Christy Goodman, The Examiner
2006-06-28 09:00:00.0
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Prince William County -

The Civil War Preservation Trust on Tuesday signed over to Prince William County a lease for a Civil War battlefield. The Bristoe Station Battlefield Heritage Park is 134 acres on Bristow Road south of Route 28. The land was given to CWPT for free by Centex Homes as part of the deal with the county to develop the neighboring, nearly 700-home Bristow Village.

The 2002 agreement was a “milestone” in the county’s historic preservation efforts and became a national model of how preservationists, local governments, residents and developers can work together to save historic lands, said Sean Connaughton, Prince William County Board of Supervisors chair.

CWPT, which saved three other battlefields following Bristoe’s example, has been working with the county to develop walking trails that highlight the area’s history. The trails, lined with informational signs, and a parking lot will be built by Centex and finished by this winter, said Brandon Hanafin, head of the county’s historic preservation division.

“This will be a very heavily used trail system when you look at the neighborhood there and the growth in the area. There is not a lot of public trails in the area,” Hanafin said.

The open farmland features ponds, wetlands and trees that buffer Bristow Village to the west.

The parkland also has a rich history. CWPT has found two confederate camp cemeteries from the early 1860s and believe there are other trench graves from the Oct. 14, 1863, Battle of Bristoe Station, said Jim Campi, a CWPT spokesman.

“This is one of those sort of forgotten battlefields. Not by the veterans that fought there, but by a lot of historians,” Campi said.

The Battle of Bristoe Station was fought shortly after Gettysburg and before Gen. Ulysses Grant moved east to win the war, Campi said. The fight was led by Gen. Robert E. Lee as he made his way to attack Washington, he said.

The “blundered” battle was lost by the Confederates, who did not realize a significant portion of the Union army was camped behind the railroad tracks that still border the southern side of the park, Campi said.

cgoodman@dcexaminer.com