THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 24, 1996 TAG: 9602240347
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CULPEPER LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
Plans for a Formula One auto racing track on the site of the largest cavalry battle of the Civil War died when the 424-acre site was sold at a foreclosure auction.
The sale Thursday cleared the way for the original owner of the property to sell all 1,543 acres of the Brandy Station battlefield to a preservation group.
``There will be a battlefield saved here. This is the legal closure to this debacle,'' said Bud Hall, a member of the preservationist Brandy Station Foundation.
Elkwood Downs Limited Partnership originally sold the 424-acre tract to Benton Ventures Inc., which proposed the Formula One track. When Benton Ventures fell behind on its payments, Elkwood Downs started foreclosure action last fall.
An auction originally set for October was delayed when Benton Ventures filed for Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy protection. Benton Ventures failed to line up financing by late January, and the court allowed the foreclosure sale to proceed. Elkwood Downs was the only bidder - $1.25 million - at the auction on the Culpeper County Courthouse steps.
On June 9, 1863, Union Gen. Alfred Pleasonton's cavalry surprised the troops of Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart at Brandy Station. The two sets of cavalry fought a pitched battle until the arrival of Confederate infantry forced the withdrawal of Pleasonton's forces. The battle involved about 17,000 cavalry, with 1,441 casualties. Historians say neither side could claim victory.
Elkwood Downs is negotiating to sell the 1,543 acres to the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites for $6.2 million.
The deal, believed to be the nation's most costly private acquisition of a Civil War battlefield, could be final within two months. by CNB