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Williamsburg Battlefield Lands $4.6 Million Grant To Protect 251 Acres

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Williamsburg Battlefield will gain nearly 251 acres of history to protect thanks to an American Battlefield Grant./NPS

More than 250 acres that were the scene of a fierce battle during the Civil War is being protected as part of Williamsburg Battlefield in Virginia thanks to a $4.6 million Battlefield Land Acquisition Grant from the National Park Service.

The wooded property witnessed several centuries of occupation and struggle, including fighting during the Civil War’s 1862 Peninsula Campaign. Archaeological investigations have revealed key details of this battle and promises to expand and enrich understanding of the people—enslaved and free—who toiled on this landscape.

“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,” said NPS Deputy Director Shawn Benge.

The land is rich with potential and holds many important stories, according to the National Park Service.

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.

Archaeologists 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 landscape and share its varied stories for generations to come.

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Comments

Kurt, do you have an overlay of the property on a modern map?  I went to school in Williamsburg and never thought of the area as being signficant during the Civil War.  Much more known for its Revolutionary War battlefields.  I am curious to know exactly where this is.  

 


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