Where sabers crossed and 'Stonewall' Jackson roamed: A burgeoning Virginia state park prepares to eventually manage Brandy Station, other Culpeper battlefields

Cunningham Farm wall remnants at Brandy Station (Chuck Laudner/American Battlefield Trust)

The growing staff at Virginia’s Culpeper Battlefields State Park is learning more about the power and potential of Civil War properties it will manage once they are transferred from the American Battlefield Trust.

An office manager and park ranger (maintenance) were recently hired, said Kim Wells, spokeswoman at Virginia State Parks, and a law enforcement ranger will be added soon. Park manager Drew Gruber is leading the group.

The ABT, Friends of Culpeper Battlefields, the Brandy Station Foundation, Friends of Cedar Mountain Battlefield and other groups have worked for decades to purchase and interpret a cluster of imperiled Civil War battlefields in Culpeper County. The sites are Brandy Station, Cedar Mountain, Kelly’s Ford, Rappahannock Station and Hansbrough's Ridge.

While the state park opened 18 months ago, development is relatively still in its early stages. The park staff is working from the Friends of Cedar Mountain Battlefield information center at 9465 General Winder Road, Rapidan (photo below).

“We are already talking in detail with visitors, tour guides (including Culpeper Battlefield Tours), friends’ groups, municipal offices and more to assess what they enjoy about the properties now, their aspirations, the efficacy of existing programming,” Wells said in a recent email. “One thing is certain. Culpeper will continue to offer a unique battlefield experience where you can explore on horseback or paddle between battles.”

The ABT – which will be chief steward of the properties until 2027 -- plans to make several additional donations to the Commonwealth over the next couple years, said Jim Campi, chief policy and communications officer.

The Culpeper Battlefields State Park team has not started the master planning process, but it will be helped by friends groups and the ABT, which oversaw a cultural landscape report at Brandy Station, site of a mammoth cavalry clash in 1863 that signaled the beginning of the Gettysburg campaign.

Preliminary results of the Brandy Station report were unveiled to the public in late June, according to a news article by the Culpeper Times (InsideNOVA).

A staffer with MIG, a landscape architectural firm, said the study identified traces of roads, artillery and gun pits, family cemeteries and archaeological sites -- all of which need further study.

Stone walls marking the edges of fields and property boundaries on the battlefield were believed to have been built by enslaved people, according to the speaker. (At right, ABT map of parcels at Brandy Station; click to enlarge). One wall separated the Cunningham and Green farms.

Campi told the Picket this study focused on a portion of the Brandy Station battlefield, including St. James Church and Elkwood. A final version of the report viewed by the Picket cites concerns about unauthorized relic hunting at the site.

The Picket has reached out multiple times to MIG for comment and visual images but has not heard back.

The various friends groups are hosting tours and “working on programs and projects across the breadth of the properties which are slated to transfer to the Commonwealth,” said Wells. No state employees are currently handling interpretation.

She said the new park ranger in charge of maintenance will be developing a stewardship plan and will work alongside three part-time maintenance rangers to ensure the properties are well maintained and cared for.

Interpretation at Brandy Station's Fleetwood Hill sector (American Battlefield Trust)

“While we’ve been focused on ordering furniture, tools, equipment and more, we’ve found time to explore the properties owned by the American Battlefield Trust which are set to transfer to the Commonwealth in the years to come. There is a lot of ground to cover as we learned about the park’s six Civil War battles, Revolutionary War history and its Civilian Conservation Corp history, too,” wrote Wells.

The master planning process will likely begin once all acquired parcels have been transferred to the state. It will take a few years to complete.

I asked the spokesperson about which of the sites are vulnerable or need extra protection.

“State Park Rangers conduct regular assessments of their parks to identify potential vulnerabilities and to determine whether additional protective measures are needed for sensitive natural, cultural and historic resources at these sites. Actions are handled on a case-by-case basis, and the outcomes of such reviews may or may not be publicly shared. There are no new updates regarding Culpeper Battlefields State Parks in relation to this matter.”

Click map to get a closer view of planned state park properties (American Battlefield Trust)

The ABT previously said it and other groups worked together to stave off much of the commercial development that would take in battlefield land.

“At various times, pieces of land that we are now gifting to the Commonwealth of Virginia were slated to become housing tracts, industrial parks, water retention and management areas — even a Formula One racetrack,” it says.

In the meantime, visitors can walk on several trails and read ABT and Civil War Trails signs.

“We are always going to be involved,” said Campi. “The park is not done yet. There is more land to acquire.”

First of 20 Enfield rifles to be preserved emerges from wood treatment at Georgia lab. After 160 years in water, weapon made for South appears to be doing fine

Right side of treated rifle, bottom portion, nose cap at end of barrel, two rifles chosen for treatment (Georgia DNR)

Conservation in Georgia of 20 Enfield rifles has reached a significant milestone, with the first walnut stock emerging from treatment and appearing to be doing well outside a wet environment.

“I was thinking about it; this is the longest this rifle has been out of water in over 160 years,” said Josh Headlee, curator and historic preservation specialist with the state’s Department of Natural Resources.

“I want to give it a little time to monitor it closely and make sure nothing bad is going to happen to it. However, I think it’s going to work. The rifle seems pretty stable,” he said.

The British-made weapons – which went down with a Confederate blockade runner in Charleston Harbor -- have been displayed for nearly 15 years in a 300-gallon aquarium at Sweetwater Creek State Park in Douglas County as corrosive salts are removed.

The stack of Enfield rifles in lining and crate at Sweetwater Creek State Park.

Saltwater destroyed most of the iron components, including barrels, locks and bayonets. The trigger guards, butt plates and nose caps at the end of the barrels are made of brass and are still intact.

The state’s aim is to eventually exhibit the wooden remnants of the rifles.

Lab picked two rifles for initial treatment

Headlee in 2022 selected two rifles (left, Georgia DNR) to be treated with a solution made by Preservation Solutions. Conservators previously used SP-11 to treat an intact coffin found in 2013 on the edge of the marsh at Fort McAllister, a Confederate river outpost below Savannah.

Before chemical treatment, the rifles are kept in water, which protects their cellular structure. 

Without immersion in a preserver, pieces of wood will shrink, warp and crack. “They could literally just fall apart,” Headlee previously told the Picket. (Treated rifle above, Georgia DNR. View shows were the lock and hammer would have been.)

SP-11 is designed to displace water in the wood with preservatives that help to solidify the wood so it can be permanently exposed to the air.

The curator said he is watching the preserved rifle to see if there is leaching, cracking or splitting of the wood as it continues to dry.

If this weapon remains stable, Headlee said, the second Enfield will undergo the treatment. “We’re slowly picking the hard crusty layer off of it before we put it in the wood preserver,” he added. (Left side of the rifle, above)

The items are being treated at a facility at Panola Mountain State Park east of Atlanta.

Divers pulled up prized weapons decades ago

The Pattern 1853 Enfields were carried by the blockade runner CSS Stono and were bound for Charleston, S.C., in 1863. The rifles, stored in a wooden crate, were placed in an alternating butt to muzzle pattern, and blocks were used to prevent the weapons from shifting.

The Stono, laden with precious arms, munitions and goods from Europe, in 1863 ran aground on a submerged sandbar off Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor while trying to evade Federal ships.

An archaeological diver pulled up the box carrying the 20 rifles in the late 1980s. One end was damaged, apparently when the ship sank. Some of the Enfields were damaged.

Officials did not initially know how many of the highly prized Pattern 1853 rifles were inside, their position or condition. 

Each weapon originally weighed about 9 pounds and was approximately 53 inches long. The bore is .577-caliber. (At right, treated gun, Georgia DNR. It shows were the trigger guard and assembly would have been.)

The craftsmanship involved in the manufacture of the guns was very good, Headlee previously said. “Enfield was top quality.”

The Enfield was the second-most widely used infantry weapon in the Civil War after the Springfield.

The 1851 and 1853 Enfields, made for the British army, were an important technological advance from smoothbore to rifled muskets, increasing the accuracy and distance.

At least one of the weapons bears the mark, “T. Turner,” a reference to well-known English gunmaker Thomas Turner, who turned out quality weapons in the mid-19^th century.

Barrel plugs called tampions remarkably survived

 A tin and lead lining that sealed the cargo from salt air and ensured the rifles were not tampered with is in bad condition.

But there is a silver lining to all of this: Components made of brass withstood the onslaught of corrosive saltwater. Conservators are still trying to determine how to treat them.

Iron or steel screws holding the butt plates in place deteriorated over the years and the plates just slid off, said Headlee.

Conservators years ago found in the crate a bullet mold, tools and tampions -- cork and brass plugs inserted into the muzzle to ward off moisture.

The team counted 20 tampions (above, Georgia DNR) “in various states” of condition. Tampions are used on cannons and rifles to keep debris from falling into their barrels.

Headlee finds it remarkable much of the cork used for the Enfield tampions remains.

“They were just found in a grouping. We feel like they were in a box or bag in the crate.”

A closer look at chains and bayonet remnants

The Enfields featured a nipple protector, which kept the hammer away from the firing mechanism when not in use. A chain was attached to a plug placed over the weapon’s nipple.

Headlee last year sent me a photo of one chain from the Stono guns (above, Georgia DNR). “Some of them are still on the rifles.”

He reached out to Enfield experts in England and elsewhere about the half dozen remnants of iron bayonets found stacked together. They told him bayonets normally would be shipped in a separate box.

“Why bayonets (remnant below, Georgia DNR) were in this crate I have no idea,” Headlee said. “They are all but gone. The fact we have this much is amazing.” The pieces are about an inch and a half long.

The Enfield fired a Minie ball. No ammunition was found in the crate.

Eventually, if all goes as hoped, the 20 rifles will go on display somewhere in the state.

“Even up to the end of the (Civil War), the Enfield rifle was kind of the M16 rifle of the day,” said Headlee. “It had been used for years and years. Bang for the buck, it was as good as any standard weapon.”

Springfield and Enfield rifles were neck and neck in effectiveness, he added. “They were like a Ford and a Chevy.”

Interestingly, the  nose cap is the only metal piece still attached to the wooden stock of the treated rifle. It appears to be riveted in place and conservators don't want to risk breaking the fragile stock to remove it for treatment.