page_title: American Civil War battlefield preservation
section_title: National Civil War Military Parks and National Battlefields
hierarchical_section_title: American Civil War battlefield preservation / National Civil War Military Parks and National Battlefields
caption_attribution_description: Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park
context_page_description: The practice of preserving the battlefields of the American Civil War for historical and memorial reasons has been developed over more than 150 years in the United States. Even during the American Civil War active duty soldiers on both sides of the conflict began erecting impromptu battlefield monuments to their recently fallen comrades. Since these initial attempts at preservation and commemoration, important Civil War battle sites have been preserved by various groups and many are now in the care of the National Park Service and overseen by the American Battlefield Protection Program. Of approximately 10,500 acts of aggression that occurred between the United States and the Confederacy 384 have been identified in a 1993 federal report as being principle to the conflict. From these a select few have been chosen based on their historical significance, accessibility, and preservability to be federally curated. Beyond sites run by the U.S. Federal government many secondary battle sites across the United States are maintained and operated by state governments and private historical groups.
context_section_description: The 17 Civil War battle sites that are cared for by the NSP are listed under four different designations: National Military Parks, National Battlefields, National Battlefield Parks, and National Battlefield Sites. Interestingly, not all of these battles are widely considered to be particularly important and many other battles that are have not been given any official designation. There are those who believe that the selection process and marketing of Civil War battlefields are a highly political issue even into the 21st century. The primary complaint of scholars and select visitors is that these federally preserved sites, intentionally or unintentionally preserve and promote the 'Lost Cause' narrative. Furthermore the NPS service came under fire for their preservation efforts due to that fact that they largely ignored slavery as a component of the Civil War until the 1990s.
  Civil War National Military Parks 
  Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park
  Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Memorial National Military Park
  Gettysburg National Military Park
  Pea Ridge National Military Park
  Shiloh National Military Park
  Vicksburg National Military Park
  Civil War National Battlefields
  Antietam National Battlefield
  Fort Donelson National Battlefield
  Monocacy National Battlefield
  Petersburg National Battlefield
  Stones River National Battlefield
  Tupelo National Battlefield
  Wilson's Creek National Battlefield
  Civil War National Battlefield Parks 
  Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park
  Manassas National Battlefield Park
  Richmond National Battlefield Park
  Civil War National Battlefield Sites 
  Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site
caption: Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.
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