work on computer programs and prototypes. Mummert already helped develop an augmented reality program that helps people learn about Hershey's history.
"We know we can do it," he said, "we just need to get started."
Jay Vasellas is another partner in the project. He teaches history at York College and Red Lion Area High School. The technology, he said, is simple enough that someone's grandmother could use it. It also provides a gateway for a younger generation "that's not going to go to a meeting at six o'clock every other Tuesday" to get involved with historical groups, Vasellas said.
They have had preliminary discussions with both the National Park Service and the Civil War Preservation Trust, Mummert said.
By November, they hope to have created an app that would allow users with a GPS enabled smart phone to drive across communities in Pennsylvania and track the town-by-town results for the 1860 presidential election, Mummert said, just to show people what can be done. Then, they would like to have some augmented reality projects ready by 2013, for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.
One day, Mummert said, they would love to create a similar network through Maryland and Virginia.

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--(7)  Modern Day Battle over Casino Plan -----------------------------------------------------

Modern Day Battle over Casino Plan
By John Leland
7/3/2010
New York Times (NY)
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/07/04/travel/20100704-labordayvign-interactive.html

This weekend for the 23rd consecutive year, Union re-enactors will defeat their Confederate counterparts here, commemorating the Civil War's bloodiest battle and Americans' continuing fascination with military dress and retro facial hair.
At the end of three days of fighting, on July 3, 1863, nearly 8,000 soldiers were dead and Gen. Robert E. Lee ended his invasion of the North.
But the new battle of Gettysburg, fought with lawyers and news releases rather than muskets, is being waged over a proposal to open a casino near the battlefield.
On Wednesday, 277 historians, including the Pulitzer Prize winners James McPherson and Garry Wills, sent a letter to the state gambling board opposing the application by Mason-Dixon Resort & Casino to bring 600 slot machines and 50 table games to an existing hotel a half-mile from the battlefield's southern edge. Five years ago the board rejected the company's more ambitious plan to build a larger casino. But like many Civil War battles, this one appears unlikely to die.
"In my gut, I feel Gettysburg and casino are two words that don't belong together," said Mindy Crawford, executive director of Preservation Pennsylvania, a nonprofit group. But she said that many local residents favored the casino because they think it will bring jobs to the area, where unemployment rose to 8.5 percent in May.
"If you build a casino, they will come," said David La Torre, a spokesman for the developer, who said the casino would create 350 jobs and would not be visible from the 6,000-acre national park.
"We're being targeted by a small group of opponents who are making it a national issue to intimidate the gaming board," Mr. La Torre said. "It's very easy nationally for people to sweep in and say it's a bad idea. But it's five miles from the center of the battlefield."
Among visitors to the historic site last week, opinion ran decisively against the casino.
Across the street from a store window showing Civil War statuettes and novelty underwear, Tim Daniel, 44, called Gettysburg "the most hallowed ground in America" and said a casino would dishonor the site. Mr. Daniel, of San Diego, has come to Gettysburg for 12 consecutive summers. This year his son, Brodee, 8, was cast in the re-enactment to carry the flag for the Confederate Gen. George E. Pickett, whose disastrous charge on the battle's third day left thousands dead.
"General Pickett asked him," Mr. Daniel said with pride. "He's turned down sports to do this."

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--(8)  Gettysburg Casino Plan Raises Hackles of Historians -----------------------------------------------------

Gettysburg Casino Plan Raises Hackles of Historians
By Dante Anthony Fuoco
7/1/2010
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10182/1069580-454.stm

Historical musings about the bloodiest Civil War battle and concerns over a continuing gambling debate intersected yesterday in a poetically timed proclamation.
On the eve of the Battle of Gettysburg's 147th anniversary, a group of prominent American historians sent a letter to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board stressing that a proposed casino near Gettysburg battleground will "unavoidably conflict" with the area's historical significance.
Urging board chairman Gregory Fajt to deny the proposed casino's application, the letter kindles a modern-day battle between preservationists and casino supporters that opened in 2005, when another application for a casino in the area from the same developer was put forth.
Building a casino close to the battleground "would be an insult to the men who died there," said James McPherson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era" and professor emeritus of United States history at Princeton University.
Some 160,000 Union and Confederate troops fought and there were 50,000 casualties at the Battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest and largest of the Civil War. It started on today's date in 1863 and ended on July 3.
"The idea of a gambling casino on or even near [the battleground] is totally incompatible with the nature of that historic site, which is special and unique," Dr. McPherson said.
"A casino can be put anywhere, but there's only one Gettysburg," he added, a message echoed in the letter that he and 271 other historians signed.
Many historians claim the battle was a pivotal part of the Civil War, not just because it was the largest and bloodiest but also since President Abraham Lincoln four months later uttered his famous "Gettysburg Address" there at the dedication of a national cemetery.
If granted a state license, Mason-Dixon Resorts & Casino will be at the existing Eisenhower Hotel & Conference Center in Cumberland Township.
The casino would be a half-mile from the 6,000-acre Gettysburg National Military Park, five miles from the borough of Gettysburg's center and three miles north of the Mason-Dixon line. The application -- asking for a gambling parlor with up to 600 slots -- is currently being reviewed by the state's gaming control board.
Though the casino would not be placed within Gettysburg National Military Park, the letter contends that putting a casino "so close to the Battlefield at Gettysburg is simply incomprehensible." The casino's proposed site would be next to where Union cavalry advanced toward the South Cavalry Field, which saw substantial fighting on July 3, according to the Civil War Preservation Trust. Claiming "that history stops where the park ends is a modern idea, and it just isn't true," said Mary Koik, spokesperson for the battlefield preservation organization.
The letter alludes to a similar debate in 2005, when David LeVan, a Gettysburg businessman and a developer of the proposed casino, applied for a 5,000-slot casino a few miles northeast of Gettysburg's town center. The state did not grant that casino a license at the end of 2006, largely because of widespread public opposition, said Richard McGarvey, Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board spokesperson. Historians, including Dr. McPherson, expressed similar opposition over the last application in a debate that lasted 20 months.
Other historians signing yesterday's letter include Garry Wills, who wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America"; Carol Reardon, who directs Penn State's graduate studies in history; and Edwin C. Bearss, chief historian emeritus of the National Park Service.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board hopes to reach a decision by the end of the year, but it first needs to have public meetings -- where people can voice concerns and approval -- for the proposed casino's application and the three others that have filed for the same license, Mr. McGarvey said. No more than one license will be granted, and it's possible that none will be, he added.
So far, though, this proposed casino has gotten support in the region, said David La Torre, spokesperson for the proposed casino. The Gettysburg-Adams Chamber of Commerce last week expressed support for the casino, and the Cumberland Township Board of Supervisors did the same in April, Mr. La Torre said.
Pro-Casino Adams County has backed the proposed casino, claiming that the area has suffered job losses and could benefit from the gambling parlor's 900 jobs. And 62 percent of those in Adams County support the proposal, according to a study conducted by Franklin & Marshall College that polled 600 county residents.
But others claim that the casino would have a negative impact on the area, namely in pushing away heritage tourists, who are different from typical tourists because "they travel for meaning," said No Casino Gettysburg spokeswoman Susan Star Paddock.
"Those tourists have told us in droves that they are offended [by] the casino," she said. "I don't believe that anyone in this country outside of these investors and their cheerleaders would be OK with a casino at Ground Zero or at Arlington Cemetery or the site of Pearl Harbor."
Mr. La Torre said that there wasn't the same kind of outcry when a Comfort Inn was recently built in a spot close to a cemetery and where Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address, or when a 120-acre parcel of land in the national park was purchased recently by a high-density housing development.
Ms. Paddock said, however, that these points are insignificant in light of bigger issues.
"All the major Civil War historians have come out in opposition. That's the real story," she said in response. "The rest is just distraction."

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--(9)  Fort Monroe Shift Hitting Home Stretch -----------------------------------------------------

Fort Monroe Shift Hitting Home Stretch
By Steve Szkotak
6/28/2010
Associated Press (NAT)
http://www.examiner.com/a-2704415~Fort_Monroe_shift_hitting_Va_home_stretch.html

A new state panel on Thursday will take on Fort Monroe's shift from a military outpost on the Chesapeake Bay to a Virginia possession requiring up to $80 million in repairs.
The state is scheduled to take over the historic Hampton military outpost in September 2011. The 11-member Fort Monroe Authority is charged with overseeing its maintenance, preservation and rebirth "as a vibrant and thriving community."
This week, the state entity will take the reins from the Fort Monroe Federal Area Development Authority, a quasi-public agency that has been involved for several years in the planning of the military's departure from Fort Monroe and the state's takeover.
Fort Monroe planners envision a tourism destination with museums and other attractions focusing on the post's military history, in addition to private investment to attract visitors.
The new panel, which includes legislators and members of Gov. Bob McDonnell's cabinet, will be more business-focused with an eye on securing funding for the transition, said Bill Armbruster, executive director of the authority that is disbanding. He will continue on with the new state panel.
Armbruster already has been involved in that key task, having returned from a recent trip to Washington to seek out federal dollars to complement the future state investments the shift will require.
"We need funding support, obviously," Armbruster said Monday. "It's a small city."
The 565-acre property includes a six-sided, 63-acre fortress sealed by 1.3 miles of granite - the last active moated fort in the U.S. The property includes 264 government buildings and housing, and a majority of the buildings are deemed historic.
A report released at the authority's final meeting on Thursday estimated Fort Monroe will need $70 million to $80 million in infrastructure repairs. That includes streets, bridges, flood protection and other issues.
"We view it as an investment because we believe it (Fort Monroe) will be ultimately self-sustaining," Armbruster said. He termed the funding a "bridge loan" to that ultimate goal.
The National Park Service will send a team to Fort Monroe in July to size up the property. If it decides to establish a presence at the fort, the agency would bring federal dollars with it.
"The Park Service is a tremendous steward of our natural heritage and park lands," Armbruster said in an interview. "We just think this place has an incredible story to tell and that partnering with the Park Service makes sense."
The Park Service official who will lead the Fort Monroe visit described it as a follow-up to a review conducted several years ago at the fort, before a reuse plan was developed and a permanent state authority was created.
The study concluded that while Fort Monroe is a national treasure, the service would need a "strong and sustainable partner" to help manage, maintain and operate it once the military moves on.
Terrence D. Moore, chief of planning and compliance for the northeast region with the Park Service, described the July 19-23 visit as "simply a follow-up."
"I think it's part of the process of trying to define what role, if any, we might have," he said.
Moore said the Park Service responded to a request from members of Virginia's congressional delegation to provide technical assistance and a possible future role for the department in the fort's development. He said he is not authorized to discuss any future Park Service relationship with Fort Monroe.
Old Point Comfort, the peninsula upon with the fortress is built, and Fort Monroe have been players in Virginia's history since the arrival of English settlers four centuries ago. The first enslaved Africans arrived at Point Comfort in 1619, and slaves sought their freedom at Fort Monroe during the Civil War when it served as a Union outpost.
Edgar Allen Poe served several months in the military at Fort Monroe in 1828, and Confederate President Jefferson Davis was imprisoned there after the South's defeat.
Part of a reuse plan has entailed museums or historical displays reflecting the fort's history involving African-Americans and the Civil War. The property also includes 8 miles of waterfront and a 332-slip marina.
"There's so much there to work with," Armbruster said. "We have a lot to do but we're excited about it."

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--(10)  Civil War Group Zeroes in on Next Projects -----------------------------------------------------

Civil War Group Zeroes in on Next Projects
By Kevin Walters
6/27/2010
Nashville Tennessean (TN)
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100627/WILLIAMSON01/6270319/Battlefield-group-zeroes-in-on-next-targets

Months of negotiations. Commitments of more than $590,000 in grant money. Cooperation among strangers spread across three states.
Creating a new Battle of Franklin park hasn't been simple or cheap. Yet the seemingly disparate pieces of Franklin's next major battlefield park appear to be slowly fitting together.
Franklin's Charge, a local nonprofit battlefield preservation group, is closer to its goal of buying its next piece of property - the house and land at 111 Cleburne St. Nearby, they're continuing to make inroads on buying the Domino's Pizza restaurant at 1225 Columbia Ave. as well as adjacent retail property. The land is near the Carter House historic site.
"It's ongoing," said Ernie Bacon, Franklin's Charge president, describing the negotiations for the commercial property. "It is clearly an active process."
The sites of the houses and pizza place have national historical importance. They are on the location where Union and Confederate troops blasted each other in close quarters on Nov. 30, 1864, near a former cotton gin.
The Battle of Franklin claimed thousands of lives and limbs before it ended in just a few hours' time. Commemorating the land's importance is what principals say is unifying them in the hopes of creating a battlefield park in time for the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.
"One would like to think that the Battle of Franklin was more important than pizza," said Paul Hawke, chief of the Washington, D.C.-based American Battlefield Protection Program. "If you can restore the scene (of the battle) you can at least commemorate what happened there."
History of the project
If Franklin's Charge can complete the purchases, it would represent a major step in Franklin's years-long effort to add more open space in a city where much of its Civil War past was once thought lost.
The momentum to create a Columbia Avenue battlefield park dates back to 2005. That's when the city of Franklin spent $300,000 to buy a Pizza Hut restaurant at 1259 Columbia Ave. That restaurant, which once sat at the intersection of Columbia Avenue and Cleburne Street, drew national attention as part of a National Geographic magazine feature on America's lost Civil War battlefields. Eventually, the city converted the roughly quarter of an acre into a small park.
Since then, plans for the park have expanded.
"Our goal is to have that property restored to a battlefield park and a replica of the cotton gin built in time or ahead of the sesquicentennial in 2014," Bacon said.
Despite the bloodshed on the land, it was eventually the site of homes and businesses. For years, evidence of the land's history was just a few feet under the soil.
Sarah Faye Fudge, 64, grew up in the stone house at 111 Cleburne St. owned by her parents, Jamie and Celia Locke, both of whom are deceased.
Fudge, who now lives in Katy, Texas, remembers her father tilling his garden and taking scores of old bullets - minié balls - from the soil. He kept the bullets for her friends.
"When kids would come for a visit, he would give them a souvenir," Fudge said. "The horrible irony of that is they were all given away."
Grants help buy land
Fudge plans to sell the house and land to Franklin's Charge for $199,000. To help pay for the purchase, Franklin's Charge is set to get a $99,500 national grant from the battlefield protection program.
In May, Franklin aldermen agreed to be the pass-through entity to receive grants to help Franklin's Charge make its purchases. In addition to money for the Fudge House, the group is also slated to get a $492,000 grant to help recoup costs of buying the Holt House in 2008 for $950,000.
While grant money for the purchases has been designated, Hawke could not say when release of the grant money would get final approval. The American Battlefield Protection Program is a division of the U.S. National Park Service.
"I would say it's highly likely, but I can't guarantee it yet," Hawke said. "Until it's signed, sealed and delivered, anything can happen."
Bacon estimated the Locke house sale to close within the next 60 to 90 days. And he said Franklin's Charge plans to relocate the Locke house and the Holt House rather than have them demolished.
Though the decision to sell her childhood home was one that Fudge agonized over, she's made peace with the decision.
"It's a very sad thing to think about it not being there," Fudge said about her home. "However, because the Civil War preservation was a really neat idea and very important, I think that makes it OK. It's kind of like going back to the ground from whence it came."
Next slice of the park
The next piece of the project - or slice - is next door at the Domino's Pizza restaurant and the adjacent retail property.
If the Domino's restaurant is eventually sold to Franklin's Charge by owner and developer Don Cameron, it would be the second pizza restaurant to be bought as part of Franklin's push to recapture the land.
Cameron would say little about the possible sale of the land, referring questions to Bacon. The properties from 1221 to 1225 Columbia Ave. have a total market appraisal value of $500,300, county records show.
Cameron, who has longtime ties to Franklin, said the businesses would not close but would be relocated to property he owns on Downs Boulevard.
"We would never run people out like that," Cameron said. "My family built the first home in Franklin," he said, referring to the home Ewing Cameron built on Second Avenue in the 1700s.

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--(11)  Civil War Reenactors to Honor Bravery of Pennsylvania Regiment -----------------------------------------------------

Civil War Reenactors to Honor Bravery of Pennsylvania Regiment
By Edward Colimore
6/26/2010
Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20100626_Civil_War_reenactors_to_honor_bravery_of_Pennsylvania_regiment.html

The ground where the killing took place is quiet and serene. A breeze rustles through scrub oaks and pine trees that surround a depression where the Whitlock house once stood.
Almost 150 years ago, Union and Confederate soldiers fought hand-to-hand there, slashing with bayonets and bludgeoning with gun stocks. The din of musket fire and screams was deafening.
Now, at that spot, 300 yards from the nearest road in Glendale, Va., there is a historical marker celebrating the desperate charge of a Philadelphia unit of Union soldiers.
At a crucial moment, the 69th Pennsylvania Infantry, made up of Irish immigrants, stopped Confederate forces from turning a Union retreat into a disastrous rout.
On Saturday, a few dozen Philadelphia and South Jersey reenactors who portray the 69th in full uniform will march the route of the charge and dedicate the marker they paid for.
"Saving the land [from development] is not enough," said Don Ernsberger, 62, a Lansdale reenactor who helped coordinate the Virginia event. "You have to take the additional step of educating people about what happened there."
The reenactors packed their muskets and wool Union uniforms into a rented van and personal cars for the long trip Friday to Glendale.
"We come from many different backgrounds," Ernsberger said. "I was an educator and a deputy chief of staff for a California congressman on Capitol Hill.
"We have three lawyers, forklift operators, people from many other occupations. All are connected by their interest in the Civil War."
And more than half of them have Irish ancestors.
The members of the original Pennsylvania unit "were all volunteers," said Bob Clements, 59, a Haddon Heights resident and technical editor and writer at Lockheed Martin. "They came from Ireland, got off the boat, and within days, weeks, or months were fighting for their new country.
"That's something people should remember and respect," he said. "It's the right thing to do - to preserve their memory so it does not fade from history."
As dawn broke on June 30, 1862, the 69th had been marching and fighting for four days and had not slept the night before. The soldiers were taking a break after arriving at Glendale when the Confederates punched through the Union line about 2:30 p.m.
The Southerners took over artillery batteries and were ready to turn them on retreating federal troops as Union Gen. Joseph Hooker looked for a way to plug the gap. "I will give you one of my best regiments, the 69th Pennsylvania," Gen. Edwin V. Sumner told Hooker.
Musicians began a drumbeat and more than 500 members of the Irish unit lined up, fixed bayonets, and moved forward through the ranks of other retreating Union soldiers.
"The charge was crucial," said Bill Meehan, a reenactor and retired Philadelphia steamfitter who lives in West Goshen. "It was an amazing feat.
"You had other troops running away and you'd have to ask yourself, 'They're running, so why shouldn't I?' " Meehan said. "But they did their duty for their new country."
The 69th advanced through heavy musket volleys and exploding artillery shells, then returned fire and fought hand-to-hand near the Whitlock house.
Seven were killed and 34 were wounded, but the hole in the line was plugged and the artillery was not used on other retreating troops. During the night, the 69th joined the Union withdrawal, leaving the hard-won field.
"We were ordered to evacuate," said Ernsberger, who - as a reenactor private - often speaks as if he were a veteran of the unit. "But we stopped the Confederates from breaking the Union army in half."
The historical marker commemorating the battle is set in a small open area of the forest, lit by the sun at midday. It's part of a tract purchased by the Civil War Preservation Trust, a nonprofit organization that plans to turn it over to the National Park Service, which will be represented along with the trust at the Saturday dedication.
The location "is almost like a natural theater," said Ernsberger. Without the marker, "the average person would walk right past the Whitlock house and not know it," he said. "This marker will be the beginning of what we hope will be a walking trail and other markers."
The 69th would go on to fight in some of the most horrific battles of the war, including Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg. By the time of the surrender of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House in April 1865, only 56 of the 1,007 men who once filled its ranks were present.
On Saturday, reenactors in blue wool uniforms will raise heavy muskets skyward and fire a volley as a salute.
"Their sacrifice saved the lives of others," said Scott Eller, 43, a Collingdale resident and reenactor who serves as a paramedic and diver for the University of Pennsylvania's Institute for Environmental Medicine. "They proved themselves in battle, and their recognition is overdue."

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--(12)  Money Will Protect Battlefields, Extend River Trail System -----------------------------------------------------

Money Will Protect Battlefields, Extend River Trail System
By Michael Buettner
6/23/2010
Petersburg Progress-Index (VA)
http://progress-index.com/news/money-will-protect-battlefields-extend-river-trail-system-1.860692

The Tri-City area is among the biggest beneficiaries of the latest round of grants doled out by the state to promote transportation and tourism.
The Commonwealth Transportation Board announced it has awarded a grant of $1 million to the Civil War Preservation Trust to buy battlefields and build access trails in Dinwiddie County. In addition, the CTB awarded Chesterfield County $175,000 to fund construction of the Virginia State University section of the Appomattox Riverside Trail.
The $1 million allocation for the battlefields in Dinwiddie is the second-largest item in the CTB's list of 71 grants totaling about $22 million. It is exceeded only by a $1.5 million statewide grant to fund creation and installation of multimedia information terminals at the state's 11 welcome centers.
The CBT is making promotion of Virginia's Civil War sites and wineries a priority in advance of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, which kicks off next year. The 150th anniversary observance is expected to give a major boost to tourism statewide and locally over its four-year run.
Ann Blumenschine, a ranger at the Petersburg National Battlefield, said the grant to the Civil War Preservation Trust was a welcome surprise.
"We're very excited about it," she said. "Anything that helps the battlefields in Dinwiddie is good news."
Under a "final general management plan" that was drawn up by the National Park Service five years ago, the Petersburg park would acquire more than 7,200 acres of land adjacent to its current holdings, mainly through donations of land. The parcels are mostly less than 100 acres in size, but three - near the Five Forks, Hatcher's Run and White Oak Road units - are more than 1,000 acres each.
The expansion would nearly quadruple the battlefield park's land area and would bring under protection some locations that led the preservation trust in 2007 to list the Petersburg National Battlefield as among the nation's 10 most endangered Civil War sites. The group cited the threat of sprawl spurred by Fort Lee's expansion under the Base Realignment and Closure process in making the designation.
The plan gained some important support late last year when the House of Representatives passed a bill sponsored by Rep. J. Randy Forbes, R-4th, giving it congressional authorization, though no funds were appropriated. Committee hearings have been held on a matching bill in the Senate sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., but no vote has been taken.
The Maryland-based Civil War Preservation Trust since 2001 has acquired almost 1,700 acres in Dinwiddie, mainly in small parcels but also including one 648-acre parcel on Gravelly Run.
The grant for the Appomattox River trail system also came as a happy surprise to local supporters of that project. Plans call for a 22.8-mile trail system on both sides of the river that will stretch from the George F. Brasfield Dam west of Matoaca to the confluence of the Appomattox with the James River in Hopewell. The project is being spearheaded by the Friends Of the Lower Appomattox River with the support of local governments and nonprofit groups.
Funding for the roughly $2 million project to date has come from sources including the Cameron Foundation, the Virginia Trails Project, local governments and the CBT.
The CBT grant "is great news," said K. Wayne Walton, chairman of FOLAR. He noted that Chesterfield County had previously bought some land to put into the trail system, and the VSU segment will be a key link in the trails on the north side of the river.

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--(13)  Cell Towers Put Georgia Battlefield "at Risk" -----------------------------------------------------

Cell Towers Put Georgia Battlefield "at Risk"
By Andy Johns
6/19/2010
Chattanooga Times Free Press (TN)
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/jun/19/cell-towers-put-georgia-battlefield-at-risk/

The Civil War Preservation Trust has named two Northwest Georgia battlefields in their 15 "at risk" sites.
The national group said the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park and the Resaca Battlefield are at risk, but for different reasons.
Chickamauga "is beset by proposals for cellular communications towers" and Resaca is still struggling to secure funding and move forward with an interpretive center, the group said.
"The cell towers were used as just two examples, but there are other potential things," said Jim Ogden, historian for the Chickamauga park. "Just being in this half-million metropolitan area, there are plenty of places where construction ... may impact some part of the battlefield or the visitors' understanding."
The Civil War Trust specifically mentions a plan for cell towers on Missionary Ridge and near McLemore's Cove, a hollow between Lookout and Pigeon Mountains west of LaFayette, Ga.
In addition to the at-risk sites, the group listed 10 "most endangered" battlefields where there are more severe threats. The most endangered spots are threatened by wind turbines, mining, casinos, a Walmart and other development.
The list of 15 at-risk sites include a Knoxville battlefield with development issues and a few such as the Resaca Battlefield where preservation funding has slowed to a trickle or been stopped altogether.
Matt Nodine, chief of staff for the Federal Communications Commission wireless division, said the Missionary Ridge cell tower was already in the early stages of construction when preservation groups challenged its permit.
When the FCC reviewed the documentation, the board found the permit was not valid, stopped construction and asked the tower company to resubmit is proposal. In the latest action, the company filed an appeal with the FCC, asking commissioners to reconsider the ruling, he said.
Mr. Nodine said earlier this week that he was traveling and did not have available information about a tower near McLemore's Cove.
Mr. Ogden said the towers would detract from visitors' experience, adding that McLemore's Cove "maintains a lot of the character" of the way the land was during the Civil War battle. He said visitors need to be able to see the land as the commanding officers did to understand the troop movements.
Charlie Crawford, president of the Georgia Battlefields Association, said that, even without cell towers and construction, all the parks are in danger due to state cutback in staffing.
"No battlefield, no matter how old it is, is getting the care it needs and it deserves," he said.

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