The Devil’s outriders: a LiDAR and KOCOA investigation of the battle of Buckhead Creek, 1864

ABSTRACT

Funded by an American Battlefield Protection Program grant, LiDAR and KOCOA, guided a systematic metal detector survey to identify, and evaluate levels of preservation and battle pattern signatures from the Battle of Buckhead Creek, the largest American Civil War battle site in Southeast Georgia untouched by development. In November 1864, during Sherman’s March to the Sea, Confederate and Union cavalry forces waged a running battle across Jenkins and Burke County, Georgia. These actions were ephemeral events in an archaeological sense, in time-depth and their impact on the archaeological record. However, this paper demonstrates that the application of conflict archaeology methodologies can identify and evaluate these sites, despite their wide-ranging geographical context, short-time spans, and the impacts of illicit metal detecting on the battle site.

KEYWORDS:

• American civil war
• KOCOA
• LiDAR
• Georgia
• cavalry
• landscape archaeology

Acknowledgments

This work would not have been possible without the incredible opportunities provided by the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program, whose support and funding provide researchers the support to investigate, document, interpret, and preserve conflict sites and associated historic properties. Nor would any of this research have been possible without the able and dedicated help of my volunteer assistant field director, Camilla Damlund, who also adroitly and smoothly handled all the social media for the project. Patrick Sword, my graduate student handled direct supervision of undergraduates, encouraged cooperation and team building, and driving the tank of a crew bus. And thanks to my field school students, without whose waterfalls of sweat, occasional blood, and sometimes tears this project could have never been accomplished: Kristen Dew, Whitley Gatch, Camryn Knight, Robbie Jorge, Hannah Brown, Zach Graham, Karla Maynard, Jacob Singleton, Mary Ellen Whittington, and Alex Greco. And finally, thanks to the anonymous peer reviewers whose comments and suggestions were relevant, helpful, and clear.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. A portmanteau of Light and Radar, aerial LiDAR uses laser scanning to create a 3-D point cloud of terrain. This is processed by removing laser reflections from vegetation/tree cover to create a highly accurate digital terrain model representing the bare earth surface.

2. An acronym for the US military’s terrain analysis tool, standing for Key Terrain, Observation, Cover and concealment, Obstacles, and Avenues of approach. KOCOA’s origin as a terrain analysis tool lies in the American Civil War.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program under Grant P20AP00068. This material is based upon work assisted by a grant from the Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of the Interior.

Notes on contributors

Ryan K. McNutt

Ryan K. McNutt is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Georgia Southern University in historical and conflict archaeology. He earned his B.Sc. in Anthropology from Middle Tennessee State University in 2006, and his PhD in Archaeology from the University of Glasgow, where he specialized in conflict archaeology. His research interests include utilizing technologies such as LIDAR and GIS to answer questions about battlefield and conflict sites, power and dominance in the landscape, and the impact of violence on non-combatants. This includes the archaeology of internment and POW camps, where place becomes transformed through social interaction into a space of the dominant and dominated, with landscapes and architecture spatially arranged in a grammar of control and constant observation. He is currently Director of the Camp Lawton Archaeological Project at Georgia Southern University.