Civil War battlefield could be restored
By Christa Desrets
cdesrets@newsadvance.com
Tuesday, March 20, 2007

A historic spot where the Battle of Appomattox Station took place more than 140 years ago could be transformed into a battlefield once again.

Appomattox officials announced at a town meeting Monday that about 100 acres in the town could eventually become a restored battlefield.

But the feasibility of such an endeavor first has to be determined through a series of historical and archaeological studies paid for through a grant from the National Park, said Chris Calkins with the National Park Service.

A second public meeting with more information on the Battle of Appomattox Station Preservation Plan will be held May 22. Residents will be asked for input when the final results of the study are presented at a third meeting in the fall.

The land, located on and around wooded areas near the Jamerson Brothers Trucking Co., could become a park of sorts. The park would include tours, markers explaining historical significance, reproductions of Civil War weapons and re-enactments, said Philip Thomason, president of Thomason and Associates, one of two companies conducting the study.

Creating such a park could take years and much more grant money, said Scott Smith with the Region 2000 Local Government Council. But he was happy to see the start of a long-awaited study.

“It’s going to be up to the folks here in Appomattox to decide what to do,” he said. “We hope that the land will be preserved.”

 

Appomattox studies preserving battlefield

By the Associated Press
May 30, 2007
LYNCHBURG, Va. -- Appomattox officials are studying a plan to preserve a Civil War battlefield in the middle of town, along with an antebellum house in the woods near where the fighting took place.

The site, now owned by a trucking company, is in excellent shape, according to a preliminary report from the archaeological engineering firm compiling the preservation plan for the land where the Battle of Appomattox Station took place.

The wagon roads instrumental in the April 8, 1865, battle that led to the South's surrender at Appomattox Court House the following day mostly are visible from the ground. The one-story home is nearly in ruins, but can be fully restored, said Philip Thomason, director of Thomason & Associates.

"I've seen buildings in this condition or worse restored back," Thomason told the Appomattox Town Council at a recent meeting.

Though some parts of the 25-acre former battlefield had been logged, it remains largely undeveloped because its hills make it more difficult to use other than as farmland, Thomason said.

Preliminary recommendations from the study, which was paid for by a grant from the American Battlefield Protection Program, include figuring a way to purchase the several parcels of land that were part of the battlefield.

The story told at the Appomattox Court House national park is incomplete because it only shows the picture of the surrender, Thomason said.

"The reason you have the surrender is because of the fighting that took place all around here," he said. "It's not the bloodiest fight, but it's of great strategic importance."

It also was unique because the fighting involved mounted Union cavalry troops attacking about 28,000 Confederate artillery troops, Appomattox Court House historian Patrick Schroeder said.

"You don't have to just hit the man, you have to hit the horse," he said.

Schroeder urged town officials and representatives to start putting together a preservation group to save the battlefield.

Organizers expect a completed draft report within several weeks. The plan will then be reviewed by both local officials and the National Park Service. A meeting to discuss the proposal likely will happen by the end of the summer.

"It's a unique story that has been overlooked for a long time because people always focus on the surrender," Schroeder said. "They forget why the surrender took place."

Church to commemorate Battle of Dranesville

Gregg MacDonald

At the start of the Civil War, Union and Confederate troops met at Dranesville in a short, bloody battle that left more than 50 dead and 200 wounded.

Today, part of the battlefield belongs the Dranesville Church of the Brethren, a pacifist church that has resisted war for more than three centuries.

On Dec. 16, the Sunday closest to the anniversary of the battle, the congregation will gather to remember the battle and to pray for peace.

The Battle of Dranesville, one of the earliest in the Civil War, started Dec. 20, 1861, as Confederate troops under J.E.B. Stuart started out from their Centreville camp looking for winter forage for their horses. At the same time, Union troops set out looking for the same thing.

Both sides selected Dranesville for the same reason. The town, larger then than it is today, was a hotbed of secessionism, according to Dranesville Church of the Brethren parishioner and amateur historian John Waggoner.

“Our congregation has researched the battle and the men who fought in it. We’ve found the names of many of the men who died there, as well as copies of letters the survivors wrote about it – for many, their first battle,” he said.

According to Waggoner, local Dranesville farmers each owned an average of five to 10 slaves. Nearly all residents voted to secede from the Union. Stuart figured local farmers would aid the Confederate cause.

Union Brig. Gen. E.O.C. Ord thought that local sympathies would run toward Union troops – and aimed to get to Dranesville before the Confederates.

Shortly after noon, Union troops arrived in Dranesville. Ord set out with 10,000 men, but left 5,000 in reserve at Colvin Mill.

Ord took five regiments of infantry, one regiment of cavalry and a small artillery battery to Dranesville.

Stuart's troops arrived at about the same time. The flamboyant cavalry leader had about 2,500 men: four regiments of infantry, one of cavalry and one artillery battery.

The troops started skirmishing outside Dranesville, and soon fell into battle formation across Leesburg Pike.

Most of the action took place between Ord's artillery position near the present site of the church and down the hill toward the old town of Dranesville – near the present site of the Dranesville Tavern.

Waggoner said that a newspaper reporter described the three-hour battle as "one incessant firing."

Confederate troops mistakenly fired at each other in the confusion of their first battle.

Unusually accurate Union cannon fire blasted Stuart's artillery, killing six -- three by decapitation. Stuart got his hay wagons to safety and retreated to the Frying Pan meeting house.

Stuart claimed victory, but Confederate forces took the far greater casualties: 43 dead, 150 wounded.

Union forces had seven dead, 60 wounded. The North, which had been trounced earlier in the first Battle of Manassas and the disaster at Balls' Bluff, near Leesburg, hailed the battle as a great Union victory.

The Dranesville Church of the Brethren arrived about 50 years later, in 1903.

According to Waggoner, the Brethren, like the Quakers and Mennonites, have a long tradition of pacifism.

The Brethren congregation in Dranesville began worshiping at the Liberty Meeting House, now the Dranesville Methodist Church.

In 1912, they built their own meeting house in Dranesville. As it turned out, the donated land was where General Ord placed his cannons on Dec. 20, 1861, during the Battle of Dranesville.

The Brethren will hold a memorial peace service this Sunday.

“Our service starts with a candle lit for each man. As each name is read, one candle is extinguished, to symbolize the terrible human cost of war,” Waggoner said. “It’s an extremely moving service.”

The service will start at 7 p.m. at the Dranesville chapel, 11500 Leesburg Pike in Herndon.

A small exhibit on the battle -- including a few artifacts found near the church -- will be in the downstairs meeting hall. For information about the memorial service, call 703-430-7872.