On Wednesday, March 12, the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) hosted a news conference to release its annual report on the ten most endangered Civil War battlefields.
The 2008 edition of History Under Siege: America’s Most Endangered Battlefields lists ten battlefield sites, including Antietam, Maryland; Perryville, Kentucky; and Cold Harbor, Virginia, that are threatened by housing development, highway construction, and the construction of cell phone towers and industrial facilities. Sites in areas that were once rural are under increasing pressure from suburban and exurban development. A map shows the distribution of the threatened sites. Nominations are submitted by members and reviewed by a board of historians and preservationists. Sites are selected based on geographic location, military significance, and preservation status. The Civil War Preservation Trust, with 65,000 members, is the largest nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of Civil War battlefields.
Country musician Trace Adkins, a Civil War history buff whose great-great-grandfather served in the 31st Louisiana Infantry during the war, leant some star power to the press conference.