In the midnight darkness of September 28, 1864, more than 25,000 Union troops under Gen. Benjamin Butler advanced across pontoon bridges over the James River. The next morning before dawn, the Tenth Corps would attack Confederate positions on high ground above New Market Road. The first attack was led by members of the United States Colored Troops through a dense fog, creek marshes, abatis, and heavy artillery. The USCT launched a second attack and successfully broke through the Confederate line at Four Mile Creek. More than 800 USCT soldiers were killed or wounded during the first hour of fighting. Fourteen USCT were awarded the Medal of Honor for their valor that day – more than in any other single engagement of the Civil War.
The Battle of New Market Heights
Hallowed Ground Under Threat
At New Market Heights, Black soldiers demonstrated extraordinary courage under devastating fire, and their sacrifice helped secure the fall of Richmond, and the Confederacy, just six months later. Of the 16 Medals of Honor awarded to U.S. Colored Troops during the entire Civil War, 14 were earned here, on this hallowed ground, in eastern Henrico County. The Battle of New Market Heights was a turning point in American history.’
The New Market Heights Battlefield has gone largely unrecognized and has been a low priority for preservation organizations. In 1989, the Black Military History Institute of America fought to have the battlefield listed as a National Historic Landmark. Despite the movie Glory being a success at the box office that year and the election of Doug Wilder as Virginia’s first African American governor, the effort failed because of “near-unanimous [land]owner opposition.”
While operating the nearby Fort Harrison site since the 1930s, the National Park Service received approval in 1995 from Congress to acquire 270 acres at the core of the New Market Heights Battlefield. Thirty years later, much of this battlefield remains largely unprotected, and rising land values and development pressure are accelerating the threat.
In 2021, Preservation Virginia added the battlefield to its list of Virginia’s Most Endangered Historic Places. Today, large portions of the battlefield remain under serious threat despite CRLC quietly conserving it piece by piece.
Capital Region Land Conservancy turned its attention to New Market Heights Battlefield, having acquired 353 acres at the Varina LandLab Conservation Area where Union troops crossed over the James River and marched into battle. CRLC also purchased 49 acres at Fordson Farm adjacent to 210 acres which Henrico County owns and that will be protected by a conservation easement. And in 2022, Howard Eberly gifted to CRLC his family’s 28 acres at Four Mile Creek Farm.
More recently, however, CRLC had to quickly take on $750,000 in debt to purchase 31 acres at Griggs Pond and 45 acres adjacent to Four Mile Creek Farm. Altogether, CRLC has now protected over 500 acres of the nearly 2,100 acres defined as core battlefield by the congressional Civil War Sites Advisory Committee.
As development pressures threaten the New Market Heights Battlefield, we’re not done yet. CRLC has two letters of intent signed with landowners to purchase another 150 acres for approximately $1.5 million. These additions will further connect the mosaic of conserved land that protects our natural resources, shelters wildlife, preserves the rural character and important historic fabric of this landscape.
This is the task before us today, so we ask for your financial support now with a gift toward protecting this local land of national importance.
What Your Restricted Gift Can Accomplish
Your contribution to this restricted fund will be used solely on our conservation efforts across Varina in Henrico County. Unfortunately, land purchases are not cheap. In fact, it will cost CRLC $10,000 per acre! A contribution of $50 would therefore assist in conserving 250 square feet of this sacred ground, so every dollar counts.
This is a forever investment — one that will carry dividends every year for future generations and honor the legacy of those who fought for freedom. Donate here or mail your check to P.O. Box 17306 Richmond, VA 23226, noting your donation to New Market Heights. Thank You!
A Forthcoming Trail to Bring This History to Life
Preservation and public access go hand in hand – and the future of this landscape is about more than protecting land.
It is about connecting people to it.
Henrico County is planning the New Market Heights Park on land adjacent to CRLC’s and our target properties. The County is also developing the New Market Heights Trail, a multi-use path that will link the Virginia Capital Trail to Deep Bottom Park. This new trail will connect to Entrance #1 and Entrance #2 at the Varina LandLab Conservation Area. When complete, this trail will allow walkers, cyclists, and families to travel through conserved battlefield land, following the path where USCT soldiers fought and died – land that is being protected today because of donors like you.
This trail will also serve as an outdoor classroom, bringing the history of the USCT and the 14 USCT Medal of Honor recipients at New Market Heights to future generations in a living, walkable landscape rather than in textbooks alone. The land CRLC is working to protect right now adds to the sense of this place in ways that helps immerse visitors in authentic experiences that give honor to those who walked this land before us.