$2.6m awarded for battlefield funding

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia is providing $2.6 million in grant funding for the preservation of thousands of acres at Civil War battlefields.

The funding announced Thursday by Gov. Bob McDonnell is heading to preservation groups to shield from development 2,792 acres at battlefields in Appomattox, Chancellorsville, Port Republic and Second Manassas, among others.

The funding is drawn from the state's Civil War Historic Sites Preservation Fund that McDonnell and the General Assembly established in 2010 to mark the sesquicentennial of the war that divided the nation.

The grant recipients include the Civil War Trust, the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation and the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust. They'll match state funds dollar for dollar to obtain easements.

The awards are based on an evaluation process by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.