Preserve 10 Acres at Spotsylvania Court House, Corinth, and Champion Hill

Combined, the total value of these tracts is more than $687,000. While the Trust is anticipating about a third of the money in state and federal matching grants, your support is needed to raise the final $215,300. With all of the potential matching funds in place, your generosity today would be multiplied by $3-to-$1! 

This is still a lot of money to raise, but battlefield land at these historic places is seldom available, and if we don’t save these acres now, we may never get the chance again. 

The battles at Spotsylvania Court House, Corinth, and Champion Hill carried an especially heavy cost. Combined, they resulted in approximately 45,000 casualties — a tremendous number of lives, limbs, and livelihoods lost. Many of these Americans paid the ultimate price, and we owe it to all future generations to preserve their memory and our history. 

Please make a donation today to help honor those heroes. As a special gift of gratitude, if you make a gift of $60 or more today, you will receive a copy of the Trust’s newest book, The Cost of War: A Visual Summary of Civil War Devastation.  

Donate now 
 

The History  

Spotsylvania Court House 

Spotsylvania Court House was the second battle of the Overland Campaign, and with more than 31,000 casualties, became one of the bloodiest ever fought on American soil. On May 12, 1864, the fifth long day of fighting, more than 22 hours of close-quarters combat followed a massive Union attack. 

The two-acre target tract is surrounded by land that has already been protected, which makes it all the more urgent — just adjacent to the property is the site where the respected and beloved Union General, John Sedgwick, was killed by Confederate sharpshooters after joking that “They couldn’t hit an elephant at that distance.” Grant famously described Sedgwick’s death as “greater than the loss of a whole division of troops.” 

Sarah Spindle, a 40-year-old widow, fled her home on the adjacent property after the Confederate shelling on May 8, and lost everything in the ensuing fire.  

This tract plays a crucial role in telling the complete story of Spotsylvania Court House.  

Battle of Champion Hill 

The Battle of Champion Hill, according to our friend Terry Winschel, the former Chief Historian at Vicksburg National Military Park, was “the largest, bloodiest, and most significant action of the Vicksburg campaign.” 

This is an opportunity to save five acres of bloodstained hallowed ground that witnessed Confederate troops advancing and retreating throughout the course of the fighting on May 15, 1863. Preserving these acres now would add to the decades of important work we’ve accomplished together to preserve the site of a critical engagement in one of the most important campaigns of the war. 

But just like at Spotsylvania Court House, these much sought after and unprotected acres at Champion Hill are surrounded by preserved battlefield land and highly desirable to developers — if we lose this chance, a new housing development could be built and forever mar the landscape. If we purchase the land, we preserve and protect it so that all future generations can walk across the battlefield and look out over the crest of Champion Hill.  

Battle of Corinth 

The third target tract is at Corinth. Early in the war and fresh from their victory at Shiloh, Union forces advanced and laid siege to the city of Corinth, Mississippi. The Confederates evacuated but triedand failed to recapture Corinth a few months later, amassing 7,200 casualties.  

An impressive network of earthworks and trenches remain. Today, we can preserve three acres and add to the battlefield landscape that is already protected.
 

Join the Charge Forward in Mississippi & Virginia

Will you help the Trust raise the $215,300 needed today while having your gift matched $3-to-$1? You’ll help purchase these irreplaceable 10 acres of battlefield land and continue to bring the history of America to all generations. 

And don’t forget — if you can give $60 or more, you can receive the Trust’s exclusive new book available only to members, The Cost of War: A Visual Summary of Civil War Devastation.

Donate now