And we know that the Peninsula Campaign was a failed campaign to capture Richmond, while the Overland Campaign is considered a strategic Union victory. But in June 1862 and May-June 1864, there were many moments when the final outcome did not seem assured at all.
In fact, the battlefields we are working to save today, Glendale and Gaines’ Mill/Cold Harbor, were scenes of some of the bloodiest fighting of the entire war, often with inconclusive outcomes.
Taken together, these Virginia sites bore witness to over 40,300 total casualties.
Now, we too find ourselves amid a battle... not knowing what the future will hold and wondering what our story will be when the history of battlefield preservation is decisively recorded many years from now.
Developers are purchasing pristine battlefield land in Virginia at an alarming rate and price, building houses where soldiers — in blue and gray alike — shed blood and even died.
New residential subdivisions have been popping up close to these tracts. It’s heartbreaking!
We must keep fighting, against all odds, to secure every victory we can, including the hallowed ground in Virginia we have a chance to save today.
If we don’t secure this land, additional houses and other structures can be built on the property and the earthworks bulldozed. Securing this land today is critical to the protection of these historic resources.
Don’t let it slip by!
‘Til the battle is won,
David N. Duncan, President
American Battlefield Trust