Spotsylvania County is now a battlefield

The Washington Post has published an article - too frivolous for my taste - on the radical strategy of declaring an entire Virginia county to be one endangered battlefield. The authors of this error, Civil War Preservation Trust, are fairly honest about their motives:

"When we ask for money, they are more likely to give for places like Spotsylvania than for relatively unknown sites in the country. There is a financial incentive on our part to be more involved in Spotsylvania County."

Observe closely. The reporter asked about declaring an entire county to be an endagered battlefield and the CWPT had no answer ready - except its own self-interest.

CWPT is lucky to have a sympathetic government in Spotsylvania at the moment. They are going to need that support, now that they have declared war on every developer, large and small, in that county, through this foolhardy action. They say they are raising a warchest for Spotsylvania interventions.

I'm reminded of Lincoln's rhetorical question to McClellan after he requested permission to fire his corps commanders. To paraphrase: Do you really feel strong enough to put your boot on the throat of Spotsylvania commerce and construction and keep it there?

* You have shown an utter inability to define danger or prioritize conservation.

* You have forfeited any claim to the interpretation of historical significance.

* You appear planless except in raising money.

* You have given no comprehensible reason for declaring an entire county to be one endangered battlefield.

* You have dragged your cause into the gutter of local politics and staked your victory on friendly politicians staying in power and supporting you indefinitely.

Meanwhile, CWPT's link to its own report remains broken.

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Endangered battlefields, listed or not

Will parse Civil War Preservation Trust's endangered battlefield list next week.

You can read ahead here.

Meanwhile, on the day of the CWPT press conference, eighty homes were approved for construction at the site of the Rappahannock Station battle in Virginia's Fauquier County. It somehow failed to make "the most endangered battlefield list" on the day it was wiped out.

Which leads to the question of criteria and methodologies, don't you think?

CWPT and total war

At a time when Civil War Preservation Trust and its allies should be in private negotiations to buy Morris Island, near Charleston, at a time when the island is for sale to any and all, CWPT is waging a very public campaign to humiliate the seller.

* In an article appearing Feb. 17, CWPT referred to an attempt to auction the island on eBay as "stupid." The seller, Harry Huffman gently replied that he would sell the island to preservationists at a discount to the asking price and that "We're just waiting for someone to come up with the money, and hopefully it will be the conservation people."

* Yesterday CWPT released an opinion poll conducted in Morris island's home county: "71 percent of those surveyed favored preservation of Morris Island so it can never be developed." In case Huffman did not get the message, local regulators were threatened as well:

Eight out of ten respondents stated that the county has a responsibility to protect Morris Island and other historic resources in the county. Seventy-seven percent of those polled revealed that they would be more likely to support public officials who advocate preservation of Morris Island.

* Also, yesterday, at the press conference announcing its annual list of 10 most endangered ACW sites, CWPT named Morris island the #2 most endangered site.

* At the same conference, CWPT sponsored a speaker who attacked Huffman's eBay ploy - "in addition to gently used Prada bags ... an irreplaceable landmark of black history is now up for grabs."

This is the Chancellorsville Battlefield playbook in use again, the one in which you blacken the seller's name and reputaion, enlist the government to move against him, and outrage popular sentiment on your behalf.

And in its war against the seller, CWPT is striking devil's bargains as usual. Its Morris Island poll results stated "Eighty percent of those polled said that they support preservation of the island for its importance as a habitat for endangered wildlife."

Folks, the goal is not to create a bird sanctuary but to put lots of us loudmouthed, foot stomping, arm-waving history buffs on the ground, is it not? And maybe some gun-firing re-enactors, too? Perhaps a construction crew might restore earthworks? Endangered wildlife use is the kiss of death for Civil War history use.

In its 2002 tax filings, CWPT showed $16 million in assets. It can buy Morris island in a moment with help from no one. This is a Punch and Judy show for donors, donors who equate pantomime with results.

The future of "preservation" - Kennesaw Mt.

Dan Brown, acting superintendent of Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, says the park itself is likely to survive, but not because of its historical significance. "People are basically using the park because it's one of the few open spaces left to stretch their legs and recreate," Brown said.

That's the future of ACW preservation given the current mania for multipurposing the land and partnering with state and federal park systems - the future is total oblivion for the historical meaning of the site.

If that's a good thing, you know which organizations to support. Go for it.

Heritage tourists and the color of money

I am surprised to learn that each year Civil War tourists drive to Mount Vernon to see the home of "the man who freed the slaves".

How do they even find their way there? Bus trips? And do they go home better informed or utterly confused?

And what about the tourists who think that Mount Vernon is Mount Rushmore? (See linked article, above.) It would almost be worth acting the docent to meet people like that.

And as long as they leave some smart dollars behind, what business is it of ours?

NEWS | Let's take a news break today.

Grimsley judges his profession

Mark Grimsley has weighed in with his take on the conference agenda of the Society for Military History:

The problem is that military historians have themselves painted the field into a corner that is far too small and is intellectually indefensible.

If you consider Civil War history as a subset of this problematic and indefensible field, you can add to that judgement, "The corner has been getting smaller since the Centennial."
Prof. Grimsley attributes politics to this dynamic; I say it is the market that has rewarded blowhard bestselling nonfiction writers who trade in defective but final and absolute judgements peddled to readers profoundly innocent of history.

When Mark Grimsley says, "They have made little effort to reach out to the many historians who examine war and military affairs through the lens of ... counterhegemonic actors," I would, for my context, reclassify "counterhegemonic actors" as "the losers" - the Union men in the South, the peace men in the North, the fired generals, the Democrats, the deserters, the failed politicians, the starved-to-death widows and orphans, ad infinitum. I would add also that the floor painting started when the great names in Civil War publishing decided Civil War could be explained entirely in terms of military conflict and military conflict boiled down to land battles of annihilation.

"Counterhegemonic actors" of the ACW (let's call them "persons") have been finding their way into new offerings from small presses over the last five years, but the vastly ignorant center continues to hold in this little corner of the non-fiction publishing world, awarding its prizes and spending its royalties.

Markets change. This one will, too.

"History Under Siege" due today

Civil War Preservation Trust will release its endangered battlefields report today, "History Under Siege." If the report appears on CWPT's website or if the press conference is reported later today, I'll post comment then.

Generally, these reports lack any discernible methodology for classifying "danger." According to this preview news item, CWPT will place the entire Virginia County of Spotsylvania on its list of most endangered sites.

I hope this is false. It would be an enormously counterproductive stunt. One history-loving Virginian building his home near mine told me that he feared these people, whom he characterized as irresponsible and willing to stop any development anywhere on the slightest ACW connection.

If Spotsylvania County is named as a single Civil War site, expect a public backlash, maybe a dramatic one.

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I thought Prof. McPherson was the last word

... in history so brutally compressed as to become parody. But I was wrong. Economics Professor Brad DeLong takes a shot at the McPherson crown.

Military historians gather

Mark Grimsley is inviting comments on this agenda for the upcoming meeting of the Society for Military History.

The question is whether these topics would embolden a school administrator to get a military history slot funded at any major university. See what you think.

National crackdown on easements begins

The creation of land use covenants that restrict development, construction, and improvement has been the cornerstone of Civil War preservation activity, especially by Civil War Preservation Trust. The Trust even uses language like "permanent" and "forever" to describe these types of agreements (misleadingly called "easements").

As pointed out here previously, restrictive use covenants came under attack nationwide in the late 19th Century and were largely outlawed state by state under so-called mortmain laws; the living at that time would not be trammeled by the dead in their enjoyment of property. The decline of anti-covenant sentiment since WWI is a temporary phenomenon of culture, politics, and demographics; and as the 19th Century proved, a single sitting of any state legislature can enact mortmain legislation, sweeping away in a moment all easements on record. Covenants may use language like "permanent" or "eternal" but that does not make things so. The only real protection available to a battlefield is bestowed by private (not public) ownership and a private commitment not to develop, not to multipurpose the land.

I expect to see population pressures in Washington and Northern Virginia to result in laws that extinguish our expensive notional battlefield protections over the next 10-20 years. Meanwhile, the federal government has opened an indirect attack on these covenants:

The Joint Committee on Taxation of the U.S. Congress has recommended radical cutbacks in the tax deductions for easement donors. The report recommends: cutting the deductions for donating an easement by two-thirds; eliminating deductions for donations of easements on land where the landowner lives -- meaning that farmers who live on their land would receive no tax deduction whatsoever; and limiting deductions for donations of property to the landowner's basis in the property.

The temptation of your favorite Civil War preservationists might be to rally you to spend time and money fighting this legislative development. Don't be distracted.

The mission of a save-the-battlefields group can only be to buy and manage Civil War property. All else is make-believe. The easement dream is fading. Lets get down to real preservation.

Challenge mounted against renaming school

When is honoring a U.S. ACW Navy veteran, a Medal of Honor winner, a bad idea?

When a school committee makes the decision without parental input. And when there is no evidence that the honoree is from the town in which the school is located.

Have a look.

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Washington, Lincoln, Davis, Trenton

We are pretty well aware that Lincoln read Parson Mason Weems' account of Washington's Life and that he was most deeply impressed by the Battle of Trenton:

May I be pardoned if, upon this occasion, I mention that away back in my childhood, the earliest days of my being able to read, I got hold of a small book, such a one as few of the younger members have ever seen, "Weem's Life of Washington." I remember all the accounts there given of the battle fields and struggles for the liberties of the country, and none fixed themselves upon my imagination so deeply as the struggle here at Trenton, New Jersey. The crossing of the river; the contest with the Hessians; the great hardships endured at that time, all fixed themselves on my memory more than any single Revolutionary event; and you all know, for you have all been boys, how these early impressions last longer than any others.

I don't recall if it was Archer Jones or Herman Hattaway or the two together who proposed, citing additional sources, that Trenton may have served Lincoln as a military paradigm for the early Civil War.

Trenton was or could be a paradigm: secrecy, speed, dash, decision, and a huge political payout. Trenton could be a false paradigm, too: an overly complex plan that would fail if either column failed; an execution dependent on guides, with no commander knowing the ground; and a magnification of risk via night attack.

In his book April 1865, Jay Winik takes some trouble to explain that with Richmond in ruins, Davis' vision of continued war was not about guerilla bands and bushwhacking, it was Trenton writ large. It would be a Continental Army gathering at supply points, striking at a strung-out foe, collecting political momentum from a series of small, decisive strikes.

There are foreshadowings of Civil War military themes in the battle. Here are a few, all selected from the same article. The emphasis is mine:

Howe had ... hoped to have victory without a great deal of bloodshed.

Rall was ordered to build field works needed to defend the town, but did not. Rall told one of his officers who wanted to build redoubts-"Let them come! We want no trenches! We'll use the bayonet!"

Howe lost a major chance to end the war by stopping for the winter instead of "foreclosing the mortgage" as one of his officers called it.

Von Donop, commanding at Burlington, learned of the battle from fleeing Hessians who had escaped. Their estimates of the size of the force with Washington were exaggerated. [...] Von Donop moved first to Allentown, NJ, then to Princeton, to resist attacks that were just rumors.

"Lincoln is an empty vessel for dreamers and schemers"

Here's a nice article on the commercialization of all things Lincoln.

Today, Abraham Lincoln is an empty vessel for dreamers and schemers, for humorists and educators and trinket salesmen and appliance dealers looking to add a bit of cachet to Presidents Day sales.

The perfect Lincoln quote:

"I have endured a great deal of ridicule without much malice, and have received a great deal of kindness not quite free from ridicule."

Here we go again: hardballing the CWPT way

The Morris Island situation in South Carolina is following the Chancellorsville and Mullins Farm template. Bad things are happening.

The situation begins with a lowball appraisal. You can hire someone to give you a lowball appraisal, or you can err wildly on the side of cheapness by misclassifying the land in question. Near Chancellorsville, on land not zoned, electrified or connected to water or sewage, the preservationist's transparent game was to pretend that this was farmland - and to demand the right to buy it for farmland prices, even though the surrounding parcels were commercial and residential.

At Chancellorsville, the seller, John Mullins, was faced with Civil War Preservation Trust trying to scoop up his property for farmland prices in a public campaign denouncing his sellers' offers; he was also publicly portrayed as venal. Mullins' response was to break off dealings with CWPT. He would not sell to preservationists, which is how we arrived at the convoluted deal in which Mullins sold to Tricord, then Tricord tries to sell some pieces to CWPT.

In South Carolina, a developer named Harry Huffman has been trying to get Morris Island's zoning upgraded from two homes to 20. His permit requests are in and he has the right to imagine they may be approved. He owns the island and has been testing the market with a $12.5 million price. Now get this:

Blake Hallman of the Morris Island Coalition believes the island should be made available at the $4.1 million amount it was appraised for in 2001.

This is an absurd statement by any measure, but if it is a negotiating ploy, it is one that needs to be made in private to the seller, not via newspaper. Huffman is surprisingly gentle with this clumsy display. "He says he will charge a conservation buyer considerably less than $12.5 million." The Mullins reaction has not kicked in yet.

So you have your two bargaining positions outlined publicly: go into some office, close the door and get to work.

When Huffman garnered publicity for the sale with a failed eBay auction, the certified deal-breakers at CWPT felt obliged to weigh in:

"This is a stupid publicity gimmick," says Jim Campi, spokesman for the Civil War Preservation Trust, which placed Morris Island on its list of the 10 endangered battlegrounds in the country. "It is a ham-handed attempt to ignore negotiations with preservationists."

Ham-handed? You are publicly calling Huffman "stupid" in the name of preservation organizations and you want favorable consideration?

CWPT is leading the Morris Island Coalition, so I expect a repeat of their Chancellorsville fiasco. They are again publicizing a lowball price they are willing to pay while working to embarass the seller into accepting it. If the Morris island Coalition does not put CWPT into the background on this, expect little good.

Think win-win and leave the scorched earth to Sheridan.

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Lincoln Museum round-up:

"I had no real concept that a presidential library could be taken to that level of interpretation. This isn't the Lincoln who's in your fifth-grade history book."

Opening events have gotten a website.

Lincoln museum counting the days 'til opening.

Special effects company issues press release.

And an indication that the Chicago Sun-Times has finally wiped sleep from its eyes (but just barely).