SGA members discuss Civil War research techniques
Submitted by Sammy Smith (sammy@thesga.org)
Read Atlanta Journal-Constitution‘s Cameron McWhirter’s story “Science digs into Civil War sites,” dated 28 November 2009 by clicking here.
The story discusses how public archaeologists are using modern technologies to discover new information from Civil War sites. Most of the article stems from an interview with SGA member Garrett Silliman, and also mentions SGA member Dan Elliott.
The precision this technology offers is startling. To demonstrate, Silliman picked up a small plastic bag on his desk. Inside was a bullet that he recently recovered from a site at Tanyard Creek in Buckhead. Through global positioning he knew the exact location where the bullet was found. Examining its markings, he was able to tell it was a British-made bullet fired from model 1853 Enfield rifle. Because it was slightly marked, he could tell it had been rammed into a gun that had been fouled, probably from being shot a lot that day. Because the lead bullet didn’t have any impact marks, he could tell it had not hit a target, but probably just traveled through the air, then dropped to the ground. Military records showed fighting at that location. Using mapping software showing modern Atlanta overlaid with Civil War fortifications, he traced back 1,100 to 1,300 yards—the distance an Enfield-fired bullet would travel—to Rebel earthworks.
To get a better understanding of the actual locations of the battlefields of the Atlanta Campaign, I feel one must also understand the importance and locations of landmarks and the original dirt roads that lead both armies to those scared battlefields. Studing the path taken by both armies during the Atlanta Campaign has lead me to a better understanding how those old historic dirt roads would eventually paved the way to the very streets & roadways we travel on today. Think about it,back during the Atlanta Campaign, they were no street signs, traffic lights or road side signage indicating where the next road or city was located. This is also the biggest reason I collect old maps and follow old road beds today in my continuing journey to study the roadways of our past. When most counties in Georgia were formed, the paths of our original roadways lead from one homestead to another. These paths or roadways would eventually all lead to the nearest village, town, or railroad. Sorry to get off the subject of the Atlanta Campaign, but just having a better understanding of the roads that got the armies to the fields of battle will make any Civil War Historian see the whole picture a little clearer. This is way I collect old maps. They can also lead to discoveries of the less written about skrimishes & battles of 1864.