IN THIS ISSUE

GARS Monthly Meeting ............. 1

Battle of Kennesaw Mountain .... 2

More Diggin’s .............................. 3 April Field Trip ........................... 3 Save the Date! .............................. 3 Scout Day ..................................... 4 Fort Daniel Work Days .............. 4

ARCHAEOLOGICAL ADVISER:

Jim D’Angelo, Ph.D. R.P.A. 451 Thornbush Trace

Lawrenceville, GA 30046

Email: 4drdee@bellsouth.net

GAB NEWSLETTER EDITOR:

Delana M. Gilmore Email: dgilmore@wordsmithquill.com

Don’t forget to like both Gwinnett Archaeological

Research Society & Fort Daniel Foundation on

Facebook.

GWINNETT ARCHAEOLOGY BULLETIN Volume III, Issue 4 April 1, 2014

GARS Monthly Meet ings Monthly meetings, open to the public, are held at the Gwinnett County Justice and Administration Build-ing located at 75 Langley Road in Lawrenceville. Gathering at 7 , the program begins at 7:30 .

G winnett Archaeology Research Society (GARS) next meeting will be held on Thursday, April 10. The guest speaker will be Georgia Gwinnett College

Assistant Professor of American Colonial History, Dr. Kathryn Gray White. She holds a ABJ (Bachelor of Arts in Journalism/Minor History), a Master of Arts in American History, and a Ph.D. in education history—all received from the Uni-versity of Georgia. Her history expertise includes the areas of early American his-tory (colonial), Southern history (antebellum), Georgia history (lost settlements), and education history (Southern schools). Prior to the completion of her Ph.D., for several years she worked as a freelance writer/photographer and published numer-ous articles for a collection entitled “Georgia’s Lost Settlements.”

Dr. Gray-White will be speaking about the 1787 Battle of Jack’s Creek. Jack’s Creek is located in present day Walton County on Snow Mill’s Road. Dr. Gray-White was aided in the search of the actu-al location of the battle with help from retired Park Service archaeol-ogist, Jack Wynn.

The battle at Jack’s Creek was just one in a series of violent episodes in the late 1700s between settlers and the Creeks in what was called the “Ocony Wars.” The burning of the Greensboro settlement by the Creeks in Greene County had taken place that same summer in 1787, and then in September 1787 the militia commanded by Elijah Clarke had surprised a group of Creek Indians at Jack’s Creek. The battle is important because it battle took place just prior to Elijah Clarke’s attempt to create a “Trans-Oconee Repub-lic” and just a couple of decades prior to the Battle of Horseshoe Bend under An-drew Jackson.

Section of the 1818 “Map of the State of Georgia prepared from actual surveys & other documents

for Eleazer Early” showing Jack’s Creek

The Batt le of Kennesaw Mountain By Bi l l Pi lon

D espite occurring six weeks into the “red clay minuet” of the Atlanta Campaign, the Union assault on the Army of Ten-nessee’s positions around Kennesaw Mountain was the first “major engagement” of the campaign. Up until this point

the campaign had involved a series of turning movements by Sherman’s forces. After evacuating his lines around New Hope Church, Joe Johnston’s Army of Tennessee found an extraordinarily strong position on the ridge running southeast from Kennesaw Mountain. The right of Johnston’s position was anchored atop Kennesaw Mountain, ran south by west for several miles along Little Kennesaw Mountain, Pigeon Hill, and Cheatham’s Hill before coming to rest on Olley’s Creek. Because of topography and the fortifications created by Confederate engineers, the line was nearly impregnable. Sherman, after re-connoitering the position, described it to Washington:

The whole country is one vast fort, and Johnston must have at least 50 miles (80 km) of connected trenches with ab-atis and finished batteries. We gain ground daily, fighting all the time. ... Our lines are now in close contact and the fighting incessant, with a good deal of artillery. As fast as we gain one position the enemy has another all ready. … Kennesaw ... is the key to the whole country.

Kennesaw was the “key to the whole country” because the Mountain over-looked the Western and Atlantic Railroad—Sherman’s lifeline back to the depots and warehouses in Chattanooga and Nashville. As long as Confeder-ate artillery was positioned on the mountain commanding the railroad, Sherman’s armies could go no further toward Atlanta. To make things worse, because the nearly constant rain had turned the roads to quagmires, Sherman could not repeat his previous tactic of maneuvering around the Confederate left—forcing them to abandon their position.

If Sherman could not go around the line, he would go through it. The plan of attack was relatively simple. MG Blair’s XVII Corps and MG Dodge’s XVI Corps of McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee would launch a demon-stration against the Confederate positions on Kennesaw Mountain—attempting to hold their attention. Meanwhile, MG Logan’s corps would assault MG Loring’s Confederate lines at Pigeon Hill. Further south, MG Palmer’s XIV Corps of Thomas’ Army of the Cumberland would launch an assault on Cheatham Hill held by the divisions of MG Cheatham and MG Cleburn of LTG Hardee’s Corps. Finally, MG Schofield’s Army of the Ohio (actually little more than a Corps) would launch a demonstration against the Confederate left along Olley’s Creek—holding hopefully LTG Hood’s corps in place and preventing to send troops to help Hardee.

As Sherman ordered, on June 27 promptly at 8 the Union artillery began shelling the Confederate positions all along the line. At 8:30 , right on schedule, MG Logan corps began their assault on Pigeon Hill. However, Logan’s commanders had not adequately reconnoitered the Confederate positions before the attack forcing them to attack through thick brush and bri-ars, across a gorge choked with timber, and in one case even to ford a swamp. Although a few men actually made it all the way to the Confederate line, no one came anywhere near breaking through, and shortly thereafter, Logan rode out ordered the attack to stop and withdrew his forces.

In front of Cheatham’s Hill things went even worse. Thomas’ men were not in position at 8 and did not attack until 9 —an hour late. The end result was not any better: The Union force was stopped cold at the Confederate line. Because of a mistake in the layout of the Confederate lines, there was a small area a few meters from the crest of the hill which the Con-federates could not see or shoot at. This area became crowded with Union troops sheltering from Confederate fire. By 10:45 Sherman had received word from both Thomas and McPherson that their assaults had failed. A few hours later, after taking stock, Sherman pointed out to Thomas that, compared to the East, casualties were relatively light and asked if Thomas’ troops could renew the assault. Thomas replied, “We have already lost heavily today without gaining any material advantage; one or two more such assaults would use up this army.” Sherman decided against pressing the attack.

Ironically enough, Scholfield’s “demonstration” against the Confederate left provided the key to Sherman’s further progress. During the first week of July when the rain had stopped and the roads had dried up, Sherman used Scholfield’s advanced position (within five miles of the Chattahoochee River) as the pivot of another turning movement. Johnston was flanked out of his impregnable position on Kennesaw Mountain. As a result, Sherman resumed his progress toward Atlanta.

(Note: See Page 3 for details on an upcoming field trip to Kennesaw Mountain.)

Page 2 Gwinnett Archaeology Bulletin

Cannon in front of Kennesaw Mountain

April 1, 2014 Page 3

Field Trip to K ennesaw Batt le f ie ld By Lesl ie Perry

M embers of GARS will be visiting the Kennesaw Battlefield on Sunday, April 13. The guided tour will commence at 1 from the new parking

area l/2 mile north of the Visitor Center on Old Highway 41 in Kennesaw. Civil War historian and author Brad Quinlan will give an approximately 2.5-hour guided tour. There will be a car caravan from the new parking area to the battle-field sites to limit the amount of walking on the site. If you are going to attend, please email Leslie Perry. If you are interested to know more about the battle that occurred at Kennesaw Mountain, please read the article on Page 2.

More Diggin’s

The Department of Anthropology at the University of West Georgia will be hosting the 2014 Waring Distin-guished Lecture in Anthropology by Tom Belt on Wednesday, April 2 beginning at 7 in Room 1301 of the Technology Learning Center on the campus of the University of West Georgia. Tom Belt is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and a fluent Cherokee speaker. He is the Cherokee Language Program Coordi-nator at Western Carolina University, and he works closely with speakers from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina to produce culturally-based Cherokee language learning material. In this fascinating and personal talk, Mr. Belt will discuss Cherokee language and culture and talk about recent successful efforts at revitalizing the language. This event is free and open to the public.

Greater Atlanta Archaeological Society’s next meeting will be Tuesday, April 8 at the Fernback Museum of Natural History beginning at 6:30 . The speaker will be Dr. Dan Bigman who will be speaking about the shifting political arrangement following settlement aggregation during the onset of the Early Mississippian pe-riod at Ocmulgee National Monument.

New South Associates’ Archaeology Day will be on Saturday, May 3 at the New South office (6150 East Ponce de Leon Avenue, Stone Mountain) from 10 to 2 . Discover the past through creating replica Native American pottery, listening to stories of the past, and helping with excavation.

Clinton’s War Days Remembered will be held on May 3–4 in the Old Clinton Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places site. Reenactors will recreate the Battles of Sunshine Church and Griswoldville (which took place in 1864 during Sherman’s March to the Sea); self-guided walking tour information will be available; and crafts of the era will be demonstrated. Gates open at 9 ; battle at 2:05 each day. Admission/Contribution each day will be $5 for Adults, $3 for Students 18 and under, and free for Children under 6.

Save the Date!

M ay is Georgia Archaeology Month, and this year’s theme “Site Destruction: Pieces of Our Past Lost Forever.” You can celebrate by participating in local and

statewide events—like the Scout Day at Fort Daniel (See Page 4) or the Society of Geor-gia Archaeology’s Spring Meeting on Saturday, May 10 at Red Top Mountain State Park. For more details about local and statewide events celebrating Archaeology Month, visit the SGA’s Web site.

GARS OFFICERS www.thegars.org

President: Leslie Perry

Vice President: Hayley Cunningham

Secretary: Delana Gilmore

Treasurer: John Hopkins

FDF OFFICERS www.thefortdanielfoundation.org

President: Jim D’Angelo Vice President:

Wayne Waldrip Secretary:

Vicki Watkins Treasurer:

Betty Warbington

Scout Day at Fort Daniel By Catherine Long

T he Fort Daniel Foundation will be inviting Boy and Girl Scouts to come and visit the Fort Daniel archaeological site in honor of the celebration

of Archaeology Month on Saturday, April 26 from 10 to 3 . (Scout lead-ers are encourage to participate too.)

The Scouts will be able to discover ar-chaeology and learn how archaeologists examine artifacts discovering Gwinnett County’s rich history. The program will feature opportunities to learn about the history of the site, participate in excavat-ing the soil and looking for artifacts, and catalogue the artifacts. Interactive sta-tions will be set up to explore the excit-ing subject of archaeology!

If you are going to participate, please bring a sack lunch and wear comfortable clothing. For more information please email Catherine Long.

For t Danie l Work Days

M embers of FDF and GARS (and other volunteers) are invited to the work days

on April 16–17 at Fort Daniel beginning at 10 . This will involve the first stage of finish-ing the basement, will include moving items away from the wall to prepare for painting, and will comprise other tasks. If you are planning to volunteer, please email John Hopkins.

Scouts screening at the Frontier Faire last October

Congratulat ions to Fort Daniel Elementary! They celebrated their 20th Anniversary with a reception on Sunday,

March 30. On display was the Fort Daniel scale model and new tabletop FS display featuring involvement of young students at the Fort Daniel

archaeological site. Both were among educational items purchased with funds made possible by a recent grant from the Ramlose Foundation.