Decade-Long Effort to Preserve Civil War Battlefield a Triumph for Historic Preservation

The Battlefield of Williamsburg, Va., by Robert Knox Sneden

Courtesy the Library of Congress

Recipient: American Battlefield Trust

Award Amount: $4,600,000
Acreage: 250.84

In 2021, the NPS's American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) was pleased to award a $4.6 million Battlefield Land Acquisition Grant to the American Battlefield Trust to protect 250 acres of the Williamsburg Civil War battlefield in York County, Virginia. The wooded property witnessed several centuries of occupation and struggle, including fierce fighting during the Civil War’s 1862 Peninsula Campaign. Archeological investigations have revealed key details of this battle and promises to expand and enrich our understanding of the people—enslaved and free—who toiled on this land.

On the morning of May 5, 1862, an enslaved person approached Union commanders at Williamsburg with some vital intelligence. Confederate troops had hastily abandoned nearby redoubts after a skirmish the previous day, leaving their forces open to attack. Union Gen. Winfield Hancock moved to occupy the redoubts, anchoring his artillery on a nearby farm. Facing a well defended opponent, Confederate reinforcements under Gen. Jubal Early advanced on the farm. The subsequent fighting resulted in the annihilation of Early's 5th North Carolina Infantry. A Union soldier described the carnage as a horrible sight, recording that “Our men were busy all day in burying the dead and taking care of the wounded rebels.” In the battle’s aftermath, Union forces used the Custis barn and stable as a field hospital and buried the dead where they fell.

Beneath the overgrown brush lies a history waiting to be unearthed

Courtesy Virginia Department of Historic Resources

Archeologists have located key sites of the battlefield as well as evidence of the Custis farmstead and an earlier plantation on the property that will be acquired and protected with grant funds. Future research will reveal more about the people and actions that took place on these lands, especially those of African descent who were enslaved at a network of five York County plantations. Virginia’s Departments of Conservation and Recreation and Historic Resources, in partnership with the American Battlefield Trust, will use this grant to protect this special place and share its varied stories for generations to come.

This grant represents the largest single grant in the American Battlefield Protection Program's history and underscores the value of historic properties and green spaces outside federal lands. The preservation of this battlefield is the result of nearly a decade of organizing and planning at the local, state and national levels and exemplifies what we can achieve when we work across boundaries.

Battlefield Land Acquisition Grants empower preservation partners nationwide to acquire and preserve threatened Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War battlefields. In addition, the program administers three other grants: Preservation Planning Grants, which are open to all sites of armed conflict on American soil, the newly authorized Battlefield Restoration and Battlefield Interpretation grant programs. This financial assistance generates community-driven stewardship of historic resources at the state, tribal and local levels.

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Check out the American Battlefield Protection Program's website for more information about various grant offerings and eligibility.

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