Chap. 342.—An ACT to establish. within the primary system of the State high-
ways and as a part thereof, the Richmond Battlefield Park Division of the
State highways, to consist of the route followed by General Stuart in his ride
around McClellan’s army and the principal routes over which the armies
moved in converging upon the battlefields around Richmond in the campaigns
of 1862 and 1864. [H B 308]

Approved March 27, 1936

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, as follows:

Section 1. There is hereby established, within the primary system
of the State highways and as a part thereof, the Richmond Battle-
field Park Division of the State highways, to consist of the following
roads in the counties of Hanover, Henrico, Caroline, King William,
New Kent, and Charles City, namely:

(1) The roads and sections of roads in the primary and secondary
systems, or the Henrico county system, in the counties of Henrico,
Hanover, New Kent, and Charles City, traveled by General Stuart in
his ride around McClellan’s army in May, eighteen hundred and sixty-
two.

(2) The roads and sections of roads in the primary and secondary
systems, or the Henrico county system, in the counties of Hanover,
Henrico, New Kent and Charles City, over which the Confederate
and Union armies advanced and retired in the development and prog-
ress of the Seven Days’ Battles around Richmond, including the routes
followed by Jackson’s corps from Ashland to Cold Harbor; by
Branch’s Brigade from Richmond to Mechanicsville; by A. P. Hill’s
Division from Richmond to Mechanicsville ; by Longstreet’s and D. H.
Hill’s Division from Richmond to Mechanicsville; the route followed
by the cavalry under Stuart and those roads over which the Confed-
erate and Union armies moved as the Seven Days’ Battles progressed
from the beginning to the end.

(3) The roads and sections of roads in the primary and secondary
systems in the counties of Caroline, King William and Hanover over
which the Confederate and Union armies moved from the North Anna
to the Totopotomoy and Second Cold Harbor in May and June, eighteen
hundred and sixty-four, including the roads used by both armies during
and immediately following the Totopotomoy and Second Cold Harbor
campaigns.

(4) The State Commission on Conservation and Development shall
cause to be prepared for the State Highway Department a map or maps
showing the several roads and parts of roads by this act made a part
of the Richmond Battlefield Park Division of the State highways, ac-
companying said map by brief but complete references to the “Off-
cial Records of the Union and Confederate Armies,” which map or
maps on completion shall be delivered by the said State Commission on
Conservation and Development to the State Highway Commissioner
and become a part of the permanent records of the State Highway
Commission.

The State Highway Department may take over, maintain, improve
and construct the unimproved roads in the Richmond Battlefield Park
Division of the State highways system, as funds available will enable
it to do so, and the State Commission on Conservation and Develop-
ment shall adequately mark with proper markers all the points of his-
torical interest on the roads of the said division when and as funds are
made available for this purpose.

All the secondary roads and Henrico county roads hereby made a
part of the primary system of the State highways are prima facie
declared to have a right-of-way thirty feet wide and in any controversy
concerning the width of the right-of-way of said roads, the burden of
proof shall rest upon the party contending otherwise to overcome this
presumption by record evidence.