Membership

The Friends of Stafford Civil War Sites is a private, not for profit, organization formed by Colonel (ret) Glenn Trimmer a Marlborough Point resident, and Mr. DP Newton of the White Oak Museum. Our goal is to identify, preserve, and document remaining key Stafford County Civil War sites. This document describes the events that led to our decision to form this group, details our plans for the future and tells how you can help. We sincerely hope you will consider joining our organization.

Background:

In February 2005, Union Redoubt # 3 (Atch 1), a square Civil War redoubt (small earthen fort) North of Brooke Road, was bulldozed during development of a new sub-division. This redoubt had 12-foot high walls, measured 70 feet on a side, and included four external gun emplacements. It stood for 142 years; it likely disappeared in a few hours. In hindsight, the loss of Redoubt #3 was the result a confluence of factors in which the County, the Developer, and even local Civil War enthusiasts all contributed.

First, we believe there was inadequate investigation of, and a lack of knowledge on, the part of Stafford County Officials who should have known better. "The problem said Planning Commission member Barbara Kirby, is that nobody who approved plans knew anything about the relics."1 The Free Lance Star reported that the current Stafford Historical Planner, Ms Amanda Lee did not review plans for this subdivision, but also notes that her predecessor apparently did. "Lee said that most of her information on historic sites comes from a half-dozen county committees and commissions including the Historical Commission. She also works closely with the National Park Service, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of engineers."2 It is an impressive list, yet apparently neither the county's historical planner nor any of the organizations she works with and listed in the article sounded an alarm on Redoubt #3 in time to save it. Some might point fingers at the organizations. Indeed it is ironic for example that there was a detailed description of this redoubt included in the book; Stafford County in the Civil War which was at least recently available for purchase at the National Park Service Visitor Center in Fredericksburg.3 Much worse, redoubt # 3 was, and is, depicted on the Stafford County Historical maps sold today by Stafford County.4 Seems county officials might have known about this map, but if they did, or if it was checked no action apparently was taken. The Friends Of Stafford County Civil War Sites can and will do better, and we will do it in a way that holds individuals accountable for ensuring remaining sites are not destroyed without proper public debate.

Many area residents, Civil War enthusiasts, amateur historians, and relic hunters who legally searched for Civil War relics in Stafford for many years knew of Redoubt # 3. No one asked them. There was no public hearing. Still they could have been more vocal. One local Civil War enthusiast, seeing the land clearing operations went to the property to check on the Redoubt. Finding the land cleared on all sides of the Redoubt, and a perfectly intact Redoubt, he assumed incorrectly that the Fort would be preserved and sounded no alarm; another opportunity lost.

The developers certainly could have done better. We know at least some on the land clearing team had grown up in the area and were well aware of the Redoubt, yet according to the developer's spokesmen, they must not have raised any concerns. Indeed the spokesmen noted in the Star article, that the bulldozing team "had no idea Civil War earthworks might have been under its tracks."5 They also stated this very large earthwork was overgrown and that many would be hard pressed to identify such a structure. Indeed, just one month after the Redoubt's destruction, the Fredericksburg Star article arguably raised the question of whether the Redoubt in fact ever existed.6 WE are going to take care of this problem in the future.

The questions we face today are, "What can we as private citizens do to help ensure in the future that the mistakes of the past, by citizens, developers, County Officials, are not repeated?" and "How can we make sure next time the right people be they government, or developers take action before it is too late?" So far, two approaches are known.

PLANS TO PREVENT RECURRENCE:

COUNTY APPROACH: The County's current plan as reported in the Free-Lance Star would be to hire the National Park Service (NPS) to create a database of Stafford Civil War sites. Indeed, in 2003, Stafford County budgeted $43,000 for this effort.7 Ironically, 2 years later as Redoubt #3 was being destroyed the County and the NPS were still just hammering out details. Now work is expected to begin in June 2005 with completion in another two years. We believe given the pace of development that this approach does not meet current needs, does not make use of local expertise, and will not produce a useful product until after additional sites have been razed. This brings us to our plan.

OUR APPROACH: We believe information available at the White Oak Museum combined with that available from local residents including hundreds of Civil War enthusiasts who have searched for Civil War artifacts, or hunted, or farmed in Stafford for many years will allow a more effective and timely response. We also believe this information must be provided to the right people and in a manner that fosters accountability on the part of County Government and local developers. Ours approach is designed to eliminate the "no foreknowledge" and the "if we only had known" arguments. Using both local resources and knowledge including your help, we will deliver by year's end a list of significant remaining sites to appropriate County and State Officials, major land developers, and County Offices.

First we will make every effort to document, photograph, and record GPS readings on remaining sites. This information along with supporting documentation from Civil War maps, reports, or other sources will then be combined into a single document. We will use certified return receipt mail, signature, or witnessed delivery of these documents to County Officials, Developers. Our emphasis will be on sites where actual physical evidence remains such as earthworks, dug-in winter camps or tent sites, depressions, etc. We may on occasion help developers authenticate sites if asked when they do not have the time, or money to pay the sometimes-exorbitant fees, which for hire archeologists sometimes charge. Our sole goal is to save or record sites in order to honor those who served in Stafford during the Civil War. All work to put together packages, solicit inputs, and consult with the County and/or Developers will be volunteer and without fee.

We know that every Stafford Civil War site cannot be saved, so we will work with developers to mark those sites which cannot be saved. We have already had some significant success with the developer who owns the Redoubt #3 site. Based on our photographs, maps, and discussions with this company, they recently agreed to marking the original redoubt site with a granite memorial, to providing a roadside marker on Brooke Road with historical information and to investigating options to authenticate, mark and possibly preserve a portion of the nearby Union 12th Corps Camp locations. It is a solid first step, and we hope will set a precedent of cooperation between private citizens and developers. And, while we can't replace Redoubt #3, we believe this is a positive.

WHAT CAN YOU DO? We need the public's help in four areas, including Membership, Inputs and provision of Information, access to sites on private property, and donations. More specifically:

We solicit your membership because membership numbers count when speaking to County Planning or Governmental forums.
If you know the specific location of a significant Stafford Civil War fortification or major camp that you believe should, or could, be preserved, please contact us.
If you have a Civil War site or fortification on your property and you would allow access to it for photographing, and mapping of the site please notify us.
If you have surveying, mapping, or experience with County tax maps or development, we could use your help in identifying land ownership, and tracking development plans.
If you have web page development experience we could use your help in web page construction of a site to keep our members and others informed.
If you have special expertise, in law, graphics art, historical documentation, or digital photography, please note this on the attached form.
Finally, if you can, please donate. We estimate that mailings, production of packages for local Government and Developer Officials and administrative updates as new officials are elected will run to hundreds of dollars a year. We ask members to donate $20. This is certainly not a requirement. Contributions will be kept in a separate account, used only to fund supplies, postage, map fees, or other activities needed to achieve our objectives. We are a 100% volunteer organization, there are no paid employees. If funds are not needed or should the group be disbanded, any remaining monies will be donated to the Stafford County Historical Society.

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT: We will provide a quarterly update on activities to include identified sites and updates on work with the County and Local Developers. The most efficient, least expensive, way to do this is via email, hence, we ask for your email address. Email addresses will not be released outside of our membership for any reason. Updates will be mailed to those who do not have email. If, or when circumstances warrant, we may ask you to attend a meeting at the White Oak Civil War Museum to discuss issues such as sites in immediate danger or public actions which may help save these sites.

Thank you so much for taking the time to consider this letter. We hope you will support this effort.

Get your application and join us in our quest. This form is 38K in size and may take some time to download over a dial-up Internet connection.x

An archive of previous quarterly updates is available.

We prefer to distribute the updates via email because it reduces our overhead.

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Updated: Sun 14 Jan, 2007