At national battlefields, you can be a finder, but not a keeper. Kennesaw Mountain staff educates public about importance of precious artifacts -- and potential hazards

Bullet found by James Pratt; Jake Boling with Napoleon shell, assorted artifacts, crowd at Gritters Library (Picket photos)

A couple weeks back, during a program at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, ranger James Pratt came across a spent bullet, its top smashed from an impact of some kind.

Those on the walk joked the artifact might have been planted, but the Minie ball find was a surprise, Pratt and fellow park ranger Jake Boling told three dozen people attending a presentation at Gritters Library in Cobb County, Ga.

The pair on Monday traveled about five miles from the park for a show-and-tell about artifacts related to the Civil War park northwest of Atlanta. “It’s being able to tell a story about them,” said Boling.

The education coordinator often gives talks about the battle, the land and its cultural resources, so this was a great opportunity to show off finds and explain what the park does with them.

It was also an opportunity to remind potential visitors that it is illegal to dig up and/or remove an artifact from federal property.

Boling told the audience, mostly made of children and young adults, that Kennesaw Mountain has two main collections. Items in the visitor museum or in storage are delicate, rare or have direct provenance – a chain of custody and record.

Those in the education collection are meant to demonstrate a type of clothing, ammunition or accoutrement. “Soldiers had to carry lots and lots of stuff,” said Boling

Library patrons were able to hold or look at three bullets, a knapsack hook, brass eagle buttons, a bayonet remnant, a horseshoe, shell fragment and boot heels, among other artifacts. “These soldiers marched an average of 15 miles a day,” said Boling.

Pratt said he believes the spent bullet likely was fired from a Springfield rifle used by Federal attackers on June 27, 1864. The 53^rd Indiana Infantry and other regiments created a diversionary attack on the far left against Confederate pickets, including the 1^st Alabama Infantry (see video at bottom of post).

The attack came from Memorial Field and toward Confederate rifle pits beyond the current visitor center. (At left, a replicate Hotchkiss shell and a fragment found at Kennesaw, Picket photo)

Boling told the crowd he was working in 2019 when a man told them he discovered a mud-covered item near a trail. It turned out to a shell from a 12-pounder Napoleon. Park officials say about 400 cannons were on and around the battlefield.

The visitor, in fact, had placed the shell in his vehicle, and had become concerned about it being potentially explosive. He subsequently brought it to the building and left, said Boling.

The local bomb squad drilled a hole in the solid shot to ensure it did not contain gunpowder.

The park now uses the artillery round as part of its education outreach.

Boling cautioned the audience to call police or tell rangers if they come across anything related to ammunition. “Don’t dig, because it’s illegal. Don’t dig, because it can be dangerous,” he said.

The bottom line: Don’t pick anything up.