Conference smurf::civil_war

    
    The Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites, Inc.
    613 Caroline Street, Suite E
    Fredericksburg, Virginia   22401
    703-371-1860
    
    From their brochure:
    
    "The goal of the APCWS is to preserve, by donation, purchase, or
    legislative action, land on Civil War sites in the Virginia-Maryland-
    Pennsylvania theater that otherwise would be sacrificed to development
    (in time, the scope will expand to include western sites as well).
    This effort will concentrate particulary on locations where no public
    or private conversation agencies own land and where sites face imminent
    destruction.  Among the vulnerable places are Winchester, Cedar Creek,
    Brandy Station, Reams Station, Kernstown, North Anna, New Market
    Heights, Fisher's Hill, South Mountain, Cross Keys, and Port Republic."

    Although I can't think of many things I enjoy as much as walking the
    old fields of battle from the Civil War, I think preserving sites *can*
    be carried too far. 
    
    One must consider the tremendous amount of land set aside in Virginia
    to commemorate the Civil War today. Why, just 500 feet from the DEC
    office here in Richmond are remnants of earthworks from the outer
    defenses of the city. 
    
    The issue, to me, seems to center on the significance of the
    battlefield in question. Should we attempt to partitian off every
    skirmish site that exists? Or should we concentrate on the more
    significant sites.
    
    Recently, final arrangements were made to preserve the Saylor's Creek
    battlefield in Virginia. To me, this was significant because it was the
    site of the last major confrontation between the Army of the Potomac
    and the Army of Northern Virginia prior to Appomatox. 
    
    But, quite honestly, some sites that are being proposed for
    preservation were only minor skirmishes.
    
    Rich
    

re -.1

Just imagine what it would be like if we ever experienced "total war" and then 
tried to commemorate all of the sites! :-)

Almost anything seems ridiculous when carried to extremes.

Dick

Well, I suppose anthing can be carried to the extreme and one can always
argue for the position of "moderation" and be on pretty safe ground.
However, I look at the city gridlock I get stuck in or some of the endless
adjacent shopping malls, producing said gridlock, and I wonder.  

What about sites like Brandy Station, largest cavalry fight of the CW?
How about some of the battles that took place during Jackson's incredible
Shenandoah Valley campaign?  According to the APCWS, these sites are all
in danger.

How would we determine which sites to preserve?  Number of total combatants?
Body count?  Tactical/strategic significance?  Maybe we should not raise
the Monitor, (assuming we could without it falling apart into rust flakes),
the combatant and body count makes the Monitor/Merrimac clash insignificant.
But it's historical significance?

Think long and hard, because once you turn the bulldozers loose, IMHO, it's
gone forever.

Scott

    I think that it's better to err on the side of over-preservation; as
    pointed out in .4, once it's gone, it's gone.  But if preserving turns
    out to be a mistake, it can always be developed later.
    
    Mark

    .4 and .5 raise valid points. But, at the same time, we are talking
    about a region of the country that is finally, economically, gaining on
    the rest of the country. The southeast is viewed by many, now, as the
    most desirable place in the US to live.....after years of poverty.
    
    The major battlefield sites have all been preserved...Shiloh, Bull Run,
    Charlston harbor, Appomatox, Cold Harbor, Gettysburg and Antietam to
    name a few. The Richmond National Battlefield Park is, in a linear
    sense, 173 miles long. Includes Chimborazo, Fort Harrison, Cold Harbor,
    Malvern Hill, Drewery's Bluff, Fort Hoke, Fort Johnson, Chicahominy
    Bluff and Fort Brady. In addition, the remnants of the Tredagar
    Ironworks still stand as well as the house where Jefferson Davis lived
    during his Presidency. Did you know the casement where Davis was
    interned at Fortress Monroe is still preserved? The hut where Stonewall
    Jackson is a memorial. So is Salem Church. 
    
    The Shenendoah is a very rural area and alarms about battle sites being
    overrun by developers don't convince me. In Virginia, there are
    roadside markings nearly every 10 miles describing either a
    Revolutionary or Civil War event that occured at or near the marker.
    Outside of Northern Virginia (suburban DC), metro Richmond and the
    Tidewater area, most of Virginia is rural and there really would be no
    conflict. Battle sites are either already preserved or are owned by
    private concerns.
    
    Rich
    

Another group taking inputs as to what should be preserved:

American Battlefield Protection Program
National Park Service
P.O. Box 37127
Washington, D.C.  20013-7127

202-343-9523

    
    	What is "site preservation"?  When I was in high school, my
    cross country coach used to have us run the perimeter of Cheatham
    Hill Park (part of Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park).
    He was also one of our history teachers and remarked that at many
    other sites, Gettysburg in particular, the government not only
    acquired the site, but preserved the landscape.
    	Cheatham Hill was supposedly farmland (I can only guess that
    cotton was the crop).  However, it appears that even though the
    conflicts occured on open fields, the park authorities allowed
    it to become overgrown over the years.  The trenches are now
    covered with saplings.  It takes ALOT of imagination to recreate
    what must have occured in those days.  
    	A reenactment would be very unworkable.  The audience would be
    standing in the woods!  The mountain, on which Confederate artillery 
    was placed, now has a paved road that wraps around it.  There are
    open fields at the base of the mountain, but they are not accurate.
    They are there to serve the Visitor Center crowd.  Field pieces are
    generally out on display rather than oriented with a historical
    perspective.   
    	Some of the history that I've read of the naval battles noted the
    use of "parrot" (SP?) guns.  They have a cylindrical reinforced area
    of metal where the breach would be on a modern gun.  Unlike a dahlgren,
    the reinforcement was sharply truncated, like a carrot in a dixie cup.
    My point is... weren't parrot guns primarily used on ships?  Kennesaw
    has a parrot on display--just wondered...
    
     2
    R
     

    re: .8   Parrot rifles
    
    Parrots were used extensively by land artillery on both sides during 
    the war.  They were fine pieces - very accurate and strong.  There
    was a parody of the tune, "Listen to the Mockingbird," that had
    the phrase, "Listen to the parrot shells."
    
    Parrots were generally gauged by the weight of the projectile rather
    than the diameter of the bore.  The most common size for land service
    was the 10 pounder, but there were also 20's and 30's.  There is a 
    30 pounder on display at Fredericksburg, but it is mounted on a
    standard 1857 land service carrige, and looks utterly ridiculous!
    
    Technical nit:  the parrot was a rifle, not a gun.  A gun has a 
    straight breech and smooth bore.
    
    I have seen, on national battlefields, smoothbores that have been 
    mutilated by having reinforcing bands put around their breeches.
    They somewhat resemble parrots, but are not rifled.
    
    
    Wess

We have good news.  Here's a list of just what the APCWS has been able to
do.

"The Coaling", Port Republic battlefield.  8.55 acres donated.
Rockingham County, Virginia.  Key Union artillery position during
culminating battle of Jackson's Valley Campaign, 1862.

1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery Monument at Harris farm.  1.5 acres
donated.  Spotsylvania County, Va.  Monumnet erected to honor the 1st
Mass. Artillery's bravery on the Spotsylvania Battlefield.

White Oak Road.  30.30 acres for $57,794.  Located in Dinwiddie County,
Va.  Contains excellent fortifications and was the site of action leading
to the Battle of Five Forks.

Hazel Run.  Fredericksburg, Va.  1.00 acre donated for inclusion into
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.

Bentonville.  Johnston County, North Carolina (Newton Grove). 7.24 acres
for $22,500.  Land was donated by APCWS to the state of North Carolina
for inclusion in Bentonville Battleground State Historic Site.

Hatcher's Run (Dabney's Sawmill).  Dinwiddie County, Va. 50.00 acres for
$65,000.  Site where Gen. John Pegram, CSA, fell in battle in the spring 
of 1865.

McDowell.  Highland County, Va.  126.488 acres for $64,000.  Contains 
almost all important areas of Sitlington Hill, key position during May
1862 battle.

McDowell Easements.  Highland County, Va.  9.00 acres donated.  These
easements follow Stonewall Jackson's route to Sitlington Hill.

Fisher's Hill.  Shenandoah County, Va.  194.39 acres for $222,000.  
Crucial CSA defenses and Union attack routes during the Sept. 22, 1864
battle.  APCWS has until Dec 31, 1991, to pay $222,000 for this site.


They have also awarded grants to other preservation organizations, most
notably those attempting to save Brandy Station, New Market, and Cedar
Creek.

Well the developers are at it again, specifically, 21 acres of the 
South Mountain, Md. site of Lee's rearguard action prior to Antietam, are
in danger.  The land is located in the center of the battlefield, just
below Turner's Gap with the majority of the 21 acres located to the 
north of US Route 40-A, across from Fox's Gap Road.  Here, the "Iron
Brigade", of Gibbon's command, earned it's famous nickname.

But there might be hope...

An outfit that calls itself The Central Maryland Heritage League, P O
Box 721, Middletown, Md. 21769 has acquired the 21 acres.  For $25 
they will send you a certificate, (mine is number 117), stating:

"This certifies that ______________ is the honorary owner of one
square foot/feet of the ground that the Iron Brigade fought on at
the Battle of South Mountain, Maryland September 14, 1862." 

It's about 8" by 6", little gold seal on it, etc.  Sure, it's 
"honorary" ownership but it's for a good cause and I sort of like it.
I also got one for my parents...figure I would have it framed with
a map of the South Mountain area; a different kind of Xmas gift.
Just think, all you over-paid, under-worked Deccie ACW buffs just
rolling in money ( grin ) could get yourself a certificate so that
when you take a nice drive up 40-A, peruse the area, pretend you're
some kind of land baron, have lunch at the old Stone Mountain Inn, and
maybe continue on to tour Antietam and FEEL GOOD about the whole 
thing.

And remember..."Don't Mall the Battlefield"

25,000 Union and 10,000 Confederate troops fought at South Mountain.  In 
terms of killed and wounded, losses at South Mountain were slightly 
greater than the war's first major battle at Bull Run.  In terms of strategy,
South Mointain brought an end to General Lee's Maryland campaign.  Lee 
could not take his army into Pennsylvania, as most historians agree was
his plan, but rather had to withdraw and regroup at Sharpsburg.  Until his
ANV was safely back across the Potomac he was fighting a withdrawing
action, which perhaps makes the Battle of Antietam one of the most
bloody withdrawals of all time.  

Scott

	Reprinted without permission from the December, 1991 issue
	of the Zoning News (the publication of the American Planning
	Association).

		The Ongoing Battle of Gettysburg

	A zoning battle is brewing over proposed new developments 
	near Civil War battlefields in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  The 
	biggest controversy is over a proposed shopping center that
	would interfere with views of the battlefields from the town 
	of Benner's Hill - many of which remain virtually unchanged
	since 1863.

	Since a Wal-Mart discount store opened earlier this year, 
	pressure from developers has grown.  One developer has
	proposed a 320,000-square-foot shopping center that would
	abut the battlefield.  Proposed for a 75 acre site, the Mark
	Development Company's Gettysburg Commons would
	feature 25 to 30 stores, a cinema, and 1,900 parking spaces.
	Some of it would fall directly with the 12,000 acre
	federally protected Gettysburg Battlefield Historical District,
	which encompasses the 6,000-acre Gettysburg National 
	Military Park.  According to a historic preservation official in
	Adams County, this development has not won approval.

	Gettysburg Borough and the surrounding townships have
	long been at odds over the nature and amount of development
	that should be permitted, with some municipal officials
	contending that the economy has suffered because of
	attempts to keep the park pristine.  Developers say that
	preserving the park by discouraging growth in adjacent sites
	is too high a price to pay when average annual income in the
	county is far below that of other counties in the eastern half
	of Pennsylvania.

	According to the Baltimore Evening Sun, Richard H.
	Schmoyer, planning director for Adams County, believes that
	protecting the views throughout the park may be jeopardizing
	the entire area's economy.  U.S. Rep. Peter H. Kostmayer,
	however, cosponsored legislation last year that would
	significantly expand the boundaries of the military park and 
	its buffering zone, stating, "We cannot permit the desecration
	of one of the most hallowed sites in America.  There are
	plenty of places in which to build shopping centers, but 
	allowing one to be built within sight of the Gettysburg
	battlefield would be a tragic mistake."

	Schmoyer says that the entire history of development in this
	area must be analyzed because the site is not as pristine as
	people are let to believe.  A business park, a used car lot, 
	and single-family residences border the site proposed for new
	development.  A large grove of trees buffers the view of this 
	site from the battlefield.  Any development there would be screened
	from the national park as required by the zoning ordinance.

	Schmoyer says the project was sent back to the drawing
	board because it did not comply with the zoning ordinance on
	design and access issues, but he is confident that the developer
	is willing to create a project that will satisfy everyone.  Other
	development - such as the Wal-Mart - occurred before the
	zoning ordinance took effect.  New development will be highly
	scrutinized under the Adams County Interchange Zoning 
	Ordinance, which includes quality control standards. 

	Wal-Mart cited the newly widened Route 15 and its
	proximity to Maryland's market amount its reasons for
	building near Gettysburg.  May property owners are now
	anxious to see what other development will follow.  But
	preservationists cite the Wal-Mart development as an
	example of the high price of encouraging economic development.
	A two-story Greek Revival-style brick farmhouse, built
	around 1840 and used as a field hospital during the Civil 
	War battles, was demolished for a parking lot.  Earlier
	this year, it became the site for a Wendy's restaurant.

I'll try and get an address and phone number for the Brandy Station
Foundation and post it here.

Scott Chase



From the Outlook section of the Sunday, February 23, Washington Post.

The New Battle of Brandy Station.  By Michael Green, a preservationist
and member of the Brandy Station Foundation.

     Once again, the battlefields of the Civil War are under siege.  On
February 11, the Virginia Senate passed S. B. 514, which makes 
significant changes in the laws governing the Virginia Historic Landmarks
program.  In brief, the bill would provide for the delisting of any
historic district designated after January 1, 1989, if a majority
of affected property owners so requested.  The bill would require the
written consent by the majority of property owners for all future sites
seeking designation as historic districts or landmarks.
     The immediate effect of this bill, if enacted, may be the delisting
of two contoversial historic sites--Brandy Station Battlefield and 
Bristoe Station Battlefield.
     Brandy Station was the site of the largest cavalry battle in North
America.  On June 9, 1863, nearly 20,000 horsemen from the North and
South fought to a dra, with hundreds on both sides killed and wounded.
During the winter of 1863-64, Brandy Station served as the site of the
Union encampment for more than 100,000 Union soldiers.
     The battle at Bristoe Station in October 1863 was bloody, as the
Union crushed an attack by Confederate Gen. A. P. Hill.  The Confederates
suffered nearly 2,000 casualties at Bristoe Station.
     Both sites are historically significant.  Both face the possibility
of losing their designation as historic districts if S. B. 514 passes.
Both are of interest to developers, particularly Brandy Station.
     California-based developer Lee Sammis began obtaining large tracts
of land on and adjacent to Brandy Station battlefield in 1987.  Today,
he owns about 5,000 acres, many of which are part of the battlefield.
Sammis wants to use the land for an office complex and housing development.
     Preservationists have managed to have 14,000 acres, including a 
large part of Sammis's property, designated as a Virginia historic
district.  So Sammis has turned to the Virginia legislature for assistance.
     So far, he's found it--Sammis's attorney, John Foote, drafted S. B.
514 for State Sen. Charles Colgan, who has publicly said that the bill 
is intended to help Sammis.
     Sammis and Foote would like property owners in Prince William and
Culpepper counties to believe that their properties will decrease in 
value if they become part of a designated historic district.  This is
false.
     A recent report on property values prepared by the Virginia
Department of Historic Resources concluded that there is no difference
between property assesment values of historically designated areas
and nondesignated areas.
     Sammis and Foote also imply that without historical designation,
property values will rise.  Again a claim without basis.  The recession,
not historic designation, has depressed real estate values.
     Everyone's property is worth less than it was four years ago.
Contributing to the slide in property values was the building boom in
Northern Virginia during the '80s, which resulted in a glut of office
space and buildings.
     S. B. 514 creates a dangerous precedent in allowing property 
owners, many of whom have a large financial interest in the prospective
site, to decide whether an area is worth preserving.  Many of these
property owners, like Sammis, are out-of-state developers whose 
interests are not served by preservation.
     Should out-of-state developers decide what aspect of Virginia's
history is worth preserving?  Is it to much to ask to preserve the
historical places that helped make the state what it is today?  Is it
too much to ask developers to move their office complexes to locations
that are not so historically significant?
     S. B. 514 must be defeated in the Virginia House of Delegates.
But it appears that only an outpouring of public outrage will accomplish
this task.
     The preservation movement is not about stifling economic growth.
It is about saving a small portion of the past for tomorrow.
     Our great-grandchildren should be able to appreciate the signi-
ficance of places like Brandy Station in the history of this great
state.

This was a counter-reply to that expressed in .13.  As far as I'm 
concerned, the author suffers from a massive case of cranial-rectum
insertion.  However, to be fair, I duly post it.

Scott


Posted without permission from the Outlook section of the March 8
Washington Post.

Round 2

Skirmish at Brandy Station

     I am an ardent historic preservationist and a 40-year student of
the Civil War.  But I am afraid that despite considerable publicity,
most recently on the Feb. 23 Close to Home page, there just isn't
anything to preserve, restore or maintain at the Brandy Station
battleground.
     Let's go back to June 9, 1863, and you will see what I mean.  Gen.
Alfred Pleasanton, in command of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the 
Potomac, took some 10,000 troopers and went down the Rappahanock looking
for the Confederate Army.  When he got near Brandy Station, he sent a
large body of troops across the river in a "reconnaissance in force".
Their probings produced more than they expected-the main cavalry force
of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia under the command of the dashing
Gen. J.E.B. Stuart.
     For one of the few times in his career, Stuart was surprised.  In
fact he had been planning to hold a review of his force for the edification
of the local gentry.  His plans quickly changed as more Union cavalry
poured across the Rappahanock.  Contact was made, and the ball began.
     For twelve hours charges and countercharges took place over 
thousands of acres of ground.  One body of Union troops flanked Stuart's
headquarters on Fleetwood Hill and charged to take that position.  At
the last minute, they were intercepted by a body of Confederate troops
riding to the relief of their commanding general.
     At dusk, hearing of the approach of Confederate infantry, Pleasanton
broke off the engagement and returned across the Rappahanock.  That
ended what was without question the largest cavalry battle ever to take
place in North America.
     Now let's move to preservation.  The Confederates, including Stuart,
were living in tents.  The Union troops were on a mission.  Pleasanton
was headquartered in his saddle.
    The next day there was nothing to preserve--just a large empty
field.  Since it was a chance encounter and ended in a draw, Brandy
Station had no strategic value.  It did prove to the Union troops that
they had finally reached the level of their Confederate counterparts
and notably improved their morale.
     The Close to Home piece noted that the area had been used as a 
campsite for 100,000 men.  But Northern Virginia, and the Shenandoah
in particular, was one big battlefield and campsite during the Civil
War.  If Brandy Station deserves to be protected because it was a
campsite, then the northern half of the Commenwealth of Virginia should
be turned into one big historic preservation.
     The Brandy Station Foundation is using an event of minor historical
significance as a means of stopping development.  It is a shame to
use historic preservation in such a way.

                              George M. Worden

    So...chance encounters which turned into battles don't deserve
    preservation?  Warm up the bulldozers for Gettysburg!  Come to
    think of it, it's already happening there (ala McPherson's Ridge).
    
    Ziff

    
    re .13
    
    Just got off the phone with the Association for the Preservation of
    Civil War Sites, Inc. and they list:
    
    The Brandy Station Foundation
    PO Box 165
    Brandy Station, Virginia  22714
    
    703-825-9189
    
    So I called (got an answering machine), but left a message asking
    if they had responded to the author of the letter that I posted
    in .14.  If they have, I'll post it.
    
    Scott

Here's some good news, re the CMHL selling off square foot pieces
to try and save the South Mountain battlefield site.

Scott

Posted without permission from the Saturday, January 18, 1992
Washington Post.

Preservation Group Finds Backers to Save Battlefield
-Square-Foot Parcels Sold in Development Fight

Associated Press-Middletown, Md.

     Hundreds of people from as far away as Great Britain are answering
George Brigham Jr.'s war cry against development at the site of a little-
known Civil War battlefield.
     More than 300 people have joined the ranks of the Central Maryland
Heritage League by spending $25 to buy a one-square foot parcel of 
land where Confederate and Union soldiers fought the Battle of South
Mountain.  Checks for $25 are arriving daily in the league's Middletown
post office box.
     "You have some people who want to stop land development.  They don't
care if it's a battlefield or not," said Brigham, president of the grass-
roots preservation group.  "Then you have those who want to save it 
because it's a battlefield.  And you have people who have ancestors
who fought here."
     Rep. Beverly Byron (D-Md.) was the first to buy a parcel of the
historic property.  She also bought five other tiny chunks for her grand-
children and stuffed the green-and-white deeds in their Christmas stock-
ings.  Each unofficial certificate stamped with a gold seal certifies that
the buyer is an honorary owner of land where the battle was fought on
September 14, 1862.
     "I think it's a good idea for preservation," Byron said.  "Especially
in the case of my grandchildren, it brings an awareness of heritage
and preservation.  We plan to go [up on the mountain] and have a picnic.
We figure we've got six square feet."
     So far, the league has raised 347 certificates, bringing in about
$8,700.  Along with other donations, the league has raised about $12,000.
     The money, arriving from East Coast states, Illinpis, Nevada, Texas,
California, and Minnesota, will help pay off $325,000 the land trust used
to buy 22 acres at the site of the battle.  The money includes a $50,000
interest-free loan from the Maryland Environmental Trust.
     Along with his $25, Pat Brennan, 39, who owns a recording studio
and music production company in Chicago, sent a tape of a song about the
Battle of South Mountain that he wrote eight years ago.
     The song is about a barefoot confederate soldier from Tennessee who
had a grandfather who lived near the battlefield.  Up on South Mountain,
overlooking that Middletown valley, Brennan sings about the soldier "watch-
ing the lines of the Yankee army moving like the shadow of an autumn
storm.
     "Barefoot boxer in a foreign land.  Called to a war--I'll never
understand.  Ten miles away from my grandpa's shadow, and I'm never
going home again.
     About 25,000 Union and 10,000 Confederate soldiers fought at South
Mountain.  Civil War historians estimate that about 4,300 soldiers from
both sides were either killed or wounded.
     The conflict ended Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Maryland
campaign of 1862.  The battle is often overshadowed by the Battle of
Antietam, the single bloodiest day of the Civil War, which was fought three
days later in nearby Sharpsburg.
     The land purchased by the league includes two houses, a brick
rental house and a stone house built in the late 1790s or early 1800s.
The stone house served as a field hospital during the Civil War, and later
became a tavern along the National Pike, an early road linking the East
to the western frontier.
     "This is what you would call your modern-day truck stop," Brigham
said, standing inside the vacant house, which has an old cooking fireplace
in the basement and large, black strap hinges on wood plank doors.  "If
these walls could talk--boy, it would be something."
     The league hopes to turn the house, at least temporarily, into a
residence, which would double as an interpretation center where visitors
could learn about the Civil War battle.
     "There were troop movements all over this area," Brigham said.
American Red Cross founder Clara Barton encountered her "first gruesome
sight of war was at South Mountain, not Antietam.  She saw the casualities
from this battle first."
     The house also could be used to inform people about how soldiers in
the War of 1812 passed through the area, the National Pike and local
history.  Area Civil War enthusiasts are interested in holding reenactments
on the mountainside, Brigham said.
     A few residents in the area, however, worry that the three-year-old
league, which is also seeking to buy or seek preservation easements on
other properties, will turn South Mountain into a tourist stop.
     "We're just trying to educate people about history and our heritage,"
Brigham said.  "I think it's a shame that a few people have to oppose it.
we don't see it as a tourist stop.  We're part of the community.  We want
to be harmonious with the people here."

I plan on calling my congress critter tomorrow to see what kind of 
pressure can be put on Virginia governor Wilder to veto S.B. 514.  
My parents reside in Virginia and they are soliciting their neighbors
to petition Wilder.

Scott


Reposted without permission from the Sunday, March 22, 1992, Outlook
section of the Washington Post.

History Bulldozed-A New Bill Would Allow Developers to Flatten Virginia's
Past.

by Tersh Boasberg, Chairman of the D.C. Zoning Commission and counsel
for the Brandy Station Foundation.


     Two hundred years after the American democracy was launched by the
likes of George Washington, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson and James
Madison, their home state has decided that too much history is a bad
idea:  It could get in the way of developers' property rights.
     Two weeks ago the Virginia legislature passed and sent to Gov. 
Douglas Wilder a bill--written by developers--that would prohibit
Virginia from granting "historic" designation to any individual site
without the consent of it's owner or to any district without the consent
of a majority of its landowners.
     Why such fear?  Even the bill's boosters acknowledge that historic
designation in Virginia carries absolutely NO PROHIBITION on an owner's
use of his land.  He can develop it, strip it, even destroy it.
     Rather, the purpose and value of official state designation is that
it informs all parties--citizens, would-be developers and local governments--
that a certain property is historically significant.  Local government
can then use--or ignore--that knowledge when it draws up its next five-
year plan or redrafts its zoning map or sites the new county landfill.
     The drastic legislation now on the governor's desk, Senate Bill 514,
was drafted and intensely lobbied by the law firm of Hazel & Thomas on
behalf of a client from Southern California who plans an industrial
park where the Civil War battle of Brandy Station was fought.  The Hazel
of Hazel & Thomas is the same John T. (Til) Hazel who tried to build
a mall next to Manassas National Battlefield Park until blocked by
preservationists and Congress.
     Had this law been in place in 1966 when Virginia's Historic 
Landmarks Register was created, the present boundaries of scores of
properties and districts that once faced the pressure of development,
might never been designated historic--including such treasures as
Mount Vernon's plantation grounds, Monticello's "little mountain,"
Gunston Hall, Gadsby's Tavern, and the historic districts of Alexandria,
Waterford and Williamsburg.
     One can imagine what the chances now will be of obtaining new historic
designations in Virginia for archaeological sites, colonial buildings,
Vistorian commercial districts and Civil War battlegrounds--among them,
for example, New Market Heights near Richmond where white landowners
oppose historic designation for a site on which 12 black Union troops
won the Medal of Honor in 1864.
     Until 1966, Virginia had no state landmark program and no
designations other than a highway marker program begun in 1926.  Concerned
that the state's great heritage faced exploitation and destruction, the
General Assembly created the Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission to
evaluate historic sites, plan for their protection, publish a Virginia
Landmarks Register, and nominate outstanding sites to the National Register
of Historic Places.  Today landmarks are designated by the Virginia
Board of Historic Resources based on standards of historical significance
and integrity, and in the case of historic districts, after notice to
local governments and a public hearing.
     Yet S.B. 514 does more than sandbag this process.  Of all the 1,500
Virginia landmarks, it singles out the battlefields of Brandy Station
near Culpeper and Bristoe Station near Warrenton--the opening and closing
clashes of the great Gettysburg campaign of 1863--for special retoactive
treatment.  Under S.B. 514, a majority of private property owners at
Brandy and Bristoe will be able to revoke Virginia's PREVIOUSLY APPROVED
landmark designations.
     Environmentalists and preservationists living around these two
unlucky battlefields committed the cardinal sin of alienating Lee Sammis,
the Southern Californian with designs on Brandy Station, who enlisted the
help of Hazel & Thomas and Charles Colgan (D-Manassas), the principal
sponsor of S.B. 514.
     Ironically, Sammis initially insisted that Brandy Station--site
of the largest cavalry battle in Western Hemisphere history--could not
have been significant since the state had never officially proclaimed
it so.  After the state did designate Brandy Station as historic in 1989,
the infuriated developer decided that his next best legal strategy
would be to prohibit the state from making historic designations
altogether.
     Evidently the argument with which Hazel & Thomas and their land-
rights clients convinced the Virginia legislature to cripple future
protection of the state's uncommonly rich history goes something like
this:  All landowners should have the right to develop their properties
to their maximum densities or their greatest economic potential.  Anything
that they believe might diminish the future value of their land (like
historic designation) should be prohibited.
     Carried to its logical extension, this "property-rights" argument
not only could kill future historic designations but could jeopardize
new wetlands determinations, steep-slope and flood and watershed protections
and in fact undermines the very premise of zoning and land-use planning.
     Yet the evidence that historic status chills property values is slim.
After Culpeper County's Board of Supervisors was notified of Brandy's
historic designation, it promptly rezoned the land from agricultural
to industrial--and its assessed value went up 10 times.  The Virginia
Department of Historic Resources, after a survey of 87 local assessors
and commissioners of revenue, reported this year that historic designation
had no negative impact on individual or historic district property values.
     Indeed, many residents of historic districts in Virginia (and elsewhere)
believe the designation has increased the value of their holdings because
of the great care owners take of historic properties.  A case study of
Historic Fredericksburg recently found that between 1971 and 1990,
residential and commercial property values had risen 674 percent and 480 
percent respectively inside the downtown historic district, compared
to 410 percent and 281 percent respectively elsewhere in the city.
     Even if Wilder doesn't veto S.B. 514 outright, he should consider
an amendment that would allow the legislature to reach a compromise
during its April "veto session."  It might copy a procedure adopted
by the federal government when it was confronted by the same problem
of owner objection.  This provides that the keeper of the National 
Register could determine a historic property or district "eligible" for
listing but not actually list it on the register if the owners objected.
If Virginia adopted this rule, a qualifying property would be determined
"eligible" and identified as such for Virginia's citizens and local
government but would not be officially listed if the owners objected.
Such a compromise unfortunately was rejected by S.B. 514 proponents during
legislative negotiations.
     Make no mistake, the land-rights forces are not stopping in Richmond.
Their real goal is the federal governmrnt's historic preservation program.
Already, the National Park Service has been forced by political pressure
to reopen its National Register designation of Brandy Station.  Environ-
mentalists and preservationists are extremely worried about how the 
Supreme Court will rule this term on two cases that pit private property
interests against state and local regulatory powers.
     The Virginia fields of the Civil War once again have become bitter
battle-grounds testing the unlimited desires of private property owners
against the values and needs of the broader community.  Sound familiar?
 
 

Well, the author of what I posted in .14 was duly blasted in today's
Washington Post, but S. B. 514 is still a major problem.

Scott


Reposted without permission from the Sunday, March 22, 1992 Washington
Post.

Round 3--Skirmish at Brandy Station

     George M. Worden claims to be both a long-time student of the
Civil-War and "an ardent historic preservationist" who nonetheless
sees no value in saving the battlefield of Brandy Station [Close to
Home, March 8].
     But his brief account of the battle was riddled with errors.
Pleasonton--not Pleasanton--took his men up the Rappahannock--not down
it.  Pleasonton didn't send a "reconnaissance in force" across the
river--everyone crossed together.  Jeb Stuart was not planning a 
review--there had been one the day before.  More important, when one
side retires defeated from a battle without accomplishing its 
misssion, as at Brandy Station or Gettysburg, that side had suffered
a defeat.  Brandy Station was a Confederate victory, not a draw, as
Worden stated.  But these facts are less important than the central
one, which Worden gets right:  The fight that took place between
20,000 men on June 9, 1863, was the largest cavalry battle in the 
Civil War and the largest ever fought in North America.
     Having recognized its importance, however, Worden then said,
"There just isn't anything to preserve."  Does he mean that only
buildings are worth preserving, and that since most Civil War 
farmhouses are gone, we should give our blessings to the bulldozers?
     Alfred R. Waud, war correspondent and artist, accompanied the
Yankees at Brandy Station and drew a detailed portrait of one of the
great cavalry charges there.  Three weeks later the people of the
North saw the picture in Harper's Weekly.  Today the scene can still
be visualized.  The road up from Beverly Ford; the grassy field that
sounded with the pounding of thousands of hoofs, the clashing of sabers,
the clarion calls of bugles and shouted orders, the screams of men
and animals; the ridge line heroically attacked and defended.
They are still there, little changed from Waud's day.
     Yet a California developer wishes to put warehouses and offices
on the spot, the center of an unnecessary, new "Edge City."  If
the developer gets his way, another Tysons Corner will be planted
in the pastures of Culpeper County.  In 20 years, 90,000 new people
will live in close proximity to the field that Waud sketched.  The
U.S. Park Service has noted that the main part of the battle comprises
only 1,232 acres, land that can be preserved if developers, preserva-
tionists, governments and citizens can agree.
     Surely fields watered by the blood of a thousand young Americans
should be saved as much as historic houses and mansions.  Brandy Station
earned the right to be hallowed ground.

Daniel J. Beattie, secretary of the board of directors of the Association
for the Preservation of Civil War Sites Inc.


     A sidelight to the Battle of Brandy Station, which has nothing
to do with its historic value, is that, according to the Civil War
historian Clark B. Hall, my grandfather, Robert Owen Allen, Lt. Co. B,
6th Virginia ("Clarke") Cavalry, performed "the single most courageous
act of the day by charging alone 75 yards down Beverly Ford Road and
mortally wounding a Brigade commander of the 1st New York Cavalry
Division."  My grandfather was severely wounded later the same day and
was the only one of three brothers who survived the war.  
     So, I have a personal interest in this matter, but I still don't
like to have developers, especially those from outside the state,
trying to decide for me what is worth preserving.

Howard Owen Allen


     After describing the magnitude of the engagement at Brandy Station,
which he correctly identified as the "largest cavalry battle ever to
take place in North America," George Worden went on to say that it was
"an event of minor historical significance."  This is an odd statement
from a student of the Civil War.  After two years of inferiority, Union
cavalry came into its own at Brandy Station and fought Jeb Stuart to a
draw.  It was, therefore, an important development in the course of the 
war.
     My main objection, however, to Worden's thesis is his statement
that Brandy Station wasn't worth preserving because it is "just a
large empth field."
     Manassas is an empty field, as is Chancellorsville, where Robert
E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson sat on cracker boxes and planned the 
destruction of the federal right flank.  Most of the battlefield at
Gettysburg, although close to the town, is an empty field.  Few Civil
War battles were fought in towns.
     The fact that there are no buildings on these battlefields is beside
the point.  The grounds where men fought and died for a cause held dear
should be respected and protected from commercial development.

Ben F. Fordney 

    
    Extracted from the Brandy Station Foundation Bulletin of April, 1992,
    Volume 4, Number 1.
    
    CHRISTMAS FOR DEVELOPERS--S.B. 514 BECOMES LAW
    
    from page 2....From our point of view, we can't see where the other
    side was forced to compromise, unless it's that Brandy Station and
    Bristoe Station will be delisted by July, 1993, as opposed to
    immediately.  Otherwise, they got pretty much what they asked for.
    
    
    I wonder how soon it will be after July, 1993 when the bulldozers
    will destroy them?
    
    Scott

Well gang, now the Best Farm is in trouble.  Unless you call and/or
write, we can kiss another 294 acres goodbye.  Bombard your own congress
and senate critter and feel free to extract the letter posted in the next
reply to use with your own reps or to the folks listed here:

Scott


The Honorable Robert Byrd
Chairman
Senate Subcommittee on Interior Appropriations
127 SDOB
Washington, DC  20510

The Honorable Sidney Yates
Chairman
House Subcommittee on Interior Appropriations
B-308 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC  20515

I beleive the following senators and congress folks are on the respective
committees chaired by the above.  For senators and congressmen/women, the
address would be:

Senator ___________		Congressman(woman) ___________
U. S. Senate			U. S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC   20510		Washington, DC   20515

And here they are, with phone numbers:

                              Alabama

                                 Congressman Tom Bevill
				 202-225-4876

			      Arkansas

Senator Dale Bumpers
202-224-4843

			      Illinois

				 Congressman Sidney Yates
				 202-225-2111

			      Maryland

Senator Paul Sarbanes		 Congresswoman Beverly Byron
202-224-4524			 202-225-2111

Senator Barbara Milulski	 Congressman Steny Hoyer
202-224-4654			 202-225-4131

			      Massachusetts

				 Congressman Chester Atkins
				 202-225-3411

			      Minnesota

				 Congressman Bruce Vento
				 202-225-6631

			      New Hampshire

Senator Warren Rudman
202-224-3324

			      New York

				 Congressman Robert Mrazek
				 202-225-5956

			      Ohio

				 Congressman Ralph Regula
				 202-225-3876

			      Washington

				 Congressman Norman Dicks
				 202-225-5916

			      West Virginia

Senator Robert C. Byrd
202-224-3954

Senator Barbara Mikulski
U. S. Senate
Washington, D. C.  20510

Dear Senator Mikulski:

I am writing to urge your support for an appropriation of $12.2 million
to the National Park Service from the Land and Water Conservation Fund
for the acquisition of 294 important acres within the Monocacy National
Battlefield.

The Best Farm property exists today much as it appeared on July 9, 1864
when Confederate soldiers fought Union forces on the farm at Monocacy
Junction.  Although a Confederate victory, this short but pivotal
battle is hailed by historians as the battle that saved Washington.  The
10 hour struggle along the Monocacy River cost the Confederates a day's
march and allowed Union reinforcement forces to reach Washington and
protect the Capitol.

Today, the Best Farm is located only three miles south of Frederick's
city center and is bordered by the Francis Scott Key Mall and other light
industries.  An industrial/business park development plan has been
proposed for the property.  If the Farm is not acquired by the National 
Park Service, the owners will return it to the private market for sale
to developers.

Your help is needed now to allow the National Park Service to take 
advantage of this opportunity to preserve a very important site in 
American history.  Please support a $12.2 million appropriation to the
National Park Service for acquisition of the Best Farm.

                                           Sincerely,

                                           Scott E. Chase
                                           Bethesda, Maryland

    
    Mr. Scott E. Chase
    9809 Bristol Square Lane, #301
    Bethesda, Maryland  20814
    
    Dear Mr. Chase:
    
         Knowing of your interest in the Monocacy National
    Battlefield, I wanted to be sure you were aware that on July 29,
    1992 the Senate Appropriations Committee reported a FY93
    Interior appropriations bill that included $8.8 million in
    funding for the National Park Service to acquire Best/Trail
    farm.  I am very pleased that the Committee approved this 
    level of funding to preserve this important and historic
    battlefield.
    
         With best regards,
    
    					Sincerely,
    
    					Paul S. Sarbanes
    					United States Senator

Excerpts from "Hallowed Ground", a publication to members of the
Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites, Inc., Volume 5,
No. 2, June 1992.

APCWS Buys Rich Mountain Battlefield

The APCWS closed in May on the 40-acre parcel, representing virtually the 
entire combat area of the battlefield...The fighting at Rich Mountain
resulted from Union efforts in 1861 to protect the Baltimore & Ohio 
Railroad, so vital to northern interests.  In July, General George B.
McClellan led a force of 5,000 troops to within 2 miles of Camp Garnett
and Rich Mountain.  Lt. Col. John Pegram (who would be killed in 1865 at
Hatcher's Run on land preserved by the APCWS) defended Rich Mountain
with 1,300 Confederates.
     On July 11 a flanking force led by another Union officer marked for
distinction, General William S. Rosecrans, approached the pass at Rich
Mountain and surprised its Confederate defenders.  The Federals attacked
but met stiff resistance and fell back.  Regrouping, Roscrans led another
assault which succeeded in driving the Confederates down the mountain and
into retreat.
     The Battle of Rich Mountain cost a total of some 130 casualties, but
it possessed a significance beyond its butcher's bill.  Not only did the
Unionists gain control of northwestern Virginia, but McClellan's
telegram announcing the victory arrived in Washington along with the
news of the disaster at Manassas.  On the strength of the triumph, one
in which McClellan played no direct role, President Lincoln summoned
"Little Mac" to the capital to take command of the defeated Army of the 
Potomac...Rich Mountain battlefield is near Elkins and Beverly, West
Virginia in Randolph county, about a four-hour drive west of
Fredericksburg.

    
    Well, I've been told that I'm history.  This file has been fun
    and I will keep up my efforts to preserve CW sites.
    
    and remember....
    
    Don't MALL the battlefields!
    
    Scott

    I lost my copy of the Atlanta Journal Constitution that included
    some mention of the site where the largest cavalry battle in
    North America was fought.
    
    Apparently, the sight has been lost to commercial development.  Sorry,
    that is all I can remember from the top of my head.  Perhaps someone
    else can fill in the gaps.
    
    Robert

    I'm wondering if anyone has any detailed information on the
    just-announced plans of the Dysney Co. to build a theme park in
    Manassas, VA.  The theme is to be U.S. History.  
    
    They own 17,000 acres in the area.  Something like a 3-4,000 acre park
    surrounded by resort and housing developments.
    
    The obvious concern for me surround its proximity to the Bull Run
    Battlefield.
    
    Is anyone familiar enough with the area to comment on this proposal?
    
    
    Thanks,
    
    
    Marv
    

    I heard while on vacation that due to public pressure Disney has
    elected not to build this proposed "history theme park."  A Disney
    spokesman said that it wasn't in keeping with the Disney corporate
    image - which can be taken to mean that people complained enough that
    Disney figured opening the park would give Disney a black eye.  Score
    one for the good guys!
    
    -dick