Scope and Research Methodology

Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Historic Preservation Study

 

Heritage Preservation Services Division

National Park Service

June 2000

 

 

 


Congressional Mandate

In 1996, Congress, concerned that "the historical integrity of many Revolutionary War sites and War of 1812 sites is at risk," enacted legislation calling for a study of historic sites associated with the two early-American wars.  The purpose of the study is to 1) identify Revolutionary War sites and War of 1812 sites; 2) determine the relative significance of the sites; 3) assess short- and long- term threats to the integrity of the sites; 4) provide alternatives for the preservation and interpretation of the sites; and 5) research and propose land preservation techniques. The legislation defines "site" as "a site or structure situated in the United States that is thematically tied with the nationally significant events that occurred during the Revolutionary War… [and] the War of 1812."[1]

 

Study Synopsis

The National Park Service (NPS) assembled an interdisciplinary Study Team from American Battlefield Protection and the Cultural Resources Geographic Information Systems program.  Funds became available to begin the study in FY99.  The Study Team’s first task was to identify sites associated with the two wars.  The team has identified almost 1,700 sites.  The public will have an opportunity to comment on the site list and may provide information about additional sites.  After the public comment period, the NPS will update the list and pass it on to the study Advisory Committee of scholars for review.  The committee will sort the list first by level of historic significance and then by geographic distribution, and provide recommendations for field survey to the NPS.  The NPS will survey as many of the sites as it can within budget and time constraints.  Field surveys will begin in the summer of 2000 and last approximately one year.  Sites in as many as 32 states and the District of Columbia may be surveyed.  Field surveyors will document site condition and use, and present or potential threats to the site.  Once field surveys are complete, the Study Team will evaluate the sites based on condition and threat, complete a statistical analysis of the survey data, and research preservation strategies.  The NPS and the Advisory Committee will then make recommendations for site preservation and interpretation and submit a final study report for Departmental approval and subsequent transmittal to the Congress by the Secretary.

 

The following methodology explains the Study Team’s approach to defining the wars, identifying sites associated with each war, and providing for public comment on the site lists.

 

Defining the Wars

The study legislation does not define the terms "Revolutionary War" and "War of 1812".  The NPS needed to define the wars in order to limit the study to an examination of events that occurred during the two discrete periods only.

 

For the purposes of the study, the NPS defines the time period of the Revolutionary War by the dates April 19, 1775 to September 3, 1783 and the time period of the War of 1812 by the dates June 18, 1812 to February 17, 1815.  On April 19, 1775, the Battles of Lexington and Concord signaled the first major offensive military act by the British to suppress the colonists that resulted in fighting and bloodshed.  Scholars generally agree that those events ignited the atmosphere of rebellion and ushered in a military and political state of war.  The end date given for the Revolutionary War, September 3, 1783, is the date on which American and British diplomats signed the Treaty of Paris.[2]  The War of 1812 officially began on June 18, 1812, when Congress declared war against Great Britain.  The War of 1812 officially ended on February 17, 1815, when the United States and Great Britain exchanged ratifications of the Treaty of Ghent.[3]

 

Known Universe of Sites

The Study Team’s next major objective was to identify sites in the United States "thematically tied to the nationally significant events" of the two wars, such as battlefields of military campaigns or buildings where political decisions were made.  Sites not directly associated with important events of the two wars, such as commemorative places and properties associated solely with significant persons of the period, were not included in the study.

 

Initially, the NPS Study Team determined that it needed to enumerate all known battles of both wars, not just the most notable, in order to make the most informed decisions possible regarding the relative historical significance of the sites.  From the Battle List the Study Team could establish relative geographical extent of the two wars.  Looking at all counties in which battles occurred, the Study Team was able to identify associated historic properties within those counties by searching the National Register of Historic Places files.  (See the methodologies for creating the Battle List and the Associated Historic Property List below.)

 

Both the Battle List and the Associated Historic Property List denote historical events regardless of recognized integrity issues at the contemporary sites of those events.  Whether tangible resources remain at the sites will be determined through field surveys.  By visiting historically significant but compromised or destroyed sites, the Study Team hopes to better understand the state of preservation for Revolutionary War and War of 1812 resources as a whole.  This context will help the Study Team and the advisory committee develop preservation recommendations for identifiable and extant sites, as well as interpretative recommendations for lost sites.

 

The two lists are starting points to help guide states, tribes, scholars, and others who may contribute additional information to the study based on their own research, site inventories, and knowledge.  These lists are not the final lists of sites to be inspected in the field. 

 

Site Database

To facilitate data management, the Study Team developed a database in Microsoft Access 7.0 to house information from the Battle List and the Associated Property List.  Each list was created as a separate table within the database.  The Battle List table includes information such as name, location, significant date(s), associated campaign if known, and type of action.  The Associated Historic Properties List table contains similar information, but also notes historic theme, property type, source information, and a brief statement of significance.  The information contained in the database should be sufficient for reviewers to identify the action or property and its relationship to the Revolutionary War or the War of 1812.

 

Public Comment Period

In June 2000, the ABPP launched a new web site with an interactive component to facilitate public participation in the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Historic Preservation Study.  The web site includes the battle and associated historic property database and information for field surveyors.  Through the web site, users will be able to help the NPS determine which sites to survey and study in depth.

 

The interactive web site will allow interested parties to inspect the Battle List and Associated Historic Properties List, add information directly to the study’s database, and comment on the significance of the properties.  Visitors will be able to review those properties they are most familiar with by searching the database alphabetically, by state, by county, by campaign, by war, and by historical theme.  Reviewers may make comments, rank the relative significance of sites according to established criteria[4], and add other important sites not included on the initial list.  The Battle List and the Associated Historic Property List will also be available in Microsoft Access 7.0 or hard copy for those who do not have access to the Internet.

 

The online comment period will begin once the web site is posted online and will last six weeks.  Once the review period concludes, the NPS Study Team will tally the results of the significance ranking and the comments provided by reviewers.  From these results, the team will create a ranked list of significant associated historic properties designed to guide the survey process.  The study’s Advisory Committee will recommend priorities for survey based on historical significance, geographic distribution, and budgetary considerations.

 

Survey of Battle Sites and Associated Historic Properties

Upon receiving survey recommendations from the Advisory Committee, the NPS will coordinate field surveys with state historic preservation offices, tribal governments, and national parks, and others.  In order to maintain consistent data for the entire study, every site on the survey list will be visited and documented using survey methods developed by the NPS.  The physical survey of each battle site and associated historic property will help the National Park Service gauge integrity, potential threats, and preservation options accurately.

 

Battle List

For the purpose of this study, "battles" are defined as battles, skirmishes, and other military engagements of various scales between regular and irregular (partisan) British and American forces and their allies.[5]  Unlike comprehensive references such as the 128-volume The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies detailing Civil War actions, there is no comparable reference for the earlier American wars, making research more difficult and time consuming.  The NPS began its list by referring to major studies of the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.  Standard references include Mark B. Boatner, III, Encyclopedia of the American Revolution; Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During the War of the Revolution; and David and Jeanne Heidler, ed., Encyclopedia of the War of 1812.  Additional information regarding spellings, dates, and locations was established by examining and comparing of hundreds of special studies, published collections of primary documents, and secondary sources.[6] 

 

Battles, actions, and skirmishes listed are those traditionally recognized as representative of the broader military contexts of each war.  Limited staff time required that the initial Battle List include only documented and verifiable battle actions; minor incidents that require primary research to confirm were not included.  These may be added during the public comment period if additional information indicates the existence of such actions.

 

In February 1999, the National Park Service sent requests to 31 State Historic Preservation Offices asking for additional information about potential sites.  The NPS also posted its then-current list to the World Wide Web and requested comments from the public about the list.  Fourteen SHPOs replied to the NPS and sent additional information on battle sites and Associated Historic Properties.  The web site generated 27 comments from the public.[7]  The NPS added and corrected battle site information based on the comments of the SHPOs and the public.  By May 2000, the NPS Study Team had identified 32 states and the District of Columbia in which some event associated with one of the wars took place.

 

Associated Historic Property List

The Associated Historic Properties List consists of historic places, other than battle sites, that have a tangible connection to the Revolutionary War or the War of 1812.  It includes properties dealing with commerce, agriculture, social history, and government; military sites that were not scenes of direct engagements (such as headquarters, encampments, supply centers, etc); and other significant places associated with the two wars.

 

Using the March 2000 Battle List, the staff defined a geographic extent of battles to help define the search parameters for associated historic properties. The Study Team surmised that the majority of associated resources would logically fall within approximately the same geographic area as the major military campaigns due to general settlement patterns, trade networks, and the locations of governmental installations.  Many of the associated historic properties within these areas became military objectives and targets, such as supply depots, manufacturing sites, or other political and strategic locations, but were not necessarily battle locations. 

 

The March 2000 Battle List indicated the need to search 281 counties and cities (see attached list).  Since March, the NPS Study Team has substantially revised the Battle List, adding actions in 31 new counties.  Associated Historic Properties in these 31 new counties were not added to the database prior to the public comment period.  Sites located beyond the battle and campaign counties will be identified through additional research and public comment.  During the public comment period, reviewers may add to the NPS database significant properties that lie outside the campaign areas or that were missed in the initial search.

 

Once the Study Team identified the 281 counties and cities, it turned to the National Register of Historic Places.  The National Register is one of the only nationwide inventories of significant cultural resources and is the primary data source for any major cultural resource study.[8] 

 

The Study Team first queried the National Register database (known as the National Register Information System or NRIS) for all listings in counties where battles or campaigns were known to have occurred.  The Study Team then asked the NRIS to list properties found in those counties by significant dates falling between 1775-1783 and 1812-1815.  The NRIS produced a list of more than 2,000 properties based on the query criteria. In some cases, historic districts and other resources with extensive boundaries cross county lines.  The National Register references properties by one county only.  Some such properties may therefore have fallen outside the search parameters. 

 

Next, the Study Team consulted the nominations themselves to determine whether the properties selected through the NRIS query were associated with the two wars, a determination that can only be verified by reviewing the narrative Statement of Significance.  During this inspection, the Study Team realized that the query results had omitted numerous properties associated with the two wars.  To compensate for the data gaps, Study Team members pulled each nomination within the battle and campaign counties, regardless of its date of significance, and examined the narrative Statement of Significance to determine if the property was associated with either war.[9]

 

As the National Register has evolved, the standards for documenting listed properties have improved significantly.  Early nominations (1966 through early 1980s), which include many well-known 18th-century and early-19th-century resources, do not always exhibit the level of professional documentation that is presently required by the National Register. In some cases, the narrative Statements of Significance of the early nominations do not contain enough detail to associate the properties with either war.  Different degrees of documentation affected the NPS Study Team’s ability to select sites accurately for the Associated Historic Properties List.[10]

 

Finally, the Study Team recognizes that the impetus for preparing and submitting National Register nominations grows out of State, local, even individual property owner priorities, and that there has never been a concerted national effort to nominate all significant sites associated with these two wars.  As a result, the National Register is an excellent starting point for identifying these properties, but it is not a complete inventory.  The Study Team expects that the public comment period, along with the work of the Advisory Committee, will identify any additional properties that should be added to the initial Associated Historic Property list.


[1] The Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Historic Preservation Study Act of 1996, P.L. 104-333 Sec. 603.

[2] The American and French victory at Yorktown in October 1781 ended major campaigning during the Revolutionary War, although isolated, small engagements continued through 1782.  In April 1782, the British government called for its military forces to refrain from offensive action and prepare to withdraw from the American colonies.  In April 1783, Congress ratified the provisional peace treaty.  The signing of the Treaty of Paris finalized the peace.

[3] No cessation of hostilities existed before this act, and numerous battle sites (including the Battle of New Orleans) occurred between the time the peace negotiations began in August 1814 and the exchange of ratifications. 

[4] See attached "Battle Site Criteria for Significance" and "Associated Historic Property Relative Significance Categories and Criteria".

[5] The Associated Historic Properties List will include sites of other military actions, such as tactical maneuvers that resulted in the occupation or evacuation of territory or position, and cantonments and bases of operations.

[6] The American Battlefield Protection program amassed a collection of more than 450 volumes to assist in this task.  See the attached bibliography for titles.

[7] The initial Battle List was available online from July 1998 through April 2000.

[8] Created by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Register of Historic Places catalogs historic districts, sites, objects, buildings and structures determined historic and significant within our history.  State, Tribal, and Federal historic preservation offices guide the public through the nomination process, review and approve nominations, and then forward nominations to the NPS for official listing.  Each nomination includes photographs, maps, and a nomination form with complete property histories and, most importantly, written narratives describing the property and its historic significance.  The NPS maintains a permanent archive of the nominations in Washington, DC.  As of March 2000, the National Register included more than 70,000 listings.

[9] Ideally, the Study Team would have again queried the NRIS, this time by periods of significance rather than significant dates, in order to identify a broader range of properties.  Periods of significance relate to the overall length of time a property was associated with the important events, activities, or people.  However, the NRIS database does not contain detailed periods of significance information, so the Study Team made no further queries of the NRIS.

[10] The NPS Study Team did establish a "confidence" rating for each National Register property deemed to be potentially associated with the two wars.  The staff rated each "High," "Medium," or "Low" based on the adequacy of documentation as required by current National Register standards.