News Release

National Park Service awards nearly $1.2 million to preserve sites of armed conflict

Camp Douglas, Chicago, Ill. 1864

Retrieved from the Library of Congress

News Release Date: August 23, 2022

Contact: [e-mail]

WASHINGTON - The National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program (NPS ABPP) awarded $1,198,379.54 in Preservation Planning Grants today to 14 preservation partners. Grant recipients will use these funds to conduct archeological site surveys, interpretive planning, oral history interviews, and other documentation at battlefields and sites of armed conflict.

“The American Battlefield Protection Program’s Preservation Planning Grants fund a diversity of projects that help us better understand and interpret sites of armed conflict on American soil,” said NPS Director Chuck Sams. “Through a community-driven approach, these grants protect these significant places, providing an opportunity for all Americans to explore the impacts of these conflicts on who we are as a nation.”

One of the projects awarded this year will develop traveling exhibits and web-based educational materials to tell the story of Camp Douglas in Chicago, Illinois. Established in 1861, Camp Douglas served as a Union training center and prisoner-of-war camp until the fall of 1865. The Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation’s project will acknowledge the experience of Union guards and Confederate prisoners through firsthand accounts and expand the public’s knowledge of what life was like at the camp.

NPS ABPP’s Preservation Planning Grants promote the preservation and protection of sites where historic battles across all eras were fought on American soil. The program’s financial assistance to a broad range of Tribal, state, and local preservation partners supports community-driven stewardship of sites of armed conflict that shaped the growth and development of the United States. In addition, NPS ABPP administers three other grant programs: Battlefield Interpretation Grants, Battlefield Land Acquisition Grants, and Battlefield Restoration Grants.

NPS invites Tribal, state, and local governments, institutions of higher education, and non-profits to submit proposals for consideration during an annual competition. To learn more about how to apply for a Preservation Planning Grant in the winter of 2022, visit NPS.gov or submit questions directly to the program at e-mail us.  

This year’s Preservation Planning Grant recipients

State	Project	Amount
IL	Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation	$30,367.00
	“Traveling Exhibit for Camp Douglas”
MA	Town of Montague	$83,300.00
	“1676 Battle of Great Falls (Wissatinnewag-Peskeompskut): Site Identification and Evaluation Phase III+ Education”
MD	Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area	$73,300.00
	“Expanding “Crossroads of War” Website”
MI	Regents of the University of Michigan	$107,321.00
	“River Raisin Battlefield Archaeology Project”
CROW  AGENCY  (MT)	Little Big Horn College	$146,155.00
	“It is a Good Day to (Re)Live Little Big Man: The Movie and 50 Years of Changing Perspectives about Indian Wars in the American West”
NM	University of New Mexico	$45,217.54
	“America's First War: Vázquez de Coronado and the Rio Grande Pueblos, 1540-1542”
NJ	County of Ocean	$148,864.00
	“American Revolution in Ocean County Trail”
NY	Lake Champlain Maritime Museum	$92,773.00
	“Saving Spitfire: Planning for the Future”
NY	Research Foundation for the State University of New York (Binghamton)	$71,630.00
	“Battle of Fort Bull: Research, Indigenous Voices, and Community Stewardship”
PA	Braddock's Battlefield History Center	$52,000.00
	“Diverse Voices to Preserve the Battlefield”
PA	Juniata College	$62,675.00
	“Fort Halifax Rediscovery”
VA	American Battlefield Trust	$94,000.00
	“Documenting Multicultural Resources on Virginia’s Battlefields”
VA	Capital Region Land Conservancy	$137,900.00
	“Investigating the Core Battlefield of New Market Heights”
VA	St. Mary's College of Maryland	$52,877.00
	“Mapping the Dragon: An Indigenous History of Bacon’s Rebellion”

www.nps.gov 

About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 423 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.