A sketch of Bristoe Station made in 1862 shows that many of the buildings had been burned to the ground during the Second Manassas Campaign.
Help Preserve 155 Acres at Bristoe Station & Cold Harbor, Virginia
The Opportunity
Preserve 155 acres at Bristoe Station and Cold Harbor before it’s too late!
At Bristoe Station, 152 acres of battlefield land are under significant threat, having already been approved for a residential subdivision development. And at Cold Harbor, a vulnerable and significant three-acre tract is at risk.
The total cost is a staggering $8 million, but thanks to a generous donation from the Bristoe Station landowner plus state and federal grants, we only need to raise $328,000 before the closing dates this fall to ensure these tracts are preserved forever. And every dollar you give will be multiplied in impact $27-to-$1!
It’s one thing to lose irreplaceable battlefield land when faced with unwilling or disinterested sellers. But to fall short with the advantages generous sellers and most of the funding lined up would be devastating.
The History
The Bloody Battle at Bristoe Station
The 152-acre tract we have the opportunity to save at Bristoe Station saw action two separate times during the Civil War: the first time in the lead-up to the August 1862 Battle of Second Manassas and the second in the Battle of Bristoe Station, which many view as the conclusion of General Lee’s last major offensive.
It was October 14, 1863, when Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill thought he had caught a retreating, disorganized Union Army near Bristoe Station. He eagerly ordered an immediate assault.
But Union troops were ready — hidden behind an Orange & Alexandria Railroad embankment, they decimated brigade after brigade of Confederate troops. The attack was a massive failure: in just a short battle, Hill’s forces suffered roughly 1,300 casualties.
In addition to troop movements and a Union battery, this tract also became a makeshift hospital during the battle, as Union surgeons and hospital stewards tended to the wounded. This adds to the already tremendous significance of this parcel of land, which would add substantially to the already-preserved land on the Union side of the battle lines.
General Grant’s Regret at Cold Harbor
Eight months later, Lee’s army was fending off the Union Army just outside of Richmond, near the crossroads at Cold Harbor. On June 3, 1864, after weeks of brutal battles across Virginia, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant ordered a massive assault against the heavily fortified Confederate positions at Cold Harbor.
What ensued was like a larger Bristoe Station, but in reverse. Often referred to one of the most lopsided slaughters of the Civil War, the Union Army saw devastating losses: Gen. George J. Stannard’s “Star Brigade” losing 500 of their 1,600 men, and one regiment — the 25th Massachusetts — suffering a 73% casualty rate, including the loss of 17 of their 20 officers, all on this very land.
The regret of the battle lived with Grant for the rest of his life, as he wrote more than 20 years after the war, “I have always regretted that the last assault [at Cold Harbor] … was ever made,” adding that “no advantage had been gained worth the terrible cost of the attack at Cold Harbor.” Today, the small and vulnerable three-acre tract on this land faces a new assault from modern development pressures.
The threats to battlefield land from big developers and mega-corporations will never relent, but neither do we. Even when the odds have been stacked against us, we’ve managed to save nearly 63,000 acres of battlefield land.
Just $328,000 stands between us and the forever preservation of this hallowed land. Every dollar given will be multiplied in impact at an astonishing $27-to-$1.
Preserve Threated Ground in Virginia
Generals Grant and Lee lived with their regrets knowing they could never undo what happened at Bristoe Station and Cold Harbor. By securing these tracts today, we can ensure the bloodshed and sacrifice of past soldiers is forever memorialized, not paved over.
We can’t risk losing these highly significant 155 acres. Already zoned for residential development, they will most certainly be lost forever if we don’t secure them now.
Today, you have a rare opportunity to help preserve the hallowed grounds of Bristoe Station and Cold Harbor, VA — and ensure the stories written on this land are not lost to time.
And thanks to our generous partners, every dollar you give will be multiplied in impact $27-to-$1!
