Thursday, March 13, 2008 Civil War battlefields threatened by 'sprawl' THE ASSOCIATED PRESS http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/MGArticle/WSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173354946932 Give your opinion on this story WASHINGTON The site of the single bloodiest day in American history is under siege - threatened by a 120-foot cell-phone tower, says a preservation group. The vast field in western Maryland is where the Battle of Antietam was fought on Sept. 17, 1862. It is one of the 10 most endangered Civil War battlefields, according to an annual report released yesterday from the Civil War Preservation Trust. The list includes historic sites in Kentucky, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Florida, Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee. “In almost all cases, it is suburban sprawl that threatens these battlefields,” said Jim Lighthizer, the president of the trust. “We’re not against development, but we’re for thoughtful, sensitive growth that takes cognizance of the assets in the community.” The Battle of Antietam ended Gen. Robert E. Lee’s first attempt to invade the North. It resulted in nearly 23,000 casualties - about 3,700 killed, 17,300 wounded, and 1,800 captured or missing. The trust says that the site is almost devoid of visual intrusions, giving visitors a sense of the battlefield as it was in 1862. Another worry for the trust is the Cedar Creek Battlefield in Virginia, where Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal Early attacked Union forces in the fall of 1864. The trust says that the site is facing the expansion of limestone mining, possible widening of Interstate 81 and the proposed inclusion in a plan to expand power-line construction. Intense development pressure in the Richmond area is the reason that the Cold Harbor battlefield is on the list. The 1864 battle saw entrenched Confederate forces repel repeated attacks from a Union army nearly twice its number. The other endangered sites on the list are Perryville, Ky.; Prairie Grove, Ark.; Hunters-town, Pa.; Monocacy, Md.; Natural Bridge, Fla.; Savannah, Ga., and Spring Hill, Tenn. The trust is the nation’s largest nonprofit battlefield preservation group.