Without firing a shot, Mother Nature, Father Time and relentless development are taking a toll on battlefields that Union and Confederate armies died defending.

The Washington-based Civil War Preservation Trust has placed two Kentucky sites -- in Cynthiana and Columbus -- on a list of the nation's 20 most endangered historic battlefields.

The Civil War Preservation Trust's recent report, "History Under Siege," states that remnants of battlefields in and around Cynthiana in Harrison County are endangered by development, and the battlefield at Columbus-Belmont State Park in Hickman County is at risk from the Mississippi River and from surface-water erosion of the river bluff on which it is situated.