[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 62 (Wednesday, April 18, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4670-S4671]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               CIVIL WAR BATTLEFIELD PRESERVATION PROGRAM

  Mr. WEBB. Mr. President, today I wish to discuss an issue that has 
held a special place in my life for many years, the preservation of our 
Nation's civil war battlefields. Our historic battlefields--outdoor 
classrooms where visitors may walk in the very footsteps of heroes from 
past generations--are

[[Page S4671]]

under threat. More than 200,000 acres of historically significant 
battlefield land remain unprotected and are threatened by development 
pressures. That is why I urge my colleagues to fully fund the Civil War 
Battlefield Protection Program. This arm of the National Park Service 
is an invaluable tool to preserve our Nation's history.
  In 1990, Congress established the Civil War Sites Advisory 
Commission, a blue-ribbon panel empowered to investigate the status of 
America's remaining Civil War battlefields. Congress also tasked the 
Commission with the mission of prioritizing these battlefields 
according to their historic importance and the threats to their 
survival. The Commission ultimately looked at the 10,000-plus battles 
and skirmishes of the Civil War and determined that 384 priority sites 
should be preserved. The results of the report were released in 1993 
and they were not encouraging.
  The 1993 Commission report recommended that Congress create a $10 
million-a-year emergency program to save threatened Civil War 
battlefield land. The result was the Civil War Battlefield Preservation 
Program. To date, the Preservation Program, working with its partners, 
has saved 14,100 acres of land in 15 States.
  The key to the success of the Preservation Program is that it 
achieves battlefield preservation through collaborative partnerships 
between State and local governments, the private sector and nonprofit 
organizations, such as the Civil War Preservation Trust. Matching 
grants provided by the program protect lands outside of the National 
Park Service boundaries and do not add to the Park Service's 
maintenance costs.
  But for the Preservation Program and their partners with the Civil 
War Preservation Trust, we would have lost key sites from such national 
shrines at Antietam. Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, Manassas, 
Harpers Ferry, Bentonville, Mansfield, and Champion Hill. Their names 
still haunt us to this day. Had the Civil War Battlefield Preservation 
Program not intervened, the sites would have been lost forever to 
commercial and residential development. Now they have been protected 
for future generations to enjoy and learn about our Nation's history. 
They are islands of greenspace in a seemingly endless sea of commercial 
sprawl.
  The need to protect our Nation's battlefields is far too great for 
any one well-intentioned Federal program. That is why the partnership 
with the Civil War Preservation Trust is so critical. This visionary 
preservation group is able to work with other foundations, State and 
local governments and their membership to match Federal funds by 100 
percent. How often can we tout such an achievement with other Federal 
programs? The trust receives no financial gain from the Preservation 
Program and, working with their non-Federal partners, has raised more 
than $30 million to secure key battlefield sites in 15 States. They are 
in this fight for all the right reasons. This partnership truly serves 
as a model in bringing all stakeholders to the table to tackle pressing 
national issues.
  For me, these hallowed grounds, these living memorials to the 620,000 
Americans who sacrificed their lives to fight in the Civil War, have 
special, personal significance. Ancestors of mine fought on both sides 
during the war, including William Jewell, who was wounded in the Battle 
of Cedar Mountain in Culpeper County, VA, wounded again at Antietam and 
was finally killed in action at Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863. It is 
not every day you can visit these battlefield sites and have an 
immediate, direct connection with your ancestors. We must preserve 
these sites so that future generations might see and touch the very 
places where so many sacrifices were made, by soldiers and civilians 
alike, to settle the unresolved issues from the American Revolution of 
slavery and sovereignty. We are a stronger, more diverse and genuinely 
free nation because of these sacrifices.
  I would remind my colleagues that the Preservation Program has 
enjoyed bipartisan, bicameral support since its creation. In 2002, 
program funding was authorized through the Civil War Battlefield 
Preservation Act at the level recommended by the Civil War Sites 
Advisory Commission--$10 million a year. The clock is ticking against 
these threatened historical sites given the pace of commercial 
development. Just last month, the Civil War Preservation Trust released 
its list of the 10 most threatened battlefield sites. Among them: 
Gettysburg; Fort Morgan, Alabama; Marietta, Georgia and three sites in 
the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 5 years there may be little left to 
protect. That is why I am here today to urge my colleagues to join me 
in requesting the full, authorized amount for the Preservation Program. 
These Federal funds will leverage millions more in private and other 
charitable donations; thereby increasing the trust's ability to 
preserve more threatened battlefield sites.
  When the ``Soldiers' National Cemetery'' was dedicated at the 
Gettysburg battlefield in November 1863, President Lincoln spoke 
eloquently of the imperative to honor those who had given their ``last 
full measure of devotion'' 4 months earlier. The Civil War Battlefield 
Preservation Program allows us to carry on Lincoln's vision. I urge my 
colleagues to join me in seeking full funding for the program this 
fiscal year.

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