{The Civil War Round Table of Eastern PA is proud to be a supporter of The Civil War Trust/American Battlefield Trust.}
While our work continues year-round, springtime is particularly bustling — especially at the 80 sites that will participate in the 25th Annual Park Day this upcoming weekend. And amidst the excitement, I bring good news: The Trust has preserved 226 acres across FOUR Civil War battlefields, two East and two West.
All told, we are declaring victory at: 101 acres at Reams Station, and nearly three acres at Peebles Farm in Virginia, plus 120 acres at Jackson, Tennessee, and two acres at Champion Hill, Mississippi. With each property comes treasured history and landmark preservation moments...
A special cause for celebration: the 120 acres at the Jackson Battlefield, or Salem Cemetery, mark our first piece of land saved at this western Tennessee site. Engrained in its soil are the memories of the December 19, 1862, battle, where two Union infantry regiments repulsed a Confederate mounted attack led by Brig. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s men. While first deemed a success, Union forces later learned that the encounter was a strategic distraction that allowed Gen. Forrest to destroy a section of railroad to the north. Seemingly minimal in scope, this battle exemplifies the clever, nimble tactics frequently seen in the Western Theater of war. Its significance was recognized, as the project received support from the American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) and was furthermore funded under a grant from the Tennessee Civil War Sites Preservation Fund, administered by the Tennessee Historical Commission.
For our other Western Theater property, we look to west-central Mississippi, where the largest battle of Gen. Ulysses Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign took place on May 16, 1863. A Union victory, the Battle of Champion Hill — along with the next day’s battle at Big Black River — forced the Confederates into a doomed position inside the fortifications of Vicksburg. To save these two acres of hallowed ground, the Trust was aided by ABPP and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
Both Eastern Theater properties are tied to the Petersburg Campaign, a series of complex efforts set forth by Grant and the Union army, that spanned some 10 months and hundreds of square miles.
At Reams Station on August 25, 1864, Gen. A.P. Hill's infantry and Gen. Wade Hampton's cavalry attacked the Federals — soldiers from Gen. Winfield S. Hancock's II Corps who had ventured south of Petersburg to destroy the Confederates’ lifeline — the Weldon Railroad — amidst the siege of the Virginia city. The 101-acre property at Reams Station carries with it the stinging defeat felt by Hancock's men, but is now tempered in victory through the generosity of Trust members and a gift from the HTR Foundation, as well as matching grants from ABPP and the Virginia Battlefield Preservation Fund (VBPF).
The other Virginia tract — a small property measuring just less than three acres — is twice hallowed, having seen action on September 30 – October 2, 1864, during the Battle of Peebles’ Farm, and during The Breakthrough at Petersburg on April 2, 1865. This land ultimately witnessed the end of the nine-month-long Siege of Petersburg, which led to the collapse of Lee’s defense of the city. The Trust acquired this storied site through the support of ABPP.
In all, this is a wonderful triumph not only for battlefield preservation, but for YOU, who brought this crucial effort to the finish line! I hope this news was a breath of fresh spring air that inspires you to get outside, visit a battlefield, and fully immerse yourself in the history that drives us ever-forward in our profound mission.
With gratitude,
David N. Duncan
President