Good things add up over time. That truism rang loud and clear as people from across the nation visited Fredericksburg this past weekend to glimpse the fruits of 15 years of local efforts to save the area's battlefields.

Capping 2 days of tours hosted by the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, visitors went behind the scenes Sunday to learn about some of that group's signal preservation victories.

Eighty-plus participants in the nonprofit group's annual meeting began the day with a champagne breakfast at Braehead, a newly restored 1859 house on the Fredericksburg battlefield.

Dr. Diana Almy, the homeowner, showed the finely crafted three-story Greek Revival home to the CVBT members who came from 13 states, including Texas, Minnesota and Florida.

The house was built by John Howison, brother of Civil War diarist Jane Beale of Fredericksburg, for his large family.

Tradition holds that Gen. Robert E. Lee had breakfast at Braehead on the morning of the Battle of Fredericksburg, tying his horse, Traveller, to a walnut tree that still stands in its front yard. His headquarters was a few hundreds yards away, on what's known today as Lee's Hill--part of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.

Such historical associations and CVBT's concern about possible development of the 18-acre property prompted the group to purchase the tract in 2006. It placed a preservation easement on the property to prevent its subdivision and, accepting a $150,000 loss, later sold it to the Almy family.

Braehead is the only residence purchased by the land trust since its founding, CVBT leader Jim Pates explained.

"It's a beautiful property," Pates said, standing beneath the walnut "witness" tree. "But we didn't want to end up owning a house, so we obtained an easement to protect it."

From Braehead, members boarded a bus for three other sites preserved by CVBT: Slaughter Pen Farm and Pelham's Corner in Spotsylvania and Willis Hill, which adjoins Fredericksburg National Cemetery.

On Saturday, they'd toured the Mine Run battlefield and Lee's winter headquarters in Orange County. Friday was spent in Richmond at the Virginia Historical Society and the Museum of the Confederacy. All three tours were sold out, setting an attendance record for the trust's yearly gathering.

Sunday, at Slaughter Pen --so named by soldiers for the carnage there on Dec. 13, 1862--members got a quick lesson in how difficult it can be to preserve even the most nationally significant site.

Pates recalled how CVBT leaders tried for many years buy the 205-acre tract on State Routes 2 and 17, the southern end of the Fredericksburg battlefield, to no avail. Eventually, Tricord Cos., a local developer, bought it for $12.3 million and signed it over to the Civil War Trust.

CVBT's pledge to raise $1 million of that price, the highest ever paid by a nonprofit Civil War preservation group, spurred the national trust to gamble on acquiring the farm, Pates said.

The still-pristine tract is "where the Union army lost, and could have won, the Battle of Fredericksburg," National Park Service historian Eric Mink told the visitors. It's the only place on the Fredericksburg battlefield where one can still walk in the footsteps of Union officers and see the same landscape they did, he said.

Farther up Route 2, on a heavily trafficked corner between two pharmacies, the group heard of John Pelham, the daring 23-year-old Confederate artillerist.

With one cannon and great courage, Pelham delayed the Union army's attack at Slaughter Pen by two hours, buying time for Confederate Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson to strengthen his defenses, and may have sped up the Union attack against the Sunken Road at the north end of Lee's defensive line, Mink said.

Last, the group motored on to Willis Hill, where CVBT got its start in 1996. Fredericksburg resident Enos Richardson and six other local residents stepped forward when the former Montfort Academy, directly overlooking Sunken Road, was to be sold. They formed the nonprofit trust, bought the school site and resold it at a considerable loss to the National Park Service.

Today, the group has more than 800 members from all across the country.

At CVBT's annual supper on Saturday evening, trust President Erik Nelson presented Mary Koik, deputy communications director of the Civil War Trust, with a check for $50,000, the group's latest donation to the Slaughter Pen project. CVBT intends to raise the final $100,000 toward its million-dollar pledge within the next year, Nelson said.

Koik lauded the group's dedication and integrity, calling it the strongest friends group affiliated with any Civil War battlefield or park in the nation.

"You guys are truly one of a kind. You are remarkable, in a lot of ways," she said on behalf of the Civil War Trust's leadership and staff. "We owe you an incredible debt for all that you have done. We really couldn't do it without you."

CVBT board members said more land purchases are in the works.

Most recently, Fredericksburg real-estate investor Lee Garrison gave 10 acres near the park's Lee Drive to CVBT, pushing its acquisition total to more than 900 acres.

The group's other acquisitions over the years include Pelham's Crossing and Latimer's Knoll at Fredericksburg; McLaws' Wedge, Nine Mile Run, Talley Farm, Smith Run, Chancellorsville Day One, the Warren tract and part of Stonewall Jackson's flank attack on the Chancellorsville battlefield; Grant's Knoll and Wilderness Crossroads on the Wilderness battlefield; and Po River and the Harris Farm & Monument on the Spotsylvania Court House battlefield.