The Fight to Save Civil War Battlefi elds


Scenic land where armies fought to determine the nation’s fate being sold to global developers.


Y BY DAVID A. PATTEN


orktown, gettysburg, manassas, shiloh — the great battlefi elds that shaped America are now themselves under fi re. Their insidious enemy — suburban encroach-


ment and multinational development. Each year, the con- dos, strip malls, and traffi c jams edge closer and closer to the national parks’ front gates. According to historians, today only about 20% of U.S.


historic battlefi eld lands remain under preservation. Much of the rest, they say, has been lost to the ravages of time. Some scenic lands near historic battlefi elds, where armies fought bloody battles to determine the nation’s fate,


38 NEWSMAX | DECEMBER 2024


are up for sale to global interests pushing development. Other stretches have been purchased and are now just


waiting for the resolution of lawsuits before construction begins.


Across America, a great struggle is underway between preservationists and multinational corporations, who are buying rural land in strategic areas to convert them into data farms, vast solar energy farms, online-merchandise warehouses, and mini malls. Those fi ghting to preserve U.S. history are warning time


is running short to save the great battlefi elds in America’s heartland. David Duncan, the CEO of American Battlefi eld Trust,


the nonprofi t that has saved approximately 60,000 acres of land where key battles were waged ranging from the American Revolution to the Civil War, sees the encroach- ment as another sign that America’s history is at risk of being erased.


NPS PHOTO


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