From: smf53@...
Date: Mon Jun 22, 2009 7:19 pm

Civil War Preservation Trust News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 22, 2009
For more information, contact:
Jim Campi, CWPT, (202) 367-1861 x205
Mary Koik, CWPT, (202) 367-1861 x231

CIVIL WAR PRESERVATION TRUST TO TRANSFER KEY PART OF HARPERS FERRY BATTLEFIELD
TO NPS

Transfer ceremony is part of day-long event kicking-off 150th anniversary of
John Brown's Raid
(Washington, D.C.) - Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (NHP) will expand by
176 acres on Thursday June 25, 2009, as the Civil War Preservation Trust, the
nation's largest nonprofit dedicated to protecting the country's remaining Civil
War battlefields, transfers a key part of the battlefield to the National Park
Service (NPS) during ceremonies on historic School House Ridge.

The transfer ceremony will be part of a day-long series of events commemorating
the 150th anniversary of John Brown’s Raid and the beginning of the American
Civil War. Other events include panel discussions by leading Civil War scholars
as well as a tour of NPS-owned sites associated with John Brown’s raid and the
1862 Battle of Harpers Ferry. The anniversary event is cosponsored by NPS and
the Virginia and West Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Commissions.

Harpers Ferry was the scene of two pivotal events in Civil War history. Many
historians consider militant abolitionist John Brown’s October 1859 raid on
the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, an attempt to incite armed slave
rebellion, one of the Civil War’s precipitating causes. The Battle of Harpers
Ferry, fought on September 1215, 1862, culminated with the largest mass
surrender of U.S. troops until World War II.
CWPT acquired the $1.3 million School House Ridge property in 2002 with the aid
of federal and state matching grants. In the ensuing years, the property has
been maintained with an eye toward improving the visitor experience by
transferring the land to NPS.

WHAT: Transfer of Key Battlefield Land to Harpers Ferry NHP
WHO: CWPT President Jim Lighthizer, Harpers Ferry NHP Acting Superintendent
Dennis Frye and Friends of Harpers Ferry President Scott Faulkner
WHEN: Thursday June 25, 2009, at 10:00 a.m.
WHERE: House Ridge, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (a half mile north
of US 340 on Bakerton Road), Harpers Ferry, W.Va.

CWPT is the largest nonprofit battlefield preservation organization in the
United States. Its mission is to preserve our nation’s remaining Civil War
battlefields. Since 1987, the organization has saved more than 25,000 acres of
hallowed ground, including 325 acres at Harpers Ferry. CWPT’s website is
located at http://www.civilwar.org/.

www.civilwar.org
civilwar.org
The Civil War Preservation Trust | 1331 H Street NW, Suite 1001, Washington, DC
20005 | (202) 367-1861
-------------------
From: "edunleavy921" <edunleavy@...>
Date: Tue Jun 23, 2009 12:58 pm

For Immediate Release – June 23, 2009
Shepherdstown, West Virginia

For more information, contact:
Edward E. Dunleavy
President,
Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association Inc.
(917) 747 - 5748

PRESERVATION GROUP ANNOUNCES THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A HISTORICAL ADVISORY BOARD

The Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association Inc. (SBPA) has
established a Historical Advisory Board (HAB). Edward E. Dunleavy, President of
SBPA, announced today the establishment of the HAB. Dunleavy stated that "the
HAB was organized by Dr. Peter Carmichael, the West Virginia University (WVU)
Eberly Professor of Civil War Studies. The Board of Directors of SBPA and its
more than 130 members wish to thank Dr. Carmichael for his effort. The HAB
includes many of today's most respected scholars and Civil War historians."

Dr. Carmichael stated that "the outpouring of support from the academic
community in forming a Historical Advisory Board attests to the undeniable
historic importance of the Battle of Shepherdstown. Among the scholars who have
joined the board, all are recognized experts in the field of Civil War history,
and many have received national attention for their work, including James
McPherson, Gary W. Gallagher, Elizabeth Pryor, and William Link. Their support
of the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association is indispensable to
saving what they uniformly believe is sacred historical ground."

Dunleavy added that "importantly West Virginia is well represented on the HAB
with Civil War historians from WVU, Marshall University and Shepherd University.
The HAB ensures that SBPA's portrayal of the Battle of Shepherdstown is
historically accurate and we thank the members of the HAB for their
participation."

Members of the SBPA HAB are:

Kevin T. Barksdale – Marshall University
Stephen W. Berry II - University of Georgia
Keith S. Bohannon - West Georgia State University
Peter S. Carmichael - West Virginia University
Thomas W. Cutrer - Arizona State University
William C. Davis - Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
William W. Freehling – Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
Gary W. Gallagher - University of Virginia
Lesley Jill Gordon – University of Akron
A. Wilson Greene – Petersburg, Virginia
Clark B. Hall – Fairfax, Virginia
Earl J. Hess – Lincoln Memorial University
Caroline E. Janney - Purdue University
Robert E. L. Krick – Richmond, Virginia
Susanna Michele Lee – North Carolina State University
William A. Link - University of Florida
Thomas A. McGrath – North Country College
James M. McPherson - Princeton University
Frank A. O'Reilly – Fredericksburg, Virginia
Elizabeth B. Pryor - Washington D.C
George C. Rable – University of Alabama
Gordon C. Rhea – Charleston, South Carolina
Mark A. Snell - Shepherd University
Susannah J. Ural – University of Southern Mississippi
Joan Waugh – University of California, Los Angeles

Biographies of members of the HAB are available on the SBPA website:
www.battleofshepherdstown.org

The Battle of Shepherdstown was fought on September 19 – 20, 1862 over
approximately one square mile, east of what was then Shepherdstown, Virginia and
south of the Potomac River and Boteler's (aka Packhorse) Ford. The battle was
the last of three battles fought during the Army of Northern Virginia's (ANV)
Antietam or Maryland Campaign. Approximately 9000 troops took part in the
Shepherdstown battle with 677 casualties about equally divided between the Union
Army of the Potomac and Robert E. Lee's troops. The battle's significance is
that it was a contributing factor in Lee's decision to reverse the order to move
north back into Maryland. As a consequence, the ANV retreated up the Shenandoah
Valley toward Winchester. That retreat allowed the Union Army to declare a
military victory and enabled President Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation
Proclamation.

The Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association Inc. (SBPA), organized in
2004, is a non-profit, Section 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to saving and
preserving the site of the 1862 Battle of Shepherdstown. SBPA has preserved 84
acres by way of conservation easements granted by members who own property on
the site. For more information and to purchase the book entitled: Shepherdstown:
Last Clash of the Antietam Campaign September 19 – 20, 1862 ; please visit
www.battleofshepherdstown.org