Battlefield preservation is like putting together a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle. It takes patience and time... Piece by piece, parcel by parcel, until it slowly comes together.
And if a piece is lost, it leaves a hole that jeopardizes the entire picture.
When there are unprotected tracts in the middle of a battlefield — it can take years or even decades for those tracts to become available.
And then when they do, we must hope and pray that the seller is willing to listen to our offer... and that they won’t be seduced by the well-financed developers and real estate brokers working on behalf of data warehouses and solar farm companies who are looking to buy up everything in sight.
We are facing unprecedented, generational threats to our mission to preserve hallowed ground. And quite frankly, we need heroes.
Today, we have an opportunity to save nearly 32 acres of battlefield land at Chickasaw Bayou and Champion Hill in Mississippi.
These tracts are the very definition of puzzle pieces. The project we have before us includes purchasing twelve individual parcels — each a small piece of the puzzle — that dot these battlefields and help fill in the gaps of the Vicksburg Campaign’s story.
Paul, stringing together a dozen parcels and a half dozen willing sellers at Champion Hill and Chickasaw Bayou is no easy feat.
The total value for all these parcels is more than $2.1 million.
That’s far more than we could normally afford, but we’ve applied for federal and state grants — some have already been awarded, and some are still pending — that could help get us over the finish line.
If we are able to secure these grants, the Trust would still need to come up with an additional $327,825 to close the deal. That means that every dollar you can contribute is multiplied by $6.50!
In an age where our history is at risk, I hope I can count on you to make a generous gift to ensure this land in Mississippi is saved forever.
If we don’t do this now, we might never have the opportunity again.
‘Til the battle is won,
David N. Duncan, President
American Battlefield Trust
P.S. These battlefields represent some of the most significant battles in the Civil War. As you may know, the Vicksburg Campaign is often called one of the turning points, if not the turning point, of the Civil War.
Please make your gift, knowing this is our once-in-a-generation opportunity to buy, and protect forever, almost 32 acres of the remaining pieces of the Vicksburg Campaign.