GDG- CWPT/Times release on Hunterstown Battlefield

[J. David Petruzzi]

In case anyone hasn't seen it, here's the CWPT/Gettysburg Times press
release about placing the Hunterstown battlefield on the Most Endangered
list.  I edited it in the sake of historical accuracy (the release as is
contained a reference to the opinion, held by a few, that Custer laid some
sort of "trap" for the southerners at Hunterstown.  Nothing is further from
the truth, however.)

Hunterstown among top 10 endangered battlegrounds
BY JOHN MESSEDER - Times Staff Writer
One of the nation’s most visible Civil War site preservation organizations
has placed Hunterstown among the nation’s 10 most endangered Civil War
battlefields.

The official announcement was scheduled for 10 a.m. this morning at the
National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Gettysburg was not specifically named on the list, and Hunterstown occupied
the No. 4 position on the list, but Civil War Preservation Trust
spokesperson Mary Koik said that is not an indication of the site’s
importance or endangerment.

“We don’t rank one to 10,” she said. “We just list them alphabetically (and)
you’re No. 4 alphabetically.”

“We don’t look at it as Gettysburg not being on the list,” she said, adding
that to name Gettysburg is to use “such a large brush stroke.”

“It wasn’t until (NPS Ranger and historian) Troy Harmon brought the
Department of Interior here in 2006 that this was possible,” said
Hunterstown Historical Society co-founder and President Laurie Harding.
“Without that validation, they (CWPT) couldn’t do anything with it.”

The Interior Department Civil War Sites Advisory Commission was established
by public law on November 28, 1990, because of national concern over the
increasing loss of Civil War sites. has classified Gettysburg, which
includes Hunterstown, as a Priority I, Class A battlefield — its highest
designation.

In Fall 2006, the National Park Service officially designated Hunterstown,
also known as North Cavalry field, as part of the Gettysburg Battlefield.

The area around Felty’s Farm was the site of a battle led by Gen. George
Armstrong Custer, July 2, 1863. Custer, contrary to a historically incorrect
opinion, did NOT set a trap on the Felty-Tate ridge, nor did he lead a
company of Michigan Wolverines south to attack and bait the Confederate
cavalrymen, under command of Brigadier General Wade Hampton, into a fight.

The incorrect theory also states that the "ruse worked, and the Confederates
were prevented from taking Culps Hill," (Hampton's aim was to join Stuart at
Gettysburg with the captured Federal wagon train only - not Culp's Hill) but
Custer nearly was killed, saved only by the efforts of one of his staffers,
Pvt. Norville Churchill.

A monument to the battle and the Wolverines is to be erected in the village
center July 2. The monument is a project of the Grand Rapids Civil War Round
Table, of Grand Rapids, Mich.

“That was the only truly Michigan brigade in the Civil War,” Round Table
member Jackie Volken said of Custer’s force. “We don’t want those men to be
forgotten.”

She noted the recognition has been “145 years in the making.”

“We are very passionate about bringing attention to that area,” Volken said,
“saving the ground that the Michigan guys fought on.”

The monument is to be dedicated July 2, 2008, at 11 a.m. on the Tate Farm.

“I think it will help in the efforts to preserve some of that skirmish
 area,” Land Conservancy of Adams County President Richard Mountfort said of
the CWPT designation.

“The Hunterstown Historical Society was formed to preserve the Hunterstown
area,” he said. “The land conservancy supports that.”

He said the endangered designation may help with funding if area landowners
come forward to place preservation easements on their properties.

Readers may contact John Messeder at johnm at gburgtimes.com

J. David Petruzzi
My blog: http://petruzzi.wordpress.com
My book: http://www.stuartsride.com