BowieResearcher
Private
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2026
- Location
- In the (Digitial) Field
I've always wondered about a set of Confederate burial trenches which the SG Elliott Map places across the Samuel Mumma Lane. It makes no sense because a) the road would be compacted and hard to dig in and b) it was an actively used road.
The Bowie List records graves in this general area, but not in the exact location Elliott placed them: "In Samuel Mumma's field joining Rulett's lane, S.E. Corner, 20 steps from rockbrake."
When we add the Roulette Lane to the map, the situation becomes clearer:
If the graves surrounded by the red box were shifted northeast, they would be in the same location described in the Bowie List:
My hypothesis in this instance is that whomever worked on this section of the map confused the Mumma and Roulette lanes, or was working with materials which made such an error. This would not be the first instance where Elliott appears to have misplaced features. Indeed, this corrective shift would be a relatively minor one compared to some others which appear to be necessary.
One argument against matching the Bowie and Elliott graves is that Bowie recorded 20 graves here, while Elliott shows 69. Indeed, the shorter of Elliott's rows is 32 graves long, which itself is 50% more graves than Bowie's total. But these are the only Confederate graves both Elliott and Bowie placed in this field. Unless Elliott missed the 20 graves in Bowie, and Bowie missed the 69 graves in Elliott, there can be no other candidates. Some of the graves present in 1864 may have been destroyed by 1868-69. I also believe it's possible that at least some of the multi-row trenches on the Elliott Map represent one trench which is two bodies deep, which would appear to contain fewer bodies to an observer in 1868. However one of these observers would have been Aaron Good, who was not only present during the battle but compiled a list of burials within days of its conclusion. One would think he might be aware of double burials.
Despite being one of the most famous areas of the battlefield, and achieving that status while the burials crews were still at work, the area around the Sunken Lane was not treated well by cartographers. Elliott made errors in this location. So did the Maj. Nathaniel Michler, the army engineer who surveyed the battlefield in 1867. Michler's survey of the Roulette Farm includes numerous errors, including where the farm lane enters the Sunken Lane.
The Bowie List records graves in this general area, but not in the exact location Elliott placed them: "In Samuel Mumma's field joining Rulett's lane, S.E. Corner, 20 steps from rockbrake."
When we add the Roulette Lane to the map, the situation becomes clearer:
If the graves surrounded by the red box were shifted northeast, they would be in the same location described in the Bowie List:
My hypothesis in this instance is that whomever worked on this section of the map confused the Mumma and Roulette lanes, or was working with materials which made such an error. This would not be the first instance where Elliott appears to have misplaced features. Indeed, this corrective shift would be a relatively minor one compared to some others which appear to be necessary.
One argument against matching the Bowie and Elliott graves is that Bowie recorded 20 graves here, while Elliott shows 69. Indeed, the shorter of Elliott's rows is 32 graves long, which itself is 50% more graves than Bowie's total. But these are the only Confederate graves both Elliott and Bowie placed in this field. Unless Elliott missed the 20 graves in Bowie, and Bowie missed the 69 graves in Elliott, there can be no other candidates. Some of the graves present in 1864 may have been destroyed by 1868-69. I also believe it's possible that at least some of the multi-row trenches on the Elliott Map represent one trench which is two bodies deep, which would appear to contain fewer bodies to an observer in 1868. However one of these observers would have been Aaron Good, who was not only present during the battle but compiled a list of burials within days of its conclusion. One would think he might be aware of double burials.
Despite being one of the most famous areas of the battlefield, and achieving that status while the burials crews were still at work, the area around the Sunken Lane was not treated well by cartographers. Elliott made errors in this location. So did the Maj. Nathaniel Michler, the army engineer who surveyed the battlefield in 1867. Michler's survey of the Roulette Farm includes numerous errors, including where the farm lane enters the Sunken Lane.
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