| The Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields One tool CWPT uses to prioritize preservation projects is the report of the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission (CWSAC), an in-depth study prepared for the U.S. Congress in 1993. Concerned by growing instances of Civil War sites being damaged or destroyed by urban and suburban development, Congress established the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission to identify the nation's historically significant Civil War sites, determine their relative importance, determine their condition, assess threats to their integrity, and recommend alternatives to preserve and interpret them.
The Commission also looked at the sites' current (ca. 1993) state of preservation, discovering that only four percent were owned primarily by federal, state, or local governments and that fully 43 percent were completely in private ownership and relatively unprotected. Nineteen percent had already been lost. The report documented the battlefields at two levels: the Study Area and Core Area. The Study Area of a battlefield comprised all places related or contributing to the battle (including areas where troops deployed, wagon parks, etc.) The Core Area of a battlefield was smaller, located within the study area, and included only those places where the combat engagement and key associated actions and features were located. CWPT usually means Core Area when referring to hallowed ground. The Commission concluded that battlefields are big. The average size of the 384 battlefields in the report was approximately 4,200 acres. The average Study Area sizes for the Class A and Class B battlefields were 6,898 and 6,092 acres respectively. Their associated Core Areas averaged 2,960 and 2,147 acres respectively. Average Study Area sizes for the Class C and Class D battlefields were much smaller: 2,597 and 2,407 acres respectively. Their Core Areas averaged 835 and 1,020 acres in size respectively In the report, the Commission ranked the 384 principal battlefields into four priority groups based on their significance, their current condition, and the degree of threat they faced. Priority I included only Class A and B sites that were in good or fair condition and that faced a great degree of threat. Priority II included both Class A and B battlefields with less associated threat, or Class C and D battlefields that faced high threats. Priority III battlefields were either Class A and B sites that had some degree of protection but could use more, or Class C and D sites with a low degree of threat. Priority IV was included to represent the 19 percent of battlefields that were too fragmented by development to save. Many things have changed since 1993. Preservation groups like CWPT have helped to save thousands of acres of battlefield lands, while the ever-increasing pace of development has put new properties in danger. CWPT takes these developments into account when using the report. Nonetheless, the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission report remains an extremely valuable preservation tool. The full text of the report can be found online at www2.cr.nps.gov/abpp/cwsac/cws0-1.html
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IN THIS SECTION
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The
fourteen members of the Commission - including experts
as diverse as Edwin C. Bearss, Dr. James McPherson,
and Ken Burns - identified 384 armed conflicts out
of the more than 10,500 that occurred from 1861 to
1865 as the principal battles of the Civil War and
classified them according to their historic significance.
Forty-five sites were ranked "A" (having
a decisive influence on a campaign and a direct impact
on the course of the war); 104 were ranked "B"
(having a direct and decisive influence on their campaign);
128 were ranked "C" (having observable influence
on the outcome of a campaign); and 107 were ranked
"D" (having a limited influence on the outcome
of their campaign or operation but achieving or affecting
important local objectives.)