American Battlefield Trust Launches $100,000 Fredericksburg Fundraising Effort

(Fredericksburg, Va) — As Fredericksburg marks 162 years since the Civil War swept through the city’s streets, the American Battlefield Trust seeks contributors to fulfill its $100,000 year-end payment requirement toward a 7.5-acre property once zoned for 34 townhouses.

“My team and I used to point to this very tract and promise each other that if it ever became available, we would be the ones to buy it. When I saw that it could be developed for townhouses, I was crushed,” said Trust president David Duncan. “Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we secured it. And now, by raising the needed funds, we can put it on the path to be saved forever.”

Trust officials negotiated a contract with the longtime owners that allowed for included regular installment payments to meet the $1.5 million asking price — including the $100,000 now due by year’s end. 

Located on the eastern side of Lee’s Hill (or Telegraph Hill), these 7.5 acres were the site of artillery positions, observation areas, and command posts during two battles — December 1862 and the less-famous Second Battle of Fredericksburg in May 1863. Building 34 houses on this twice-hallowed land would destroy the sanctity of the land — paving and plumbing and digging basements and roads would be completely irreparable and rob generations to come of the irreplaceable history that unfolded on this land.  

Urged by President Lincoln to move quickly against his opponents, newly appointed commander of the Army of the Potomac Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside arrived in Fredericksburg, Va., in December 1862. The ensuing battle was one of the largest and deadliest of the Civil War with more than 200,000 combatants and 18,500 casualties. It witnessed the first opposed river crossing in American military history, as well as some of the deadliest urban combat of the Civil War. 

Gen. Robert E. Lee selected Telegraph Hill as his headquarters and an important artillery and observation point for the Army of Northern Virginia and much of the Confederate high command is documented to have been present.  It was here that, despite the decisive Confederate victory, Lee uttered the famous phrase: “It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise, we should grow too fond of it.”  

Although overshadowed by simultaneous combat to the west at Chancellorsville, on May 3, 1863, Union forces overwhelmed the Confederate rearguard at the Second Battle of Fredericksburg. Once the Union regiments seized Telegraph Hill, they placed their own batteries on Telegraph Road and shelled the Confederate position on Marye’s Heights to the north. While the battery position is not known with certainty, these Union batteries may have overlapped with the 7.5 acres the Trust is working to save.

From a grassroots organization started by historians 30 years ago, the American Battlefield Trust has grown into one of the most successful private heritage land preservation organizations in the nation. The Trust is dedicated to preserving America’s hallowed battlegrounds and educating the public about what happened there and why it matters today. The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization has protected more than 58,000 acres associated with the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War, representing more than 160 sites in 25 states. Its 350,000 members and supporters believe in the power of place and the continued relevance of history as a means to fully understand our rights and responsibilities as Americans.  Learn more at www.battlefields.org.