Cultural Landscapes Inventory Glendale Battlefield Richmond
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National Park Service Cultural Landscapes Inventory 2017 Glendale Battlefield Richmond National Battlefield Park Table of Contents Inventory Unit Summary & Site Plan Concurrence Status Geographic Information and Location Map Management Information National Register Information Chronology & Physical History Analysis & Evaluation of Integrity Condition Treatment Bibliography & Supplemental Information Glendale Battlefield Richmond National Battlefield Park Inventory Unit Summary & Site Plan Inventory Summary The Cultural Landscapes Inventory Overview: CLI General Information: Purpose and Goals of the CLI The Cultural Landscapes Inventory (CLI), a comprehensive inventory of all cultural landscapes in the national park system, is one of the most ambitious initiatives of the National Park Service (NPS) Park Cultural Landscapes Program. The CLI is an evaluated inventory of all landscapes having historical significance that are listed on or eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, or are otherwise managed as cultural resources through a public planning process and in which the NPS has or plans to acquire any legal interest. The CLI identifies and documents each landscape’s location, size, physical development, condition, landscape characteristics, character-defining features, as well as other valuable information useful to park management. Cultural landscapes become approved CLIs when concurrence with the findings is obtained from the park superintendent and all required data fields are entered into a national database. In addition, for landscapes that are not currently listed on the National Register and/or do not have adequate documentation, concurrence is required from the State Historic Preservation Officer or the Keeper of the National Register. The CLI, like the List of Classified Structures, assists the NPS in its efforts to fulfill the identification and management requirements associated with Section 110(a) of the National Historic Preservation Act, National Park Service Management Policies (2006), and Director’s Order #28: Cultural Resource Management. Since launching the CLI nationwide, the NPS, in response to the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), is required to report information that respond to NPS strategic plan accomplishments. Two GPRA goals are associated with the CLI: bringing certified cultural landscapes into good condition (Goal 1a7) and increasing the number of CLI records that have complete, accurate, and reliable information (Goal 1b2B). Scope of the CLI The information contained within the CLI is gathered from existing secondary sources found in park libraries and archives and at NPS regional offices and centers, as well as through on-site reconnaissance of the existing landscape. The baseline information collected provides a comprehensive look at the historical development and significance of the landscape, placing it in context of the site’s overall significance. Documentation and analysis of the existing landscape identifies character-defining characteristics and features, and allows for an evaluation of the landscape’s overall integrity and an assessment of the landscape’s overall condition. The CLI also provides an illustrative site plan that indicates major features within the inventory unit. Unlike cultural landscape reports, the CLI does not provide management recommendations or treatment guidelines for the cultural landscape. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Page 1 of 109 Glendale Battlefield Richmond National Battlefield Park Inventory Unit Description: Glendale Battlefield preserves the site of the June 30, 1862 Battle of Glendale, or Frayser’s Farm, the penultimate event of the Seven Days’ Battles of General George McClellan’s 1862 Peninsula Campaign. Glendale Battlefield is located at 8301 Willis Church Road, Virginia, approximately thirteen miles southeast of Richmond. The site is part of Richmond National Battlefield Park, a unit of the National Park System comprised of eleven Civil War battlefields and engagement sites and related resources around Virginia’s capital city. These sites are variously associated with the events of the Civil War, including the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, 1864 Overland Campaign, naval operations along the James River, and the 1864-65 Richmond-Petersburg Campaign. The June 30, 1862 Battle of Glendale, part of Union Gen. George B. McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign, was fought as Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia tried to prevent the Army of the Potomac from reaching Harrison’s Landing on the James River. As the Union army retreated south toward the river, Lee’s forces converged on the Federals in the area of the Glendale crossroads, nine and a half miles north of Harrison’s Landing. At Glendale, the Confederate units attacked from the west and north, trying to break the Federal line, but the Federal defenses held, and McClellan’s army passed safely on to Malvern Hill, where they made a final defensive stand before reaching Harrison’s Landing. Today, the Glendale Battlefield cultural landscape comprises 513 acres of the core battlefield, including the intersection of Willis Church Road and Darbytown Road (the crossroads) and areas of the most intense fighting. Significant sites within the landscape include the site of the Nelson farm, also known as Glendale, which served as the headquarters for Union Gen. Edwin Sumner during the battle, and the site of the Whitlock farm, which saw some of the fiercest fighting. The landscape retains a rural character through continued agricultural use, but the setting is diminished by the predominance of forested land and the development of suburban neighborhoods in proximity to the park unit. Some of the resources associated with the battle, including Willis Methodist Church and Glendale National Cemetery, lie just outside of the park boundary. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW The land around what would become Glendale Battlefield was first settled during the second half of the seventeenth century. Thomas Cocke established a homestead and farm on what had been his father Richard Cocke’s land on Malvern Hill, about three miles south of Glendale Battlefield, in c.1663. In addition to cultivating tobacco and grain, Cocke maintained a grist mill and two tanneries on his property. The Malvern Hill plantation was passed through four more generations of the Cocke family, finally passing out of the family around the time of the American Revolution. The land around Glendale Battlefield was successively divided and transferred, until by the time of the Civil War, typical farm size was on the order of a few hundred acres. Notable developments during this period were the establishment of Willis Methodist Church in 1802 and its parsonage in 1853; the establishment by Robert Pleasants of the Gravelly Hill School, the first school for free blacks in Virginia; and the settlement of free black families in the area that became known as Gravelly Hill along the Long Bridge Road. At the time of the Civil War, properties located near the crossroads of Long Bridge Road and Willis Church Road included Glendale, the plantation owned by R.H. Nelson, Cultural Landscapes Inventory Page 2 of 109 Glendale Battlefield Richmond National Battlefield Park farms owned by E.C. Fuqua, John Whitlock, and Richard and Isaak Sykes, and the farm and blacksmith shop of S.L. Riddle. In March of 1862, General George B. McClellan landed the Army of the Potomac at Fort Monroe on the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula with the intention of driving northward to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond by late May, but he was stopped at the Battle of Seven Pines on May 31. During the battle, Johnston was wounded and Gen. Robert E. Lee assumed command of the Confederate army. Lee launched a series of counter attacks, collectively called the Seven Days’ Battles, that drove the Army of the Potomac toward the James River, effectively ending the campaign. After their defeat at the Battle of Gaines’ Mill on June 27, McClellan’s troops began to retreat toward Harrison’s Landing on the James River. Their route took them through White Oak Swamp and through a critical crossroads at the Glendale plantation, about nine miles from their destination. Converging on the crossroads, Gen. Lee launched a series of assaults against the Union column hoping to cut off the retreat. Despite Confederate attacks breaking the Union line in places, McClellan’s defenses ultimately held, and his army passed safely through the crossroads to Malvern Hill. At Malvern Hill, the Union army took advantage of the favorable terrain to weather one last Confederate onslaught before reaching the safety of the James River. Four years after the Battle of Glendale, the Glendale National Cemetery was established on land purchased from the Nelson family. Initial interments in the cemetery were of Union soldiers from the Battles of Glendale and Malvern Hill and other nearby engagements. The square layout of the cemetery featured concentric circles of grave markers and a second-empire-style lodge added in 1874. Beyond the cemetery establishment, commemoration of the battlefield began in the 1920s with the installation of Battlefield Markers Association commemorative markers, or “Freeman Markers.” Several of these stone pedestal markers with iron engraved plaques, were placed in the Glendale Battlefield area. These were followed in 1932 by roadside markers erected by the state of Virginia. In 1927, the Richmond Battlefield Parks Corporation began assembling some of the original