Chap. 469.—An ACT to authorize the United States government to acquire title to
and jurisdiction over certain lands in the counties of Stafford, Spotsylvania and
Orange, and the city of Fredericksburg.

Approved February 23, 18908,

Whereas it is represented to the general assembly that a bill will soon
be offered in the congress of the United States for the establishment of a
national park or parks, to mark and preserve the battlefields of Fred-
ericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court-
house, and adjacent battle-zrounds, on which were fought those great
hattles of eighteen hundred and sixty-two, eighteen hundred and sixty-
three, and eighteen hundred and sixty-four, together with the natural
and artificial features, as far as possible, as they were at the time of said
battles, by such memorial-stones, tablets, or monuments as the govern-
ment of the United States and others may see fit to erect, to commemo-
~ the valor displayed by the American soldiery on those bloody fields;
an

Whereas in the event of the said bill, or some other bill having the
same objects and purposes in view, becoming a law, the United States
government may clesire to acquire, by purchase or otherwise, numerous
tracts or parcels of land in the counties of Stafford, Spotsylvania and
Orange, and in the corporation of Fredericksburg, for the purposes of
said national park or parks, and also to obtain the right to the occupa-
tion, improvement and use of any existing public roads in said counties
and streets in said corporation which may, in the judgment of the
United States, or those charged with the establishment of said park or
parks, be needful or convenient for the proper establishment of said park
or parks:

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the consent
of this state be, and is hereby, given to the United States government to
acquire title to so much lands in the counties of Stafford, Spotsylvania
and Orange, and in the corporation of Fredericksburg, as it may deem
necessary for the purpose of establishing one or more national parks,
and to the oc cupation, improvement, and use of any existing public
roads or parts thereof in said three counties, and of streets in said cor-
poration, deemed necessary or convenient for the proper establishment
of said park or parks: provided, however, that the said lands so ac-
quired shall not exceed one hundred acres in Stafford county, seven
thousand acres in the counties of Spotsylvania and Orange, and twenty-
five acres in the corporation of Fredericksburg.

2. Be it further enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
jurisdiction of this state is hereby ceded to the United States of America
over all such tracts of land as the United States may acquire as set forth
in the preceding section whenever title thereto shall have been acquired
by the United States.

3. Be it further enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
jurisdiction of this state is hereby ceded to the United States over such
public roads and parts of the same in the aforesaid counties and cor-
poration as may, In the judgment of the United States, or those charged
with the establishment of said park or parks, be needful or convenient
for the proper establishment of said park or parks, so soon as said
roads are occupied, improved and used in connection with said park or

arks.

° 4. Be it further enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
foregoing cession of jurisdiction is upon the express condition that the
state of Virginia shall so far retain a concurrent jurisdiction with the
United States over said lands and roads as that all civil and criminal
process issucd under the authority of this state may be executed thereon
in like manner as if this act had not been passed; and upon the further
express conditions that the state shall retain its civil and criminal juris-
diction over persons and citizens in said added territory as over other
persons and citizens in this state, and the property of said citizens and
residents thereon, except lands and such other property as the general
government may desire for its use, and that the property belonging to
persons residing within said ceded territory shall be liable to state and
county taxes the same as if they resided elsewhere, and that citizens of
this state in said ceded territory shall retain all rights of state suffrage
and citizenship: provided, that nothing herein contained shall interfere
with the jurisdiction of the United States over any matters or subjects
set out in the act of congress establishing said park or parks when the
same is passed, or with any laws, rules or regulations that congress may
hereafter adopt for the preserv ation or protection of its property and
rights in said ceded territory and the proper maintenance of good order
therein.

5. Be it further enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
lands which may be acquired under this act, and all improvements and
erections thereon for the purposes aforesaid, are hereby exempted from
all taxes imposed by this state or by the counties of Stafford, Spotsyl-
vania and Orange and the corporation of Fredericksburg, 80 long as the
same shall be held and used by the United States, or under its authority,
for the uses and purposes hereinbefore mentioned and no longer.

6. This act shall be in force from its passage,