Demolition of Postwar Farmhouse Restores Hallowed Ground at Slaughter Pen Farm

“This day has been a long time coming. In 2006, we committed to a complex and lengthy agreement to protect, preserve and restore Slaughter Pen Farm to honor the thousands of brave men who fought and died here during the 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg,” said Trust President David Duncan. “We’re grateful to our members, donors and partners who have helped us uphold our promise and share the history of this powerful place with future generations.” 

Demolition began with the front porch on Friday, July 26, and crews completed the work on Monday, July 29. Removal of the house is the final phase of an intricate restoration process that removed numerous non-historic structures. Protection of the Slaughter Pen Farm is one of the American Battlefield Trust’s signature preservation projects, requiring a 16-year, $12-million fundraising campaign to ensure its protection and transformation. The largest and most complex private battlefield preservation effort in U.S. history — securing the site that historians argue determined the December 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg — was completed in 2022 when the Trust paid off its final loan, clearing the way for final restoration and interpretation phases.  

In addition to donations from Trust members, the project was supported with significant matching grants from the Commonwealth of Virginia and the federal American Battlefield Protection Program, as well as a $1 million commitment from the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust. 

The 208 acres saved here are among the most historic on the Fredericksburg Battlefield, what Fredericksburg Campaign expert Frank O’Reilly calls “the very heart and soul” of the field, “the point where the battle was won and lost.” As Union troops assaulted Marye’s Heights on Dec. 13, 1862, about five miles to the north on that bloody day, thousands of blue-clad soldiers crossed the flat, open plain of the farm, advancing under fire toward Confederate lines along Prospect Hill bordering the farm on the southwest. This lesser-known assault was actually the main objective of the Union battle strategy — the “true battle for Fredericksburg,” as O’Reilly puts it. Before the fighting ended, 9,000 Union and Confederate soldiers had fallen. Survivors called the battlefield “the Slaughter Pen.”  

Five soldiers were later bestowed the Medal of Honor for their actions on this field on that bloody day: George Maynard of the 13th Massachusetts, Charles Collis of the 114th Pennsylvania, Philip Petty of the 136th Pennsylvania and Martin Schubert and Joseph Keene of the 26th New York Infantry. 

Since taking ownership of the property in 2006, the Trust has focused on restoring the land to its wartime appearance by gradually removing several derelict farm outbuildings. In 2009, it installed an almost two-mile educational walking trail — popular with locals, students of history and military units participating in staff rides. 

The American Battlefield Trust is dedicated to preserving America’s hallowed battlegrounds and educating the public about what happened there and why it matters today. The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization has protected more than 58,000 acres associated with the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War across 155 sites in 25 states. Learn more at www.battlefields.org.  

###