3 N.C. battle sites 'at risk'

Civil War Preservation Trust lists bridge site near Salisbury again

By: JournalNow Staff | JOURNAL STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
Published: March 21, 2009

Three battle sites in North Carolina are on a list of "at-risk" sites in a report released this week by the Civil War Preservation Trust.

The report, which was released Wednesday, listed 10 battlefields that are deteriorating because of neglect, land development or other threats. There are 15 additional sites that are considered at risk but not in as immediate danger as the first 10.

The lists are part of a report that the trust, a Washington preservation group, releases each year. Actor Richard Dreyfuss, a history buff, announced the list at a news conference in Washington.

None of the sites that were listed as endangered are in North Carolina, but three North Carolina sites are on the secondary list:

□ The Yadkin River Bridge, April 12, 1865: The report says that the site near Salisbury is threatened, in part, by the proposed development of the High Rock Raceway, a road-racing course that is projected to open this year, and the possible development of a power plant nearby.

In the battle, Union troops tried to destroy a railroad bridge that had been built sometime around 1855. Confederate forces held them off, marking the last Confederate victory of the war in North Carolina.

The Yadkin River Bridge site had been previously listed as being at risk in the trust's 2008 report. Ann Brownlee, the president of the Trading Ford Historic District Preservation Association, has been trying to raise awareness of the site's historic significance since 2000.

"The best thing for (the reports) to accomplish is to bring the story of the battle, and the story of our preservation battle, to the public's interest," Brownlee said. More information on the battle is available at the association's Web site, www.trading-ford.org.

□ Morrisville, April 14, 1965: The site in Western Wake County of the last assault by Sherman's army in North Carolina is threatened by rapid population growth and development, the report says.

□ Averasboro, March 16, 1865: Just 20 miles from Fayetteville, the site is threatened by the projected addition of 40,000 people to the area as a result of the planned expansion of Fort Bragg, the report says.

The endangered sites are Gettysburg, Pa.; South Mountain and Monocacy in Maryland; Cedar Creek, New Market Heights and Wilderness in Virginia; Fort Gaines, Ala.; Port Gibson, Miss.; Sabine Pass, Texas; and Spring Hill, Tenn.