Endangered Battlefields
Ten of the most endangered U.S. Civil War battlefields are also among the most historic, according the CWPT.
Each year the nonprofit analyzes the 383 sites deemed historically significant by the National Park Service's Civil War Sites Advisory Commission. Historians, local preservationists, and the CWPT board of trustees pool their expertise to determine how urbanization and population growth has affected each site.
The CWPT works to preserve as much historic acreage as it can. To date, the nonprofit has helped to protect 21,000 acres (8,500 hectares) spread over 90 sites. The trust buys tracts of land and turns them over to the National Park Service or local governments for preservation.
The nonprofit estimates that another 200,000 acres (81,000 hectares) of hallowed Civil War battleground remain vulnerable to development.
"Glory" Island
Among the ten most endangered battlegrounds listed by the CWPT is Morris Island, South Carolina. Just a few hundred yards from Fort Sumter, the island was the site of some of the Civil War's most intense fighting.
It was there that the 54th Massachusetts, a famous African-American regiment, charged a Confederate force on the island's shores. (The regiment's sacrifice was memorialized in the 1989 film Glory.)
"Being included on the list has greatly increased the awareness of the precarious state of the island's preservation efforts," said Blake Hallman, spokesperson for the Morris Island Coalition, a coalition of nonprofits working to preserve the island battlefield. "The only way we could be more pleased is for the island to be preserved."
Greenville, South Carolina, developer Harry Huffman acquired the option to build on rezoned island land and sell it off in individual lots for up to 20 homes. So far, local government has denied his efforts.
In January Huffman listed the island on the auction Web site eBay with an asking price of 12.5 million dollars (U.S.). Despite more than 18,000 hits, the island didn't sell. Huffman is now negotiating a sale price for the island, giving precedence to the preservation community.
Public Support
According to a poll by Mason-Dixon Research, Inc., public support is strong for preserving the battlefields in Franklin, Tennessee, as well as South Carolina's Charleston County, site of Morris Island.
Seventy-one percent of surveyed Charleston County voters advocate protection of the island, and 77 percent opposed plans by the developer to re-zone the island to allow for construction of luxury homes.
Likewise, 74 percent of Franklin City voters said they support battlefield preservation in Franklin. Sixty-two percent of voters said they favored transforming the golf course into a battlefield park. Seventy-five percent thought the city has a responsibility to protect Franklin battlefield.
"The Battle of Franklin was the last hurrah of the Confederacy," Hicks, the area preservationist, said. "What happened here altered history."
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