Executive Summary

Protecting these battlefields preserves an important educational asset for the nation because:

• Seeing the battlefield is basic to an understanding of military campaigns and battles while the latter are crucial to comprehending all other aspects of the Civil War.
• To be upon a battlefield is to experience an emotional empathy with the men and, in fact, the women who fought there.
• Clashing convictions and the determination to defend them cost the nation 620,000 lives.
• The values tested and clarified in that great conflict are what continue to bind the nation together today.

Today, more than one-third of all principal Civil War battlefields are either lost or are hanging onto existence by the slenderest of threads. It is not too late to protect the remaining battlefields if the nation acts swiftly. If it does not act now, however, within 10 years we may lose fully two-thirds of the principal battlefields.

The Primary Battlefield Findings

The Battlefield Sites: Some 10,500 armed conflicts occurred during the Civil War ranging from battles to minor skirmishes; 384 conflicts (3.7 percent) were identified as the principal battles and classified according to their historic significance.

Class A and B battlefields represent the principal strategic operations of the war. Class C and D battlefields usually represent operations with limited tactical objectives of enforce- ment and occupation.

• 45 sites (12%) were ranked "A" (having a decisive influence on a campaign and a direct impact on the course of the war);
• 104 sites (27%) were ranked "B" (having a direct and decisive influence on their campaign);
• 128 sites (33%) were ranked "C" (having observable influence on the outcome of a campaign);
• 107 sites (28%) were ranked "D" (having a limited influence on the outcome of their campaign or operation but achieving or affecting important local objectives).

The 384 principal battles occurred in 26 states. States with fifteen or more include: Virginia (123), Tennessee (38), Missouri (29), Georgia (28), Louisiana (23), North Carolina (20), Arkansas (17), and Mississippi (16).

Some counties, such as Henrico and Dinwiddie counties in Virginia and Charleston County in South Carolina have a great concentration of battlefields. Yet, even in Virginia, where two great armies fought for most of four years, only one-third of the counties have any of the principal Civil War battlefields.

Forty-three percent of the battlefields are completely in private ownership. An additional 49 percent are under multiple kinds of ownership (e.g., private, state, and Federal). Only 4 percent of the principal battlefields are owned primarily by the Federal, state, or local governments.

Their Condition: Nineteen percent (71) of the Civil War battlefields are already lost as intact historic landscapes. Half of the 232 principal battlefields that currently are in good or fair condition are now experiencing high or moderate threats. Most of these sites will be lost or seriously fragmented within the coming 10 years, many very soon. Only one-third of the principal battlefields currently face low threats.

Their Preservation: Some 22 percent of the principal battlefields (84) have been listed in, or determined eligible for, the National Register of Historic Places.

Sixteen battlefields are designated National Historic Landmarks; 58 are partly or entirely included within the boundaries of National park units; 37 principal battlefields have some state park ownership. Many of these parks protect only very small areas of the battlefield.

Principal Recommendations

Government Leadership:

• The Federal and state governments need to define directions for battlefield protection. In particular, the national goal should be to provide a national assemblage of key battlefield locations consisting of as many of the 384 sites in the Commission's inventory as can be protected. Such an assemblage of sites is a vital national resource for conveying basic American themes and values that keep us from fragmenting into competing cultures.

• Because of their strategic character and national significance, the Class A and B sites should be an interest or responsibility of the Federal government as well as state and local governments, non-profits, and other private entities.

• The Class C and D battlefields, representing tactical operations, usually were of state or local significance and should be a primary interest or responsibility of state or local governments, or of private entities.

• The Federal government should continue to provide technical support to non-Federal battlefield protection groups. Also, it should work with Federal agencies that own battlefields to ensure they are properly managed.

• The Commission recommends adopting the four priority groups covering the 384 battlefields in its inventory. Priority I consists of 50 Class A and B sites in good or fair condition facing high or moderate threats. These should be the principal focus of Civil War battlefield preservation efforts until the year 2000.

• With the Commission's overview, national and state park systems should define the extent of battlefields that should be brought into their management. The remainder would be the focus of private and non-profit organizational efforts. This will clarify intentions among preservation organizations and end piecemeal approaches to battlefield protection.

• National and state battlefield park agencies should refine their park boundary recommendations in light of recent historical research by the Commission and others. They also should work with local governments to prepare comprehensive plans for the protection of battlefield parks from external threats to their integrity.

• The Resolution Trust Corporation and similar Federal agencies should have authority to transfer significant battlefield lands to the National Park Service, state or local governments, or to qualified non-profit organizations.

• Battlefield land owners need better incentives and opportunities to be effective stewards. Present Federal tax policies largely discourage preservation of Civil War battlefields, and several specific changes are recommended.

• States need to help owners who want to be more economically competitive with their historic land; among the possibilities are transfer of development rights and exemptions from property taxes for land under permanent conservation easements.

• The Federal and state governments also could create opportunities for owners to take more direct responsibility for maintenance of historic features through a program of long-term contracts. These would remunerate owners for some active service associated with protecting the battlefield. This approach extends the area of resource protection without removing land from either private ownership or local tax rolls.

• The Federal and state governments should cooperate to design and adopt a uniform recreational use statute to provide effective tort liability limitations for private owners wishing to permit access to their land by the public seeking to view and enjoy historic battlefields.

• Private Civil War battlefield land holding and management organizations would address several current problems: the fact that there are a large number of significant battlefields that are not protected, that governments all have severe budget problems and are not likely to create many new park units, and that there are regions with significant local resistance to additional Federal or state land acquisition.

• All of the significant battlefields, whether protected or not, need a "friends" group to develop community support for preservation and to articulate the needs of "their" battlefield to government or private organizations that can help bring about preservation.

• In order for local governments to effectively integrate battlefield protection into local plans for educational, economic, and environmental development, it is essential that they have access to authoritative information on the location and significance of battlefield historic features. The Commission is arranging for its records to be available through the National Park Service, but these materials still need refinement.

• With adequate information in hand, local governments should work closely with battlefield park authorities and private owners to protect sites through coordination with state or local plans for open space or recreation areas, zoning, historic districts, and other land uses. Communities should weigh carefully the relative costs of allowing development to impinge on historic battlefields versus channeling such development away and protecting the authentic historic site. If communities do this, they retain the basis for an additional local industry in the form of heritage tourism.

• Heritage tourism is a frequently successful means of preserving important parts of the nation's historic heritage while also bringing jobs and revenue to a community. Above all, it depends on retaining an authentic historic resource. States and communities have many tools available to help private and non-profit owners maintain an authentic historic environment: property tax abatement, revolving funds, guaranteed loans, conservation easements, earmarking the use of certain tax revenues for preservation, and more.

• For Federal and state battlefield acquisition to move forward successfully and not create new divisions, agencies should acquire land only from willing sellers except in the rarest of circumstances.

• Federal and state park authorities need to continue to acquire battlefield park lands they have already authorized.

• Federal and state governments also need to contribute financially to non-governmental protection programs; often the need is only to legitimize the recipient's program. In virtually all cases, such assistance should be on a matching basis and should go toward protection of the Priority I sites.

• Local and private groups should also seriously look at the Federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) as a source of acquisition and development funds.

• Private sector fund-raising should occur nationally, as well as locally. The Civil War Battlefield Commemorative Coin Act of 1992 will begin to produce revenue in 1995 for battlefield land acquisition. Battlefield protection fund-raising has for some time been based on specific philanthropic benefactors. We hope this will continue, but it also is time for battlefield protection to benefit from nationwide marketing.

Technical Support:

• The National Park Service has been providing technical support to Federal and non-federal agencies and groups on all aspects of battlefield resource documentation, planning, management, resource protection, and interpretation. This should continue; it is a vital component of the locally-based programs developing in many places.

• Where appropriate, State Historic Preservation Officers and the National Park Service should consider nominations of battlefields in the Commission's inventory for the National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmark designation.

• Civil War battlefields and related sites hold an abiding interest for adults. They also are important resources for educating children. Heritage education lesson plans for local schools and other educational activities are important for building the local consensus for battlefield preservation over the long-term.

• The National Park Service and National Trust for Historic Preservation heritage education program "Teaching with Historic Places" is an excellent model for use in local schools to teach the significance of Civil War sites, including battlefields.

Enact a "Civil War Heritage Preservation" law that supplements existing historic preservation and park land acquisition programs and includes the following new provisions.

1. Adopt a national policy to protect these principal battlefields and related sites through cooperative efforts of Federal, state, and local governments and private groups and individuals using, whenever possible, the established National historic preservation partnership. The Commission suggests the following language be considered as embodying its findings.

   The Congress finds and declares that:

   • Historically significant sites and structures in the United States associated with the Civil War should be preserved as a living part of our community life.

   • The preservation of such an irreplaceable part of our heritage is in the public interest so that the Civil War's vital legacy of cultural, military, historic, educational, environmental, inspirational, and economic benefits will be maintained for future generations of Americans.

   • Historically significant Civil War sites and structures are being lost, altered or damaged, often inadvertently, with increasing frequency; and governmental and non-governmental programs and activities are inadequate to insure future generations a genuine opportunity to appreciate and enjoy this rich aspect of our Nation's heritage.

   • The increased knowledge of our Civil War resources, the establishment of better means of identifying them, and the encouragement of their preservation will improve the planning and execution of Federal and federally assisted projects and will assist economic growth and development.

   • It is necessary and appropriate for the Federal government to accelerate its Civil War preservation programs and activities, to support and work in partnership with non-profit agencies undertaking such preservation by private means, and with state and local governments to expand and accelerate their Civil War preservation programs and activities.

   It shall be the policy of the Federal government in cooperation and partnership with the states, local governments, private organizations and individuals to:
   • Provide leadership, including provision of financial support and technical assistance, for the protection, preservation, and interpretation of our nation's Civil War heritage.

   • Administer federally owned or controlled Civil War parks, monuments, sites and other resources in a spirit of stewardship for the inspiration and benefit of present and future generations.

   • Support and work in partnership with private non-profit agencies, states and local governments to expand and accelerate their efforts to protect, preserve, and interpret our nation's Civil War heritage.

   • Encourage and recognize the efforts of individual members of the public to protect, preserve, and interpret our nation's Civil War heritage.

2. Establish an Emergency Civil War Battlefield Land Acquisition Program from the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF). This program would authorize appropriations at a Federal:non-Federal matching ratio of 50:50 for grants for non- Federal acquisition assistance. The grants would be directed at the Priority I sites (Table 7). This program should be funded at least at $10 million per year for a period of seven years. With the 50:50 matching ratio, the program should generate a total of $140 million with only a net Federal investment of $70 million out of the HPF. In addition to states, the authorization should qualify as grantees those major Civil War battlefield preservation non-profit organizations that are working closely with the Federal government to implement battlefield protection.

3. Establish a Civil War Battlefield Stewardship Pilot Program. The Federal government would enter into long-term (seven year) contractual agreements with private property owners at Priority I or II battlefields (Table 7) to restore or maintain historic settings, provide interpretive access, or other preservation and interpretation amenities. This pilot program should be authorized and funded at $2.5 million per annum for a trial period of at least seven years. The National Park Service should prepare a report to Congress on the effectiveness of this program after five years of operation and make recommendations about its continuation. This program should be modeled on and implemented, if possible, in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program.

4. Ensure public retention of significant battlefield lands by authorizing the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and other Federal institutions to transfer to the Department of the Interior, state, or local governments or to qualified non-profit battlefield preservation organizations, lands or contracts under their control for parcels encompassed within the Commission's inventory of 384 principal battlefields. The Commission estimates Federal revenue losses from this provision to not exceed $3-5 million.

5. Ensure the study of several highly significant campaigns and interpretive themes that currently are not protected in the National Park System (Table 4) by appropriating to the National Park Service funds needed to conduct studies of appropriate campaigns, themes, and sites to determine their suitability and feasibility for addition to the park system. Alternatively, the Service should determine whether some or all of these battlefields can be better protected through assistance to state park systems where such parks exist. Such a study of all campaigns and themes on Table 4 performed as a group should not require more than $500,000.

6. Ensure that acceptance of important battlefield lands that are outside currently authorized boundaries but are proposed for donation to the National Park System is not thwarted by procedural delays. Congress should devise a "fast-track" process for use in those rare instances when time is of the essence and other criteria are satisfied such as proximity to existing authorized boundaries, and support from the appropriate local governments.

7. Ensure continuing independent oversight of the implementation of these recommendations by authorizing the biennial reconstitution of the Commission for a brief period to review progress with Federal, state, local, and private agencies and individuals over the next seven years, and to report these findings to the Congress and the Secretary of the Interior.

Enact revisions to the United States tax code to provide incentives and remove disincentives for private owners to preserve significant battlefields.

1. Permit an executor or heirs to make a "post mortem" easement donation up to two years following a decedent's death to avoid forced sale of historic battlefield land.

2. Modify Section 2032(a) of the Estate Tax Code for Civil War battlefield owners to eliminate the dollar limitation and require that the decedents and beneficiaries materially participate in farming or business activities.

3. Convert the current Federal income tax deduction for charitable donation of historic land into an income tax credit.

4. Allow the full deduction for donation of appreciated historic property including land and conservation easements for individuals paying the alternative minimum tax.

5. Repeal the percentage of income limitation and the annual carry-forward limitations to allow full deduction of charitable gifts of appreciated property.

Creation Date: 3/14/95
DWL

Last Update 7/15/95 by VLC