Symposium Spotlight: Touring Payne’s Farm!

Did you see on the schedule the Friday battlefield tour at the 2021 ECW Symposium? Theodore P. Savas (of Savas Beatie LLC publishing fame!) will be leading a special tour at Payne’s Farm at 10 a.m.

This will be an opportunity to explore the fierce fighting at the start of the Mine Run Campaign before it fizzled into a watchful wait with a few skirmishes before Union General Meade called off the attacks and campaign. It will also be an exploration with an expert since Savas accurately located the battlefield in the early 1990’s. Believing that published articles and books had long incorrectly located the fighting area, Ted was determined to test his theory. Armed with extensive primary sources and battle reports, he and colleague Paul Sacra located what they believed was the battlefield and, with the permission from several landowners, used metal detectors to prove it.

Within days Savas and Sacra had unearthed hundreds of artifacts, including bullets, a ramrod, bayonet socket, a partial harmonica, belt buckles, buttons, and much more. Savas drew maps of the field and the general location of the artifacts and delivered them to The Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites (or APCWS), and its director, A. Wilson Greene, in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Greene, who had no idea the field was in such pristine condition, was excited by the find and affirmed its importance. Today, The American Battlefield Trust and its partners have acquired and preserved 690 acres of the battlefield. The battlefield features a wooded, 1.5-mile interpretive trail with historical wayside markers.

Come explore the 1863 history, battlefield rediscovery, and preservation story on Friday morning of the ECW Symposium!

Visit our symposium page to learn more about the weekend events and purchase tickets. We’re almost sold out…