Ruff's Mill: Archaeological report on July 4, 1864, battle in Ga. urges preservation, education opportunities about soldiers, slaves and citizens

Field work was conducted in late 2020; here artillery item (Lamar Institute)

A growing and diverse suburb of Atlanta should be thinking of how to preserve more portions of a Civil War battlefield and educate its residents about how the conflict affected civilians and enslaved persons, authors of an archaeological report have concluded.

Despite the loss of large parts of the Ruff’s Mill battlefield in Smyrna, Ga., to development, residents and Cobb County government have the opportunity to protect remaining areas on public and private property, the Lamar Institute wrote in a report, “Linchpin in Atlanta’s Fall.”

The Battle of Ruff’s Mill (Nickajack Creek) on July 4, 1864, occurred in what is now the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District and Heritage Park. It was one of several brief clashes waged as Union forces under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman continued their relentless push on Atlanta after a setback at Kennesaw Mountain.

The Confederate lines taken at Ruff’s Mill 158 years ago Monday were among the few defenses taken by direct assault during the Atlanta Campaign, authors of the report say.

The Savannah-based nonprofit Lamar Institute, working with local landowner Philip Ivester and other Smyrna area residents, set out to determine the location of the fighting and more fully identify the Federal and Confederate troops involved. Much of the work was funded by the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection program, which awarded the Lamar Institute a $96,000 grant.

Researchers said they corrected some misconceptions about exactly where the battle occurred and pinpointed three battle areas and 11 trenches. They also analyzed nearly 530 artifacts.

“The project was rewarding because we were able to locate and document exact battle areas on the modern landscape, uncover a huge amount of new information from the archaeological and historical research that will be available to the public and to those entities wishing to include the information in interpretive efforts, and to work with a large number of very interested and dedicated members of the public,” Rita Elliott of the Lamar Institute told the Picket in an email.

The project team in May gave an overview of their excavations and research to about 60 preservation-minded people at the Smyrna Public Library. They also showed an accompanying 40-minute documentary entitled “Double Quick and Bayonets Fixed” detailing the Atlanta Campaign and Ruff’s Mill.

Charlie Crawford, president emeritus of the Georgia Battlefields Association, says Ruff’s Mill has gotten relatively little attention because it was a brief incident between much more notable events -- namely the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain (June 27) several miles north and the crossing of the Chattahoochee River by Federal forces (July 9) to the southeast.

After his army had repulsed Sherman at Kennesaw Mountain, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston once again had to resort to delaying tactics and a slow retreat toward Atlanta. “Johnston occupied the Smyrna Line principally to buy time for his wagons to retreat behind the Chattahoochee, and he did not intend to hold the line once that was accomplished,” said Crawford.

Rita Elliott (in dress) and Philip Ivester with items he found (Smyrna Public Library)

On July 4, 1864, Brig. Gen. John Fuller’s brigade with the 16^th Corps, supported by Sweeney’s division, attacked works held by Rebels in Hood’s command at Ruff’s Mill. “The Southerners fell back and dug in.

Union casualties in this action totaled 140 killed and wounded. Confederate losses are not reported,” writes historian and author Stephen Davis.

That night, Johnston withdrew troops to their next position, even closer to the river.

Attack of Fuller's Ohio brigade at Ruff's Mill (Wikipedia Commons)

While the documentary is heavy on military strategy and combat, it highlights other topics, including enslaved African-Americans forced to construct Rebel defenses in and around Atlanta. The report also looked at white residents, slaves and free blacks in the community.

That part of the presentation brought “in the perspectives of … people who had been overlooked in the past,” including the formerly enslaved in Georgia who fought for the Union army, said library director Mary Moore.

Moore told the Picket about educational opportunities to get more people involved in studying Smyrna’s history, and what it means today.

About one-third of the city’s 56,000 population is African-American and there are many newcomers. “One way you build community is make people aware of what happened before you came to this community,” she said.

A local historical society, plaques, parks, arts council and the Smyrna History Museum have a role in education, she said. The Jonquil City Historical Trail, an online guide, could add compelling information generated by the report.

The popular Silver Comet Trail brings tens of thousands of walkers and bicyclists through Heritage Park each year. The project could provide an excellent opportunity to educate them about the Civil War. (Right, entrenching tool found during dig, courtesy Lamar Institute)

Philip Ivester’s interest in his neighborhood’s history and an extensive collection of Civil War bullets and other relics he’s found on his property were the spark for the archaeological survey at Ruff’s Mill.

His parents in the mid-1970s purchased the remaining 11 acres from the Martin Luker Ruff property dating to the 19^th century.

Ivester talks in the documentary about finding numerous Civil War artifacts on their land, the heart of the Federal assault. He recalls finding nine bullets in one day. Friction primers found on a knoll show where cannons were placed, he said.

He recently posted a link about the report on the Concord Covered Bridge website, saying it was available in print to members.

“Beyond the military campaign itself, the report goes in-depth into life in Cobb County in the 1860s. This report includes perspectives of women, children, African Americans (both enslaved and freed), and everyday civilians affected by the Civil War. Numerous maps, diaries, photographs, letters, and aerials supplement the narrative and make this report a valuable research tool for future use.”

The updated Smyrna History Museum a few miles away includes interpretive panels and artifacts about the Civil War in the city and Cobb County. (At left, a map painted on the museum floor, photo by Picket. Click to enlarge)

Ivester told the Picket he is planning to make a donation or loan of “artifacts with known provenance” to the facility.

While nearby Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park preserves about 3,000 acres, no such federal protection was afforded to other Civil War sites in the area, including Ruff’s Mill.

The report covers ideas for saving battlefield from relentless development.

County-owned land should be protected from looting, vandalism and inadvertent damage from visitors or recreation-related construction, it says.

“Purchasing parcels from agreeable landowners at fair market value would be a first step in the long-term preservation of the battlefield," a summary says.

Ruff's Mill is adjacent to the Concord Covered Bridge (Picket photo)

"Other options may be to work with landowners to create conservation easements and other legal mechanisms for ensuring that land parcels stay protected in perpetuity.”

Cobb County Commissioner Lisa Cupid, who is African-American, said the artifacts found at Ruff’s Mill are a tangible link to the past.

“If you can see where things were so many years ago and where things are today, maybe it even gives you a chance to appreciate how far we have come,” Cupid says in the documentary. (The Picket reached out to Cupid for additional comment but did not receive a reply.)

Patricia Burns and Cobb Commissioner Cupid at the site (Cobb County)

Moore, of the Smyrna library, said she and her son volunteered on one of the days the public was invited to take part in the archaeological digs. It brought home what occurred on hills, farmland and ravines around Ruff’s Mill.

“I have come to appreciate the legacy of the war, how disastrous it was … how it shaped (us) for a century and more afterwards. We are still dealing with the ramifications of what happened.”

You can download the report. Note: Each file is very large and takes several minutes to download. Search Ruff's Mill here for report 230.

Pennsylvania township remembers horrific train collision that killed prisoners, guards

Marker at national cemetery in Elmira, N.Y., lists Confederates killed in collision.

The men in the first car behind the locomotive never had a chance.

On July 15, 1864, an 18-car train carrying 833 Confederates prisoners and 128 Union guards collided with a coal train about 1.5 miles outside the small town of Shohola, Pa.

The noise and chaos of the head-on wreck brought townspeople and farmers to the rocky site. Folks across the Delaware River in Barryville, New York, also rushed to assist the injured.

“The smoke and debris cleared to reveal a grim spectacle. Both locomotives were elevated high against each other, and cars down the line were crushed, overturned, ripped in half, or on top of each other,” wrote Michael Gray in his book, “The Business of Captivity,” an account of the Federal prison in Elmira, N.Y., the destination of the prisoner train.

Caboose used by historical society (Discover Pike PA)

“All but one man in the first car perished, thrown clear before the impact smashed the car to a length less than six feet,” wrote Gray.

Although the exact number is not known, about 48 prisoners and 17 guards died. The bodies, many disfigured, were buried in a trench along the Erie Railroad. They were exhumed and moved in 1911 to Woodlawn National Cemetery in Elmira.

This Saturday (July 12), the Shohola Railroad & Historical Society is marking the 150^th anniversary of the calamity with living history events, including Civil War re-enactors, a man who portrays President Abraham Lincoln and Ruth Randone’s one-woman show, “A Confederate Soldier’s Tale,” based on the train wreck.

An opening ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m. and a shuttle service will take visitors to the park just outside of the village.

Five Rebels are believed to have escaped after the train wreck. An event Saturday will be “a search and apprehension of escaped Confederate prisoners,” said Martha Shadler, president of the society.

(Courtesy of Discover Pike PA)

A memorial service at 1 p.m. Sunday at the site of the Old Congregational Church in Barryville will remember the victims. Two Confederate brothers who died of their injuries are buried in a cemetery there.

A field trip to the 1864 crash site, now on private property, will follow.

Events at a park in the scenic Pocono Mountains community of Shohola are free; a ham dinner at 5 p.m. Saturday costs $10 for adults and $5 for children.

The doomed train was carrying prisoners from Point Lookout, Md., to Elmira. The collision occurred near one of a series of blind bends.

“There was a lot of terrible scalding from the hot water and the steam engines,” said Shadler. Residents in the area helped tend to about 100 injured passengers.

Shohola train station in later years (Library of Congress)

A jury found that a dispatcher, who vanished a day after the wreck, mistakenly had allowed the eastbound coal train on the track.

Woodlawn National Cemetery also holds the graves of nearly 3,000 Confederate soldiers who died at the Elmira prison are buried. People from the South occasionally stop by to look for graves of their ancestors. 

A monument at the cemetery lists the Shohola train wreck dead. Fittingly, the side with Confederate names faces the south; the marker listing Union soldiers faces the north.

Shadler said members of the 124^th New York State Volunteers, 1^st New Jersey Battery A and the 141^st Pennsylvania Infantry are among re-enactors expected to attend the weekend events.

(Courtesy of Woodlawn National Cemetery)

(Courtesy of Woodlawn National Cemetery)

“They will be camped out tonight (Friday) probably to Sunday. They will show how they lived, cooked and ate. They are setting up a Civil War-era hospital.” Another group will fire artillery.

The township of Shohola and Barryville are about 70 miles from New York City. The area is known for its pretty lakes and rivers and offers second homes for residents of NYC, New Jersey and Philadelphia, said real estate agent Bridget Gelderman.

Shadler hopes people will learn about local history, which includes mills and the Delaware and Hudson Canal. And don’t forget to look at what nature offers.

“It’s just a beautiful area.”

For more information about the event, call 570-296-2304.

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