The Trump administration has proposed a 38% cut in funding for the National Park Service (NPS). This would be a cut of more $1.2 Billion from the funding for the NPS. n addition to the loss of personnel, the NPS would also close down many of its sites around the country. The NPS has 433 sites around the country. Trump is not proposing to close down the 63 National Parks like Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon, but he is looking at terminating historic sites and national monuments. The Trump administration is speculating that some of these sites may be turned over to the states, but without Federal funding it is difficult to see how the states could keep most of these open.
The Trump administration has said that “This reduction complements the Administration’s goals of federal and transferring smaller, less visited parks to State and tribal governments…” The president has not said which parks it would close and whether any states have agreed to take on the administration of the transferred land.
Please contact your Congressional representatives to let them know that you object to this destruction of the National Park System-It can only happen if the House of Representatives and the Senate go along with it.
Call the House of Representatives Switchboard to contact your Congressperson (202) 224-3121.
When you call you will likely have a live operator who will connect you to your Congressperson, so make sure you know the name of your Congressperson!
Many Americans refer to all the sites administered by the National Park System as “National Parks.” However, this is not true. The National Park Service has 433 sites it administers, but only 63 are designated “National Parks.” Trump has said he may decommission other sites. There are 370 sites that don’t fall under the protective designation of being “National Parks.”
I have reviewed the parks listed as “National Parks.” These include many areas of spectacular beauty. However, very few of them have anything to do with the Civil War. Here are the ones I found connected to the Civil War and Reconstruction:
Dry Tortugas which includes Fort Jefferson which was used during the Civil War and included a prison where Confederate-sympathizing prisoners were held.
Gateway Arch in Saint Louis is not a Civil War devoted site, it is a giant arch, however it does contain the courthouse where the original decision in the Dred Scott case was made.
Great Smoky Mountains is primarily thought of place to see nature’s wonders, but it also has several dwellings from the Civil War Era and some graves of both Confederate and Unionist soldiers and other people involved in the Civil War. Shenandoah also has several sites connected to the Civil War.
There are several other markers at National Parks that are ostensibly not connected to the Civil War that might be thought of as commemoration veterans of the war. For example, at Arches National Park there is a one-room house that was occupied by a Civil War veteran in the 1890s. There is also a monument to John Wesley Powell at Grand Canyon National Park. The memorial commemorates Powell for navigating the Colorado River, not for his Civil War service.
As you can see, these National Parks are not devoted to the Civil War, but they do include some references to the war and its era.
So apart from the protected sites listed above, here are sites that are Civil War battlefields, connected to the immediate Antebellum Era or the Reconstruction Era. They include sites that were the homes of people from the period from 1850 to 1880. Here are some that are at risk:
National Battlefields
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania
National Historic Sites
Carl Sandburg Home biographer of Lincoln
Carter G. Woodson Home Home of historian of African Americans under slavery and Reconstruction
Fort Bowie fort established by the California Volunteers in 1862
Fort Scott was a scene of disputes during the Bleeding Kansas before the war and it was captured by Union forces.
Frederick Douglass home
Hopewell Furnace manufactured iron during the war.
Kate Mullany home of the organizer of the first permanent women’s labor union during the Civil War.
Lower East Side Tenement housed immigrants during the Civil War.
National Historic Parks
Cedar Creek and Belle Grove Sheridan’s headquarters
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal canal that was a target of Union and Confederate troops.
Harpers Ferry
Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad
Homestead passage of the Homestead Act in 1862 opened up many parts of the West to White settlement.
Lowell shows industrial manufacturing during the time of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Natchez shows a pre-war Southern community.
Saint-Gaudens studio showing works by the great sculptor who created the 54th Massachusetts monument in Boston.
Women’s Rights looks at the role women played during the pre-Civil War era.
Parkway
Now not all of these sites will be closed. In statements from the Trump administration, sites with large visitorship will continue to be administered by the National Park Service. I doubt that Gettysburg will be closed or transferred to the State of Pennsylvania. However, if you see a site that you fell like most of your neighbors are not even aware of, that site may be endangered.
The Trump administration has said that some sites may be turned over to states, but there have been no agreements with states to take them over. Very few states could come up with enough money in the next few months to staff them before the 2026 budget goes into effect.
If you are concerned about this, please call your Congressperson and Senators.
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This administration is the enemy of everything we cherish about America. I am at once disgusted and ashamed. One day, history will properly condemn them for their misuse of their authority.
I hope.
FYI the Gateway Arch is in St. Louis, not San Francisco. Just a typo, I’m sure.
Thanks for alerting me to that!