(South Mountain State Battlefield, MD) -- Maryland State Park officials have announced that South Mountain State Battlefield is now registered on the official federal list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture. This official list is known as the National Register of Historic Places. The National Park Service administers the list; the announcement was made on January 28, 2011.
Placing the battlefield on the National Register of Historic Places is a significant step in an ongoing preservation effort. The National Register of Historic Places opens up many grant opportunities that are currently unavailable to both the Friends’ group and the State Park itself. Battlefield neighbors who live within the designated districts will be encouraged (but not required) to maintain their properties in a manner that best reflects the landscape’s appearance as it existed in September 1862. Being on the list may open up some financial benefits for the landowners especially for those looking for grants and/or tax credits to maintain their properties. It will neither limit their ability to develop their land, nor give the state the power to condemn properties.
National Register of Historic Places applications submitted for South Mountain Battlefield can be viewed in detail below:
The Battle of South Mountain occurred Sunday, September 14th, 1862. It was the turning point of the Maryland (or Antietam) Campaign: a campaign that involved Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s first invasion into Union territory. Many historians agree that a victory on Union soil in 1862 represented the South’s best chance for winning independence. At stake for the South was foreign diplomatic recognition and intervention. Southerners believed that the advent of foreign intervention would have persuaded a war weary North to negotiate a peace. In short, one successful victory on Northern soil would have done more for the South than all their victories in Virginia and elsewhere combined. As the Maryland Campaign’s turning point, the Battle of South Mountain signaled the end of Lee’s invasion. As a result of the fight on South Mountain, Lee’s hopes of reaching Pennsylvania and beyond would not materialize. The Battle of South Mountain was no skirmish. It involved two full corps of General George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac, and a good portion of a third. It also involved two divisions of Lee’s Army. The casualty rate was relatively high, especially for the Confederates who lost about 15% of their force-soldiers. The battle in Fox’s Gap was especially violent and protracted, as fighting ebbed and flowed across the fields near the present-day Appalachian Trail from 9 a.m. to dusk. The famed Union Iron Brigade first began to build its reputation though their persistent assaults on Turner’s and Frostown Gaps. Two future presidents: Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley saw action at Fox’s Gap with Hayes sustaining a significant wound. Two notable generals, Union General Jesse Reno and Confederate General Samuel Garland, died in the fighting at Fox’s Gap.
Follow the link below to see the official announcement stating that the South Mountain State Battlefield is now included on the National Register of Historic Places.
http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/nrlist.htm
Follow the link below to learn more about the Friends of South Mountain state Battlefield and to see the completed National Register of Historic Places application.
http://www.friendsofsouthmountain.org/aboutus.html
Follow the link below to see the completed application for South Mountain State Battlefield on the Maryland Park Service website.
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/western/southmountainbattlefield.asp
|
