A considerable portion of the New Market Heights Battlefield, where 14 USCT's earned the Medal of Honor, is on the verge of being lost forever: https://richmond.com/news/local/gov...cle_e92dd1be-3124-5e34-94ce-4e685ed2889f.html
A solar farm has taken over the Savage's Station battlefield: https://freebeacon.com/culture/solar-farms-spark-civil-war-in-virginia/
Haw's Shop to be completely annihilated: https://emergingcivilwar.com/2021/05/28/preservation-setback-at-the-haws-shop-battlefield/
These are all from within the last five months. I regularly receive emails from the American Battlefield Trust wanting me to donate to save some small corner of Gettysburg where Union Infantry may have passed through for hundreds of thousands of dollars while actual battlefield land is being destroyed. There's no denying the Trust's success in saving huge swaths of battlefields from destruction, but we've seen more losses and less victories over the last few years. I believe part of the problem arises from the merger of the Civil War Trust and the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites - With two organizations, each held the other's feet to the fire. Now we have one organization with an embarrassingly large payroll and little accountability.
I was also upset to see the Trust requested and received a PPP loan during the pandemic (Pp. 12-13 https://www.battlefields.org/sites/...tlefield Trust - Non-UG - M2019 FINAL (S).pdf) while at the same time its "Chief Historian" was soliciting money so he could take two separate trips to Kentucky and North Carolina. The majority of the "work" done on those trips involved filming actual historians who had knowledge of particular sites. The Trust had very recently held its annual conference in Kentucky. Why was this not done then?
On page 5 of the link above, you'll see that the Trust spent $5 million in 2019 on payroll and travel alone. On page 7 here, you'll see that eleven employees made a combined $2.2 million: https://www.battlefields.org/sites/...RUST_TAX RETURN_CLIENT PD 990_2019 public.pdf
My argument is not that there are corrupt or bad people at the Trust. My point is that it has become a bloated DC company that has strayed from its original purpose. It made its name from doing the right thing. Now it can pay fat salaries and rest on its laurels until its members hold it accountable. I'm tired of seeing fields destroyed where so many men and boys paid the ultimate sacrifice. In my humble opinion, the country's foremost preservation group losing three in less than half a year is unacceptable.
A solar farm has taken over the Savage's Station battlefield: https://freebeacon.com/culture/solar-farms-spark-civil-war-in-virginia/
Haw's Shop to be completely annihilated: https://emergingcivilwar.com/2021/05/28/preservation-setback-at-the-haws-shop-battlefield/
These are all from within the last five months. I regularly receive emails from the American Battlefield Trust wanting me to donate to save some small corner of Gettysburg where Union Infantry may have passed through for hundreds of thousands of dollars while actual battlefield land is being destroyed. There's no denying the Trust's success in saving huge swaths of battlefields from destruction, but we've seen more losses and less victories over the last few years. I believe part of the problem arises from the merger of the Civil War Trust and the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites - With two organizations, each held the other's feet to the fire. Now we have one organization with an embarrassingly large payroll and little accountability.
I was also upset to see the Trust requested and received a PPP loan during the pandemic (Pp. 12-13 https://www.battlefields.org/sites/...tlefield Trust - Non-UG - M2019 FINAL (S).pdf) while at the same time its "Chief Historian" was soliciting money so he could take two separate trips to Kentucky and North Carolina. The majority of the "work" done on those trips involved filming actual historians who had knowledge of particular sites. The Trust had very recently held its annual conference in Kentucky. Why was this not done then?
On page 5 of the link above, you'll see that the Trust spent $5 million in 2019 on payroll and travel alone. On page 7 here, you'll see that eleven employees made a combined $2.2 million: https://www.battlefields.org/sites/...RUST_TAX RETURN_CLIENT PD 990_2019 public.pdf
My argument is not that there are corrupt or bad people at the Trust. My point is that it has become a bloated DC company that has strayed from its original purpose. It made its name from doing the right thing. Now it can pay fat salaries and rest on its laurels until its members hold it accountable. I'm tired of seeing fields destroyed where so many men and boys paid the ultimate sacrifice. In my humble opinion, the country's foremost preservation group losing three in less than half a year is unacceptable.