Bird's-eye view of the Battle of Pickett's Mill: It's happy trails to old use of terrain map as park volunteer revamps it to add troop locations and names

Revamped map in Pickett's Mill museum (Michael Hitt and Civil War Picket photos)

A large terrain map showing the trail system at Pickett’s Mill battlefield in Georgia has been saved from the dustbin of history and is being modified to add troop and artillery locations and the names of blue and gray regiments that clashed there on May 27, 1864.

“People like details,” said Michael Hitt, a volunteer at Pickett’s Mill Battlefield State Historic Site. “It causes you to start learning.”

The old map, which had been propped in the corner of an adjoining room, was to be thrown away. It had no information about the battle but was rather a basic visual guide to the trails.

Hitt, a Civil War researcher, envisioned another purpose.

He has been working on its new use for about three weeks, putting in about 50 hours as of Friday, when I paid a visit.

Whereas the map formerly was presented at an angle, the interpretive version rests flat on a platform, enabling visitors at the site in Paulding County to peer down from four angles, imagining the Confederate and Union perspectives. (See Picket video above for more detail)

Hitt has painstakingly put in small labels made of board. They denote military units, earthworks, mills and buildings present during the battle, which ended in a Confederate victory during “The Hell Hole” series of clashes there and at nearby Dallas and New Hope.

The Federal army suffered 1,600 casualties at Pickett’s Mill, compared to 500 for the South. The advance on Atlanta was delayed about a week. 

The board member with the Friends of Pickett’s Mill Battlefield painted the current trail system on the glass so people will be able to superimpose those and the map labels.

“The Pickett's Mill story will now be so much easier to understand,” the friends group said in a Facebook post.

“The idea is after people view it, from all angles, then go outside onto the battlefield, you should feel like you're in the model and you will know what took place and where. Just trying it makes history more enjoyable, as the park has only three historical markers.”

For a sense of scale, a house fits within a thumb nail, and a four-gun battery takes up the same amount of space. (Picket photos, above and left)

Unlike an electric map used in the old days at battlefields, this one is static, so it needs to capture a moment in time. Hitt chose 4 p.m., just before the futile Federal assaults began.

Hitt says the location of the map is a bonus. People will be able to look up at a series of maps on a nearby wall and see the progression of the fighting.

The volunteer would like to see more track lighting in the room to improve illumination above the map, but that likely will have to come later.

Work on the labels has been completed. Hitt on Friday showed me blue and gray construction paper and lists of regiments (Picket photos, below) he will use on the edges of the table to show who fought in the ravine and elsewhere on the well-preserved site. Asked how long it will take to finish the project, Hitt said it will be as long as it takes. (See Picket video above for more detail)

A reproduction 12-pounder howitzer that rests in the same room is positioned before a painting of a wooded area.

Hitt said that scene does not show trees and fauna that were at the battlefield, so he would like to have it redone.

Hitt is hopeful the changes will make for a better visitor experience.

“How can you make history more interesting to the average person?”

The visitor center and museum at Pickett’s Mill are open Friday-Sunday. The park is located at 4432 Mt. Tabor Church Road, Dallas, GA 30157

Under construction: The map and battlefield maps behind it (Picket photo)