Civil War Battlefield Looted

[Beth]

This story nearly made me physically ill.


Civil War Battlefield looted


The National Park Service is calling part of a Civil War battlefield "an active crime scene" following a series of excavations.

Authorities are investigating suspected looting at Petersburg National Battlefield, just south of Richmond, Virginia. The battlefield describes itself as the site of the war's longest siege, lasting nine months between 1864-1865, and claiming 70,000 casualties.

"Earlier this week, one of the park employees was out doing landscape work and noticed some things were out of place," park spokesman Chris Bryce said.

The looting happened in the eastern part of the park, officials said, citing a large number of excavated pits. Marked graves were not disturbed.

Park officials have not described what type of items or relics were believed stolen in the theft.

"They are probably doing their homework of the area, probably did research on Civil War ...They were in the ground, they likely would have used a metal detector and a digging tool," Bryce said.

Civil War relics, including uniform buttons, rifle parts and other metallic battlefield items, regularly show up on internet auction sites.

The agency says looting a federal battlefield is a crime, carrying up to a $20,000 fine and two years in prison for a conviction.

The siege of Petersburg is known as the longest military event of the Civil War, pitting Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant against Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

The Petersburg siege and battle over supply lines led to the eventual fall of the Confederate capital of Richmond and the surrender of the Confederacy.

In one of its most infamous battles, called The Crater, Union troops detonated a mine underneath a Confederate fortification.

But poorly led Union troops were repulsed after they rushed into the gap.

Grant called the Battle of the Crater "the saddest affair I have ever witnessed in war."

[dave]

Beth
Fields such as Petersburg that are so large are easy targets for thugs such as these. Artifacts illegally acquired add nothing to the story of the battle or its participants and we as a nation are the poorer for this crime.
Regards
Dave

[Beth]

I know there is nothing new about this crime, people have been tomb robbing for centuries. It's the hubris of going on to a protected National Battlefield that just pushes it over the edge to me. It's not just that they are stealing from the dead, they are stealing from every single person in the country because we all have a vested interest in every national park, monument or acre of federal land.

I hope they catch the thieves as well as every person who would buy from them because it's the buyers who don't ask questions that fuel the market for stolen grave goods. It's not just battlefields either, people are stealing are stealing metal objects from cemeteries across the country for the value as scrap metal or even as decorative 'features"--things like bronze urns containing cremains, bronze vases and plaques, military markers, mausoleum doors, wrought iron fences, eternity lights-the list is endless. People steal tomb stones and statues to sell in chic shops as decorative items for gardens.

There are times that I wish I believed in things like ghosts, cursed items and bad juju because if anyone deserves to be haunted by their deeds its those thieves.