Senator To Tour Battlefeld, Discuss Preservation Grant

Image: U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., will visit the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania Military Park on Friday to receive a briefing on $1.2 million in federal funds intended to protect the battlefield from encroaching development.

The funds are provided through the American Battlefield Protection Program, according to a statement from the senator's office. The program helps preserve Civil War battlefields at risk of being lost to haphazard development.

This year, Virginia will receive nearly $2.7 million from the American Battlefield Protection Program for the Fredericksburg battlefield and 12 other Civil War preservation projects around the commonwealth, according to Gov. Terry McAuliffe. The program is administered by the U.S. National Park Service.

On Friday morning, Kaine is scheduled to visit Prospect Hill and other parts of the battlefield. The military park commemorates the 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg, the 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville and the 1864 battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House.

In 2014, Kaine led a bipartisan effort in Congress to reauthorize the battlefield protection program, the statement said. He also fought last year to fully fund the program through the Land and Water Conservation Fund in the federal government's fiscal 2016 omnibus appropriations bill.