Breaking the Line: Preserving Civil War Earthworks at New Market Heights Battlefield

Confederate earthworks at Haskins Farm, where soldiers of the United States Colored Troops forced Confederates out of their defense positions.

Capital Region Land Conservancy.

Recipient: Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation

Amount: $660,500.00
Acres: 49.09

In the dawn hours of September 29, 1863, three brigades of the United States Colored Troops (USCT), an all-Black regiment of the US Army, marched towards Confederate defensive positions in New Market, Virginia, a small town south of Richmond. The USCT brigades were tasked with dislodging the Confederate defenders from a series of defensive earthworks dug into New Market's farmland; a maneuver that the Union hoped would bring them closer to capturing Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy.

As Union forces reached New Market’s defensive line, they were met with intense resistance from the elite Texas Brigade that had previously fought in nearly every major engagement of the Eastern Theater. After a failed frontal attack on Confederate positions, the 22nd Division of the USCT pivoted to assault the left flank of Confederate lines at the Haskins Farm property. During their attack, the men of the 22nd braved heavy rifle and artillery fire, but successfully pushed the battle-hardened Texan veterans out of an 800-ft long stretch of earthworks. The Battle of New Market Heights would be remembered as the USCT’s greatest victory, one that earned 14 of its members the Medal of Honor and contributed to the Union’s capture of Richmond in April 1865.

With financial assistance from the NPS American Battlefield Protection Program, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation in partnership with the Capital Region Land Conservancy will acquire 49 acres of the Haskins Farm property. After acquisition, the property will be utilized for publicly accessible nature trails with interpretative signs about the landscape’s Civil War history.