Battlefield Publications

Altogether Fitting and Proper: Saving America's Battlefields (CRM Magazine Vol. 20, No. 5)   This 48-page periodical includes articles about conservation easement programs, grassroots battlefield preservation efforts, legal aspects of land protection, heritage tourism, landscape treatments, useful computer technologies for battlefield planning and management, and creating successful battlefield preservation partnerships.

The Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields   The CWSAC was established in 1991 because of national concern over the increasing threat to the preservation of Civil War sites. The 15-member Commission, appointed by Congress and the Secretary of the Interior, undertook a two-year study that identified the nation's historically significant Civil War battlefields, determined their relative importance and their current condition, assessed threats to their integrity, and recommended alternatives for preserving and interpreting them. The Commission's Report, which summarizes its findings, was presented to Congress in July 1993.

CWSAC Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields, Technical Volume II: Battle Summaries   The Commission studied and prioritized 384 battlefields. This compendium provides historical summaries and statistical information for each battle.

Guidance for Developing a Battlefield Preservation Plan (Requires PDF viewer)   This technical working paper emphasizes the importance of good planning to successful battlefield preservation efforts and recommends a number of planning elements to include in battlefield plans.

The Guide to Sustainable Earthworks Management (90% Draft)
The Guide was developed by the National Park Service in partnership with the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation as an evaluation, refinement, and expansion of the 1989 Earthworks Landscape Management Manual (ELMM). The Guide includes specific information on managing earthworks under forest cover and in open conditions. Drawing upon information learned since the publication of the ELMM, the basis for this new work is a clear management process that considers sustainability to be the foundation for preserving and interpreting earthworks.

Guidelines for Identifying, Evaluating, and Registering America's Historic Battlefields  (#40) National Register Bulletin #40 offers guidance to State historic preservation offices, Federal agencies, local governments, preservation professionals, and interested individuals in preparing nominations to the National Register of Historic Places for historic battlefields.

Shenandoah Valley Civil War Sites Study   The Study of Civil War Sites in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia was authorized in 1990 by Public Law 101-628 to identify significant Civil War sites in the Shenandoah Valley, to determine their condition, to establish their relative importance, to assess short- and long-term threats to their integrity, and to provide alternatives for their preservation and interpretation. The report studied 15 battlefields: Front Royal; First Winchester; Opequon; Second Kernstown; Second Winchester; New Market; First Kernstown; Tom's Brook; Cool Spring; Fisher's Hill; Cedar Creek; Cross Keys; Port Republic; Piedmont; and McDowell. The study, which was produced by the ABPP, was delivered to the Secretary of the Interior and Congress in September 1992.

Vimy Declaration for the Conservation of Battlefield Terrain (draft, 2000)   The "Vimy Charter for Conservation of Historic Battlefield Terrain," is a draft declaration on managing battlefield terrain that addresses the key components of planning, research, inventory, and treatment facing battlefield managers internationally. The Charter is the result of an an international workshop hosted by Veterans Affairs Canada that focused on management approaches to battlefield terrain.