Part III:
PUTTING TOGETHER A BATTLEFIELD
From Jericho Mill, on the far western part of battlefield, to the Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad crossing at the far eastern end, the area where the battle was fought measures about six miles long. In addition, troops built trenches and battled a mile or more south of the river itself. This, however, is only the southern portion of the battlefield, all of which is in Hanover County. Henagan’s Redoubt, Grant’s headquarters and the area where Grant’s army gathered and ultimately built trenches north of the river is also large. Those areas, however, are all located in Caroline County. Jurisdictional issues have thus inevitably contributed to the uncoordinated and piecemeal efforts to put together a complete battlefield park.
For example, Hanover County began acquiring lands, either outright or through conservation easements at least 25 years ago. In fact, the owner of the land on the south side of the Ox Ford crossing granted Hanover County a conservation easement in 1990 to use that area as a battlefield while retaining the underlying ownership interest. This is where Ledlie’s assault and the tip and western trenches of the inverted V are located and it is by far the best preserved portion of the battlefield. This is where the present day “Gray Trail” and “Blue Trail” are found. These trails are, however, only a very small portion of what was the total battlefield and focus almost exclusively on just the second day of fighting.
More recently, last year the Civil War Preservation Trust purchased 654 acres of the land where A.P. Hill unsuccessfully tried to stop Warren from crossing the river at Jericho Mill. There the Trust has actually taken title to the property. The former owners, however, have retained a life estate giving them the right to use a portion of the property acquired by the Trust during the sellers’ lifetime.
Unfortunately, the areas owned or controlled by the counties and the Civil War Trust are not connected. In fact, private owners still own by far the most land at the site of the Battle of North Anna.
Governmental; Nonprofit and Private Efforts
On the Caroline side of the North Anna, the only portion of the battlefield which has been acquired for battlefield purposes appears to be a small sliver of another piece of land acquired by the Civil War Trust last year at Jericho Mill. Unfortunately, no land has been acquired by the Civil War Trust or Hanover County directly south of the old Chesterfield Bridge or along U.S. Route 1. Moreover, any remains of the Chesterfield Bridge or Henagan’s Redoubt are not readily apparent to the casual visitor. Most of the old Telegraph Road has been abandoned where the Chesterfield Bridge was located.
The Civil War Trust, which is a nonprofit organization, employs two different strategies to acquire the lands necessary to preserve a battlefield. One is to take legal title outright in an actual transfer of title to the land. This is usually done either in an outright sale or the Trust takes title by gift from the donating owner. The other strategy that the Trust uses is to take a conservation easement, leaving title to the property with the original owner but with significant use restrictions.
Regarding the first strategy where the Trust takes full title, the Trust can either buy the land for full fair market value or take title by gift from the original owner. An offshoot of this approach, one which was employed by the Trust with respect to a portion of the Jericho Mill property, is the for the original owner to give the Trust a remainder interest in the property while allowing the original owner and his family to enjoy the use of the property during their lives.
By contrast, under the Trust’s conservation easement strategy, the original owner maintains title to the property and even has the right to use it but only for limited purposes because the conservation easement protects the land from both certain uses and from future development. Neither the present nor any future owner may place new structures on the property unless the structures or activities are for very limited purposes that minimize the impact on the land. In this regard, agricultural and ranching structures and activities are often permissible even under a conservation easement. Importantly, in most of all of these transactions, the selling and donating owners receive significant federal and State income, estate and property tax benefits.
Unfortunately, neither Hanover nor Caroline have made any formal plans to acquire any additional properties at any time in the near future. That is not to say, however, that they will not do so should an appropriate opportunity present itself.
Given that North Anna is a rural area along a major highway where present owners must be concerned about future development; that beneficial tax breaks are available; that conservation easements protect property against unwanted future development; and, that agricultural uses remain permissible under such easements, it’s hoped that other owners in the area investigate donating or selling land to one of several governmental or nonprofit entities who remain interested in preserving this great historical treasure.
David D. Lentz is an attorney practicing in the greater Richmond area. Inquiries and comments are welcomed at davidlentzlaw.com. [Note: This article was originally written in May of 2015 and therefore, some facts regarding the property issues related to the lands constituting the battlefield may have changed.]