Once, cannon fire thundered across the fields of Manassas, Virginia, echoing through one of the bloodiest chapters in American history. Today, the sounds of those fields will be replaced with the low hum of fans cooling millions of server racks.  

According to a BBC report, Virginia, where over half of all the Civil War’s casualties took place, is now the frontline of another battle over whether land should be used for Civil War reenactments or a sprawling AI data center. It’s the past (or reenactments of the past) in direct conflict with the future (assuming AI isn’t a bubble ready to burst).

The Prince William Digital Gateway is an AI-fueled mega-complex slated to rise on the same land where Union and Confederate soldiers fought. It’s billed as the world’s largest data center development. Tech companies like QTS say they’ll be respectful, adding kiosks, historical trails, and signage demarking spots of historical significance. But preservationists and environmentalists don’t care. They don’t want it there at all.

Critics argue that this digital gold rush comes with steep costs. Not only does it threaten sacred Civil War sites, but the data center explosion is also a drain on water and electricity. With AI’s massive energy demands, Virginia’s power grid is expected to quadruple its load in the next decade, potentially doubling electricity bills for residents and derailing clean energy goals in a world that is rapidly heating up.

The irony of it all is that many of the Civil War re-enactors protesting this project work in IT themselves. They’re not anti-technology; they just don’t want to see the past obliterated in the name of “progress.”

“Nobody wants to look into the forest and see these massive monoliths rising,” Jim Matte told the BBC. Matte is a member of the Bull Run Legion, a group of Civil War reenactors who prefer that you call them “living historians.”

The state approved the Gateway after a marathon 27-hour town hall. Locals and living historians were furious. Now, lawsuits are flying like Civil War cannonballs.

One of the biggest names in the lawsuit war is the American Battlefield Trust, a charitable organization that fights to preserve historic American battlefields. They’ve taken on some pretty big names, like Walmart, in their fight to preserve lands in which Americans spilled blood. But now they’re taking on Big Tech money amid an industry boom. This might be an uphill battle. But they know the fields of battle better than anybody.