Federal funds to add 300+ acres to Richmond battlefield park

Richmond National Battlefield Park has a Civil War story just as important as Gettysburg, in the eyes of Superintendent David Ruth, and now it's $4 million closer to generating Gettysburg-level attention.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on Wednesday announced a $4 million grant from the U.S. Land and Water Conservation Fund at Glendale National Cemetery, site of the sixth of the Seven Days Battles that protected Richmond from capture in 1862.

The money will allow the park to add more than 300 acres to the Glendale property on Willis Church Road near state Route 5 east of Richmond. The land has been preserved by the Civil War Trust, whose president, James Lighthizer, said he recalled visiting the site as a student when only a single acre was preserved at Malvern Hill and at Glendale....