Civil War Battlefield Grants

National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis today announced the award of more than $3.8 million in grants to help with land acquisition at six Civil War battlefields.  Grant projects include easement purchases at Cross Keys, Virginia ($181,125); Tom’s Brook, Virginia ($25,000); Buckland Mills, Virginia ($3,350,060); and fee simple acquisition at Mill Springs, Kentucky ($90,800); South Mountain, Maryland ($149,000); and Bentonville, North Carolina ($45,325).

“We are pleased to provide land acquisition grants to help safeguard these important American Civil War battlefields,” said Director Jarvis.  “Preserving these significant American sites as symbols of individual sacrifice and our national heritage for future generations is an important way to honor the courage and service of our nation’s military, especially as we commemorate the 150 ^th anniversary of the Civil War.”

The grants were made from the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) to help states and local communities acquire and preserve threatened Civil War battlefield land outside the boundaries of National Park units.  Priority was given to battlefields listed in the National Park Service’s Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report on the Nation’s Civil War Battlefields (CWSAC Report).  Funds were awarded based on the property’s location within CWSAC-defined core and/or study areas, the threat to the battlefield land to be acquired, and the availability of required non-Federal matching funds.

The grant funds were made available under the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011 (Public Law 112-10) and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012 (Public Law 112-74), which appropriated a combined $17,967,600 for the Civil War battlefield land acquisition grants program.  Applications for the balance of the funds are accepted at any time.

For further information, visit http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp