Senator Lamar Alexander Joins CWPT to Promote Preservation of Spring Hill Battlefield

SPRING HILL, Tenn., Sept. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Friday, September 24, U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander will join the national Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) to announce a fundraising campaign to save a key portion of the Spring Hill Battlefield.  The news conference will be held at historic Rippavilla Plantation, near an 84-acre property that CWPT has entered into an agreement to acquire from General Motors, LLC.

Joining Senator Alexander at the news conference will be CWPT Chairman John L. Nau, III, CWPT President James Lighthizer, and Bryan Mitchell, National Park Service Chief of Heritage Preservation Services.

The land CWPT is seeking to preserve played a key role in the Battle of Spring Hill, when Gen. William B. Bate's Confederate division encountered elements of Gen. John M. Schofield's Union army while attempting to move north on the Columbia Pike in the waning hours of November 29, 1864.  During the night, the federal army pulled off perhaps the greatest escape of the entire war — some 20,000 men slipped by the Confederate troops encamped just yards away, setting the stage for the Battle of Franklin the next day.

The news conference will begin at 11:00 a.m. at Rippavilla Plantation.  Guests will be directed to park in an overflow lot behind the plantation house.  A public tour of the battlefield will follow the event and refreshments will be available.  Those intending to participate should dress appropriately for walking through open terrain.  

With 55,000 members, CWPT is the largest nonprofit battlefield preservation organization in the United States.  Its mission is to preserve our nation's endangered Civil War battlefields and to promote appreciation of these hallowed grounds.  CWPT has preserved more than 29,000 acres of battlefield land across the nation, including 2,200 acres in Tennessee.  CWPT's website is www.civilwar.org.

SOURCE Civil War Preservation Trust