Ox Hill Battlefield Park, Chantilly, Va.
Kelly Schneider
Preservation History
Americans' evolving effort to safeguard their battlefields
In 1987, a Civil War academic scholar, five National Park Service historians and two Civil War buffs convened the first meeting of the organization that has grown to become the American Battlefield Trust. But this is just the modern incarnation of work begun before the Revolutionary War had even ended. Learn more about the how efforts to save hallowed ground across the centuries.
Explore Preservation History
Saving Morris Island
On July 18, 1863, the 54th Massachusetts, a regiment of African Americans commanded by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, led the assault on Battery Wagner...
What Might Have Been: Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
There is no better way to get an accurate sense of what the Trust has accomplished in the last 30 years than by examining sites that could have been...
The Land Before the National Park Service Began
Created separately and with different purpose from the vast nature preserves of the West, America's battlefield parks took a long, often circuitous...
Preservation of the First Day's Battlefield
The Gettysburg Battlefield is, quite possibly, the best preserved and best memorialized Civil War site in the country, thanks to a process that began...
Success Stories: The Harris Farm, Spotsylvania Court House
In May 1989, the fledgling Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites (APCWS) scored its second-ever save when it formally took title to 1.5...
What Might Have Been: Fredericksburg, Virginia
There is no better way to get an accurate sense of what the Trust has accomplished in the last 35 years than by examining sites that could have been...