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
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...
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...
Dan Sickles: The Battlefield Preservationist
This page describes General Daniel E. Sickles's preservation efforts at the Gettysburg Battlefield after the Civil War.
What Might Have Been: Spring Hill, Tennessee
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...
Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Preservation
The first Revolutionary War preservation efforts began before the war even ended. Congress authorized a monument commemorating the victory at Yorktown...
Preservation of the Second Day's Battlefield
On the afternoon and evening of July 2, 1863, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac engaged in an awful struggle...