
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 18, 1990                   TAG: 9006180236
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW MARKET                                LENGTH: Short

MUSEUM TO ERECT BATTLEFIELD MARKERS

The owner of the New Market Battlefield Military Museum plans to erect 14 regimental and battery position markers as part of a walking tour of the five-acre portion of the battlefield he owns.

John M. Bracken, 48, says boosting attendance at his museum is not his only motive for putting up the markers.

"I'm doing this for battlefield preservation," he said. "I'm doing this to please the traveling public, and it's to please the historian. Most important, it's to mark where the men were during the battle."

The public expects to see markers on a battlefield, telling them where the soldiers fought - an area that stretches about eight miles at New Market, Bracken said.

In May, Bracken erected a granite monument on Manor's Hill in front of his museum to mark the site where a major part of the battle was fought.

William C. Davis, who has written 20 books on the Civil War, including a history of the Battle of New Market, will help dedicate the new markers during a ceremony July 15. Proceeds from that day's museum tours will go to the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites.

by CNB