The National Park Service last week announced a $637,500 grant from the American

Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) to help protect a portion of a Civil War battlefield in Tennessee. The grant will be used to acquire a portion of the Franklin Battlefield threatened by development.

“The NPS award will help the city, the American Battlefield Trust and non-profit Franklin’s Charge purchase the less than acre on Columbia Avenue known as the Spivey Tract, which will ultimately be incorporated into the Carter Hill Battlefield Park,” reports Patch.com.

“Some of the most defining moments in our nation’s history were decided by conflicts that played out on hallowed grounds that include this battlefield,” National Park Service Deputy Director P. Daniel Smith said.

“In partnership with local communities, the American Battlefield Trust, Franklin’s Charge, and the City of Franklin, this grant will help preserve the battlefield for future generations.”

The grants are administered by the ABPP, one of more than a dozen programs operated by the National Park Service that provide states and local communities technical assistance, recognition, and funding to help preserve their own history and create close-to-home recreation opportunities. Consideration for the battlefield land acquisition grants is given to battlefields listed in the National Park Service’s Civil War Sites Advisory Commission’s 1993 Report on the Nation’s Civil War Battlefields and the ABPP’s 2007 Report to Congress

on the Historic Preservation of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Sites in the United States.

Grants are awarded to units of state and local governments for the fee simple acquisition of land, or for the non-federal acquisition of permanent, protective interests in land easements. Private non-profit groups may apply in partnership with state or local government sponsors.

The grants are funded from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which uses revenue from federal oil and gas leases on the Outer Continental Shelf to purchase land, water and wetlands for the benefit of all Americans. Since its establishment in 1964, LWCF has conserved land in every state and supported tens of thousands of state and local projects, including the protection of important water sources, expansion of access

for hunting and fishing, preservation of historic battlefields, and creation of ball fields and recreational areas.

For more information about ABPP, including these grants, please visit www.nps.gov/abpp/.

The Battle of Franklin was fought on November 30, 1864, in Franklin and was one of the worst disasters of the war for the Confederate States Army.