Saving History Saturday: American Battlefield Trust Updates

The current preservation project that the American Battlefield Trust (ABT) is working on includes 438 acres across seven battlefields, and three years of the war.

Glorieta Pass in New Mexico in the far Southwest was part of an ambitious effort to reach the mineral wealth in Colorado — and if successful, it might have encouraged Confederate efforts to try to try to continue west in an effort to possibly open a Pacific port.

Newtonia, Missouri saw fighting in both 1862 and 1864, as part of the often-overlooked fighting in the Trans-Mississippi. The 1862 action there was one of the few times during the Civil War that Native Americans on both sides of the fighting. The 1864 fighting was a delaying action that allowed Gen. Sterling Price’s retreat into Arkansas. It was the last major, organized fighting in Missouri during the war.

The May 13, 1864, action at Resaca, Georgia helped open Sherman’s path to Atlanta, and was the first major battle of the Atlanta Campaign. While the fighting was inconclusive, the confederates ended up having to retreat for the position due to a wide flanking maneuver.

On May 24, 1863, the Army of the Cumberland moved out from near Murfreesboro, Tennessee towards Tullahoma in an effort to force Hoover’s Gap. Federal Col. John T. Wilder attached with mounted infantry using Spencer repeating rifles. Wilder’s men pushed through the gap and secured the position. It was the action here that earned his men the name “Lightning Brigade.”

Land at Corinth, MS. Perryville, and Richmond, KY., make up the rest of this preservation effort.

To learn more about this, and all the work that the American Battlefield Trust is currently up to, click here to learn more.