$4M grant helps preserve lesser-known Civil War battlefield

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) — The National Park Service says it has awarded the largest single grant in the history of its American Battlefield Protection Program to help preserve one of the lesser-known Civil War battlefields. The agency said Tuesday that the $4.6 million grant will be used to buy and preserve 250 acres of the Williamsburg Battlefield in Virginia’s York County. It has sat on private land outside the former colonial capital. The battle was part of what’s known as the Peninsula Campaign of 1862 — when Union forces tried to capture Richmond from the southeast. Some 72,000 troops fought at Williamsburg, and 3,800 were killed, wounded or captured.