Battlefield Preservation

cost and unity’s importance, making them essential for understanding American history.

Fredericksburg (December 11-13, 1862), Chancellorsville (May 1-3, 1863), the Mine Run Campaign (November 26-December 2, 1863), and the Wilderness and…

Battlefields Trust created this conference as a thank-you to all our resolute members and supporters back in 1997-98. The event has evolved from a…

like Fredericksburg, Atlanta, Charleston, and Columbia, and war-damaged regions like the Shenandoah Valley to argue its cataclysmic nature. Others…

at Antietam; Mt. Zion Church at Richmond, Ky.; St. James Church at Brandy Station; New Hope Church and Ezra Church in the Atlanta Campaign; Ware…

etc. Excitement chiefly over we marched about 30 rods to a strip in of clearing where we found a division of Hill’s corps in line of battle of…

believe it was much warmer. Joseph Graves, Bedford (Virginia) Light Artillery, wrote that day, “It was very warm and dusty.” Thick smoke from…

the hospital complex at Parker’s Store. Artillerist Robert Stiles, “rode up to ambulance and looked in. They had taken off Longstreet’s hat, coat and…

send a larger force across the Rappahannock. Hooker believed doing so “would leave nothing behind to interpose any serious obstacle to my rapid…

Opposing Ward’s Brigade was Col. Edmond Atkinson’s Georgia brigade. Fueled from their successful push of Meade’s troops, they stormed against Ward’s…

left, the third man from me. He was in the ranks and I was the file closer. Well, I thought all the side of my head was gone, there was a piece of…

division in the III Corps, fell dead in the area over which Pender’s men attacked. Berry, who had risen in rank from colonel to major general without…

destroyed captured supplies of “salt, oil, whisky, leather, stationery, wool cards, percussion caps, boots, shoes, clothing and many other articles…

times during the day must have annoyed Morris and his men.

Stackhouse reported that evening “the enemy attempted several times to advance on our position, but succeeded only in reaching a defile 200 yards in…

they would end up captured, or thought cowards who ducked the fight, Melcher believed “Our only chance was to cut our way through.” Finding a lightly…

Brothers Irby and Bud Scott served in the 12th Georgia Infantry, a regiment in Gen. George P. Doles’ brigade. (Public domain)

Chancellor’s house for a visit. He was not home, but Mrs. Chancellor invited them in. Above the fireplace were images of Gen. Lee, Gen. Jackson, and…

dense woods limited artillery to the roadway. Some Federal infantrymen started building improvised breastworks, but the Vermonters soon received an…

Haupt and his Construction Corps again began repairing the RF&P. Haupt discovered that the damage done by Burnside’s soldiers in August was more…

Central Virginia Battlefields Trust’s latest preservation campaign involves a two-acre property that witnessed retreating XI Corps soldiers conduct a…

“It was the most destructive Artillery fire of the war,” claimed Capt. Thomas Henry Carter, who commanded a battery of Confederate guns at…

(CVBT President) CVBT 2022 Annual Conference

Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee expected the Union Army to move along the axis of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, as the armies had been doing all…

In the lead up to the Battle of the Wilderness that occurred on May 5-6, 1864, the Union and Confederate press, civilian population, elected…

Since 1996, Central Virginia Battlefields Trust has worked diligently to acquire properties associated with the battles of Fredericksburg…

In the eighteen months between December 1862 and May 1864, four major battles, Fredericksburg; Chancellorsville; Wilderness; and Spotsylvania Court…

After two days of brutal but ultimately indecisive fighting at the Battle of the Wilderness (May 5-6, 1864), Ulysses S. Grant decided to move the…

Most who study the American Civil War must admit to having a particular battle that interests them most. Whether it be due to an ancestor who fought…

Having Salem Church, and now cut off from retreating back through Fredericksburg, the Union VI Corps, under Major General John Sedgwick spent the…

Scott, a 6th Va. Cavalry veteran.

September 2021 marked CVBT’s 25th year of preserving endangered battlefields in central Virginia. “To date we have saved over 1,520 acres of…

by Sarah Kay Bierle, CVBT

children” and advocated compensation and aid for the survivors.

The cedar trees have grown, Eric Powell thought as he recently drove by Pelham’s Corner — a tract of Fredericksburg battlefield preserved and…

“The woods in front were so thick that it was impossible to see more than 20 steps from our line.”

If you’re driving along Orange Plank Road, just west of the historic Brock Road intersection during your battlefield history stops, you’ll pass the…

On December 11, 1862, after a weeklong delay in receiving needed pontoon bridges to cross the Rappahannock River, Union Major General Ambrose E.…

“Let’s see, the artillery was… there.” Finding artillery positions is one of my hobbies when I’m working on a battlefield. Look for great high…

I first became interested in Civil War battlefield preservation when I met Clark B. “Bud” Hall in 1989 when he came to speak to our local Civil War…

on their starboard side. Acting Ensign Charles W. Howard leapt to the gangway hailing, “Boat ahoy! Boat ahoy!” Not receiving a response Howard…

In the October 2017 issue of Civil War Times is an article titled “Empty Pedestals. What Should Be Done With Civic Monuments To The Confederacy And…