Experts: Suburbs Threaten Old Battlefields

These developers have sticky fingers, and at the end of the day, could really give a rat's ass about preservation of hallowed grounds. On the other hand, siding with preservationists could create an opening for Democrats in the South seeking the votes of white conservatives: these are people who take the preservation of their battlefields very seriously.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=10&u=/ap/20050224/ap_on_re_us/historic_battlefields

WASHINGTON - They're often considered hallowed ground, where some of the most famous Civil War battles were fought, but preservationists say sprawl and development are devouring an acre every hour.

"This generation will decide what is saved and what is not saved," said James Lighthizer, president of the Civil War Preservation Trust.

At the current rate, Lighthizer says it will only take a decade — two at most — for remaining historic battlefields to be lost. On Thursday, the trust released a list of the 10 most threatened sites — stretching from Louisiana in the South up to Virginia and west to Missouri.

More than 100 others could easily have made the list, said Lighthizer, whose group has helped save 21,000 acres of battlefields in 19 states in the last few years.

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I worked in the county historic preservation office while in graduate school and in the two years I was there we regularly fought with developers to preserve Civil War sites from the Battle of Kennesaw Mtn and the Battle for Atlanta. We had barrels of artifacts unearthed at construction sites all over the county.