alan polk
1st Lieutenant
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2012
The Friends of Raymond has added a unique addition to the Battlefield by recreating a section of fence that existed during the battle.
The wartime artist, Theodore Davis, drew this sketch on the scene during the fight on May 12, 1863. General Logan can be seen on horseback rallying his men.
I had the privilege of being a part of the archaeological team that helped locate the fence line by use of metal detectors. The original fence, of course, had long rotted away or was torn apart by troops during and after the battle.
Amazingly, we were able to locate numerous dropped .58 caliber minie balls that were dropped by Federal forces as the fought desperately at the fence - the soldiers accidentally dropping ammunition out of their cartridge boxes as they hurriedly tried to reload. You could literally map the run of the old fence by these "drops." Intermingled with them were badly "mushroomed" Enfield minie balls that had struck the fence. There were also deformed round balls and hundreds of buckshot rounds that had plastered the old fence fired by the Texans into the Yankee ranks at the fence.
Anyway, below is the wartime sketch of the fight at the fence and the recreated fencline today.
The wartime artist, Theodore Davis, drew this sketch on the scene during the fight on May 12, 1863. General Logan can be seen on horseback rallying his men.
I had the privilege of being a part of the archaeological team that helped locate the fence line by use of metal detectors. The original fence, of course, had long rotted away or was torn apart by troops during and after the battle.
Amazingly, we were able to locate numerous dropped .58 caliber minie balls that were dropped by Federal forces as the fought desperately at the fence - the soldiers accidentally dropping ammunition out of their cartridge boxes as they hurriedly tried to reload. You could literally map the run of the old fence by these "drops." Intermingled with them were badly "mushroomed" Enfield minie balls that had struck the fence. There were also deformed round balls and hundreds of buckshot rounds that had plastered the old fence fired by the Texans into the Yankee ranks at the fence.
Anyway, below is the wartime sketch of the fight at the fence and the recreated fencline today.
Last edited: