Skip to content
Alex Hibbs /

Why Do Americans Preserve Their Battlefields? 

Why land, more than just memorials, deepens the etch of history.
A Civil War-era cannon with a turquoise barrel sits in a grassy field with autumn foliage and distant smoke rising from the wooded hillside.
Smoke in the distance from a controlled burn on November 21, 2019 in Manassas, Virginia. (Photo by Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

For the Union, the road to Manassas, Virginia, was long and ill-omened. As the July heat scorched the newly minted soldiers, discipline was slack. Men fell out of line to pick blackberries. When the Army of the Potomac set out from Washington, it outnumbered the Confederate forces stationed around Manassas by a significant margin.

Want to see more of The Dispatch in Google search?

Add Us as a Preferred Source

 

Alex Hibbs is a writer and researcher working in Washington, D.C. He was previously an editor at National Affairs and Ad Fontes.

More We Think You’d Like

Loading