[Press release, reposted from TalkAntietam]

PARK SERVICE STUDY AFFIRMS LOCATION & SIZE OF SHEPHERDSTOWN CIVIL WAR BATTLEFIELD

In an update of the 1993 Report on the Nation’s Civil War Battlefields, the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission (CWSAC) has provided information that sites the location of the 1862 Battle of Shepherdstown and provides more information about the actual size of the core of the battlefield. The report concludes that the core of the battlefield, as defined, is 1,534.4 acres; 1,034.64 acres in West Virginia (WV) and 499.76 acres in Maryland (MD). More importantly, the study concludes that the potential National Register boundary amounts to 4,259.32 acres; 2,502.71 acres in WV and 1,756.61 acres in MD. The report notes that four WV battlefields, including the Shepherdstown site, “have the largest percentages of Study Area land to land potentially eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places land. The ABPP (American Battlefield Protection Program of the National Park Service) believes that all of these battlefields should be viewed as higher priorities for preservation.

Edward Dunleavy, speaking as President of the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association Inc. (SBPA) stated that: “this report should finally put to rest the insistence by some that the battle took place only on the bluffs over looking the Potomac River. Not only was the fighting over a large area of northern Jefferson County, the importance of the battle is not to be under-estimated. General Robert E. Lee intended to continue the Maryland Campaign and, on September 19, 1862, after retreating from MD, issued orders to the Army of Northern Virginia to cross the Potomac back into MD at Williamsport. An important reason that Lee changed those orders and retreated south was the Battle of Shepherdstown which convinced Lee that the Union Army of the Potomac was pursuing his troops aggressively. Two days later President Abraham Lincoln was able to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.”

The Civil War Battlefield Preservation Act of 2002 directed “the Secretary of Interior acting through the American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) of the National Park Service, to update the … (CWSAC) Report on the Nation’s Civil War Battlefields.” Funding for the update was provided by Congress in Fiscal Year 2005 and 2007.Early this month the report for WV was released and provided information about each battlefield relative to the size of: 1) the study area; 2) the core area; and 3) the potential National Register boundary area.

“The Study Area represents the historic extent of the battle as it unfolded across the landscape.” It contains the area in which the troops were maneuvered and deployed immediately before, during and after combat. In the case of the Battle of Shepherdstown, the study area totals 4,549.21 acres; 2,792.6 in WV and 1,756.61 in MD. “Historic accounts, terrain analysis and feature identification inform the delineation of the Study Area boundary.”

“The Core Area represents the areas of fighting on the battlefield. Positions that delivered or received fire, and the intervening space and terrain between them, fall within the Core Area.” This is frequently described as “hallowed ground”. “On current WV maps,” Dunleavy stated, “this area is approximately from Teague Run in the west to Rattlesnake Run in the east and as far south as Engle-Moler Road and Aspen Pool Farm. In MD, the area runs from Ferry Hill in the west to about Millers Sawmill Road in the East and approximately 3/8 of a mile north of the Potomac.

SBPA continues to focus on trying to save the “core” of the “core” or about 300 acres. “Our focus is on that area where most of the fighting occurred in WV”, stated Dunleavy, “it remains in relatively pristine condition and would be perfect for a Civil War Battlefield Park, not only preserving `hallowed ground’ but encouraging heritage tourism in Jefferson County.

Dr. Thomas Clemens, a noted Civil War historian, a Board member of SBPA and the President of Save Historic Antietam Foundation (SHAF) commented that “much of the battlefield site in MD is included within the C & O Canal National Park. In addition, many historians view the Shepherdstown Battle as the end of the Battle of Antietam and the SHAF has been active for more than 20 years in preserving battlefield land in MD.”

A copy of the CWSAC report can be obtained at: http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/CWSII/CWSIIStateReportWV.htm

*************************************
For Immediate Release – February 17, 2010
Shepherdstown, West Virginia

For more information, contact:
Edward E. Dunleavy
President,
Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association Inc.
(917) 747 – 5748

The Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association Inc. (SBPA), organized in 2004, is a non-profit, Section 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to saving and preserving the site of the 1862 Battle of Shepherdstown. SBPA has preserved 84 acres by way of conservation easements granted by members who own property on the site. For more information and to purchase the book entitled: Shepherdstown: Last Clash of the Antietam Campaign September 19 – 20, 1862 ; please visit www.battleofshepherdstown.org

I’m happy to report success in updating our underlying blog software to the current version of Word Press this afternoon. I’m slightly embarrassed to tell you this is the first upgrade since the original installation of nearly four years ago.

There were some blips along the way, but generally it was a smooth transition. An upgrade (4.x to 5.0) was required to the mySQL database, but no other major changes were needed to get it back up. Total time was about an hour.

In addition to the obvious security and support fixes, the upgrade will let me add features like the new listing of recent main-site AotW updates in the blog sidebar.

Iron Antietam plaque

A correspondent has asked us to identify this interesting object, recently purchased. She has heard it may have been something people put on houses that survived the War – perhaps especially in or near Sharpsburg.

I’d appreciate hearing from anyone who can help identify it a little more surely. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before.

I’ve just had an email from J.P. Rogers, a serving Army officer who is researching Private Oliver Cromwell Case, 8th Connecticut Infantry. Case was killed in action on 17 September 1862.

JP has being doing this work since coming upon Case’s personal Bible in 1993, and has recently begun posting what he finds on a blog called Oliver Cromwell Case: The Story of a Soldier.

A particularly poignant piece he’s found comes in a letter written by Oliver’s brother Alonzo of the 16th Infantry …

… some time that afternoon [19 Sept] we found the body of our brother we were looking after. He was no doubt killed instantly the bullet having passed through his head just about the top of his ears. We wrapped him in my blanket and carried him to the spot where the 16th dead were to be buried having first got permission from the Colonel of the Eighth and the 16th to do so. The 16th men were buried side by side in a trench and they dug a grave about 6 [feet] from them and we deposited the remains of my brother and that having first pinned a paper with his name and age on the inside of the blanket. Then they put up boards to each with name and Regiment on them. His body lay there until December when father went there and brought the body to Simsbury where it now lies to mingle with the sole of his native town.

Do pay Private Case a visit, won’t you?