THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Monday, June 26, 1995                  TAG: 9506260021
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: MANASSAS, VA.                      LENGTH: Medium:   52 lines

MUSEUM WANTS MANASSAS BETWIXT FORTS CIVIL WAR BUFFS CHARGING BETWEEN LINES WOULD STOP AND SPEND DOLLARS.

Early in the Civil War, 17 earthen forts protected a vital railroad junction from Yankee invasion. Now a local museum wants the city to protect the remaining fort from the invasion of development.

The Manassas Museum wants the City Council to come up with half of the $400,000 needed to restore the Confederate fort and a Union one as tourist attractions.

``We hope it will attract a wider audience of Civil War buffs,'' museum curator Scott Harris said. ``Civil War tourism has proven to be an extremely popular leisure activity.''

Harris suggested that some Civil War buffs might help fund the project.

The forts protected the Orange & Alexandria and the Manassas Gap railroads in an area that later became the city of Manassas.

The Mayfield fort, located at the corner of Quarry Road and Liberia Avenue, is one of the two remaining forts. The others have been overrun by development. It is listed on the historical registry and has a historical marker, but no longer looks anything like the heavily fortified semicircular earthen berms that once guarded downtown Manassas.

Heavy naval cannons, dragged hundreds of miles from the Norfolk naval yard, once perched atop the forts in case of an attack from Union troops heading to Richmond. The forts were so well-manned that the Union troops instead took a westward route around the city.

As a result, the First Battle of Manassas took place five miles west of the town and saved the downtown from the devastation of a pitched battle.

The other fort the museum wants to restore, the Cannon Branch Fort, was controlled by the North. That fort - now on the grounds of Manassas Airport - was built to protect the railroad when the Union took control of that supply route later in the Civil War.

By having the two forts at opposite ends of the city, city officials hope visitors to both sites will drive through Manassas and patronize area businesses.

While the project could cost as much as $400,000, the sales tax revenue the city could make from a boost in tourism would offset those costs in the long-run, Historical Committee Chairwoman Cindy Sprunger said.

If the city funds half the project costs, the other half could be funded by a variety of private and corporate donations, and possibly federal or state money. by CNB