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Battlefield preservation group to hold gala at new Marine Corps museum Date published: 11/10/2006
By RUSTY DENNEN Battlefield preservation and military history will converge next month at the new Marine Corps museum. The Central Virginia Battlefields Trust will hold a gala at the National Museum of the Marine Corps on Dec. 2 to focus attention on a national effort to preserve Slaughter Pen farm east of Fredericksburg. "We'd like to use this as a means for letting people know how important it is" to save the 208-acre tract next to Shannon Airport, said Linda Wandres, CVBT's executive director. CVBT is hoping for a stellar turnout at the event. The museum opens to the public on Monday, but is also available as a venue for private functions. The nonprofit Marine Corps Heritage Foundation built the museum on land near Quantico Marine Base. CVBT found out that the museum was available, figuring it would be a symbolic venue for anyone interested in battlefield history. For years, area Civil War battlefields have provided Marines with places to study tactics on the actual ground where Union and Confederate armies clashed. And there's another connection: Several CVBT board members served in the Marines. The event, with hors d'oeuvres and beverages, begins at 7 and attendees will have a chance to tour exhibits that will eventually cover 231 years of Marine Corps history. Tickets are $100 per person, $175 a couple. Speakers include Retired Gen. Richard B. Myers, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Edwin C. Bearss, chief historian emeritus of the National Park Service. "They'll be talking about how important it is that battlefield lands be preserved, especially right now," Wandres said. "Land not preserved within the next 10 years may well be lost forever," she said. "We'll be thanking people for supporting the mission of CVBT and talking about Slaughter Pen farm itself." Slaughter Pen earned its name during the war because of the carnage there. Some 5,000 men met their fate where Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's 2nd Corps battled Union Gen. William Franklin's Left Grand Division. Five Union soldiers earned the Medal of Honor on Slaughter Pen's undulating fields. CVBT, a local preservation group that has acquired and preserved more than 500 acres of historic land in the Fredericksburg area, has pledged $1 million toward a larger campaign to pay for the farm. The Washington-based Civil War Preservation Trust purchased Slaughter Pen in June for $12 million. Last month CWPT received a $2 million federal grant toward the purchase and has been collecting funds to pay off a bank note from its 70,000 members and from preservation groups such as CVBT. For tickets and information, call Wandres at 540/907-0527, or visit the CVBT Web site at: cvbt.org. To reach RUSTY DENNEN:
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
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