Built by Black laborers, Nashville's Fort Negley -- now getting improvements -- yields a trove of Civil War-era artifacts, including doll's head, percussion caps and glass

Matthew Malone digs in; doll's head and rifle percussion caps were found in that unit (Picket photos)

Above swaths of yellow flowers, known locally as Nashville Mustard, and within sight of the city’s downtown skyline, a small team conducting archaeological digs on the heights of Fort Negley was having a glorious day.

Metro Nashville Historical Commission archaeologist Adam Fracchia and three volunteers worked in two excavation units within the remains of the fort, which was largely built in 1862 by free Blacks and “contrabands” – formerly enslaved people who fled to Nashville during the Civil War.

For all its public appeal, archaeology is especially tedious work. Everything must be recorded and sifted carefully. Some days you come up empty.

But not on this recent Friday.

Liana Blackburn sifts the Tennessee clay as Patrick O'Sullivan works in Unit 6 (Picket photo)

While I soaked up the sunny weather, steady breeze and the great views from St. Cloud Hill, the group – made up of Fracchia, Liana Blackburn, Matthew Malone and Patrick O’Sullivan -- was hitting pay dirt within minutes of setting up shop.

In the few hours that I drifted between the two open pits, the team collected several rifle percussion caps, shards of glass, bricks, cow bones, charred wood from fires and the head of a tiny doll – all likely tied to the time of the fort, which troops left in 1867.

“This is a very exciting day,” said Fracchia, who has been doing archaeological work at the city’s 64-acre historic park for a couple years. “It is unusual to get that many deposits.”

Federal army used string of forts to hold Nashville

Nashville was the first Confederate state capital to fall to the Union, and it didn’t take long for the army to build defensive fortifications to protect access to railroads and the Cumberland River.

Fort Negley during the war (Library of Congress) and Matthew Malone and Adam Fracchia, background (Picket photo)

Later in the war, regiments with the U.S. Colored Troops were among those occupying Negley, which fired on Confederates during the Battle of Nashville in December 1864. It was spared a direct assault; U.S. Colored Troops did fight elsewhere in Nashville during the battle.

Fracchia on most Fridays welcomes the public to take part in the excavations at Fort Negley, which was picked over by relic hunters for a long time. Signs warn visitors it is unlawful to bring metal detectors, dig or remove artifacts.

Still, compelling artifacts such as those uncovered when I was there are still to be found by archaeologists. Fracchia spoke about them with a few visitors who meandered into the project area from time to time.

Park upgrades will honor Black laborers, USCT soldiers

Fort Negley has recently begun the first phase of a major upgrade to the park, which is largely surrounded by highways and commercial development that have largely supplanted the African-American  Bass Street neighborhood.

Many elements of the venue have deteriorated. A key aim is honoring the Black laborers who built the fort.

Site manager Tracy Harris said the work will include improved walkways, interpretive signage, a new overlook structure, a memorial lawn on the site of a former baseball field, Greer Stadium (Background in Picket photo at right) and a Freedom Plaza.

Fracchia and volunteers have been working only in areas that would be disturbed by new walkways and interpretive signs.

The first phase includes an archaeological investigation at the site of the historic Bass Street community along with a public history component, as well as a large-scale mural designed and installed by a local artist, the city says.

Many of the USCT veterans and Black civilian workers settled in the area following the war. The latter were forced to work at Fort Negley, and many died during construction.

Davidson County historian and Tennessee State University professor Learotha Williams said in a February social media post:

African-Americans pressed into building Nashville forts for Union (Annals of the Army of the Cumberland)

“This project and specifically the new memorial lawn will honor all those who came here during the Civil War and, through their service and sacrifice, compelled the city and the nation to redefine citizenship and the meaning of freedom in America.”

Many artifacts seem to be evidence of camp life

On the day I was in town, O’Sullivan and Blackburn worked in Unit 6, which is near what was once a large palisade wall. Much of Civil War-era Fort Negley is gone; young men with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) reconstructed the site during the Depression.

Large stones and walls were set in place, though they have shifted or fallen down in some areas since. (Above, Picket photos from March 2026) City funding for the enhanced park does not include repairing the walls.

Fracchia said the team gets a mix of Civil War and postwar items and it is difficult to tell whether the items we saw that day were deposited during the fort’s construction or later in its service.

Unit 6 might have been a trash pit – inside were livestock bones signifying possible rations for Federal soldiers, bricks and broken bottles, including what may be part of a pickle jar. Fracchia said a wooden post may have been placed within that unit.

Glass jar lid, volunteer Patrick O'Sullivan with cattle rib, fragment of bottle (Picket photos)

The archaeologists became excited upon seeing what appeared to be upside-down bottles.

“I’m excited to see if they are intact,” said O’Sullivan before he and Blackburn carefully dug around them.

The items were not complete – one appeared to be a lid to a jar already collected and the other was the bottom of a bottle believed to be hand-blown.

Fracchia worked with Malone a hundred yards away in Unit 10. While they did not find as many artifacts, they discovered a few percussion caps and the doll’s head, made of either china or bisque.

“We find these mass-produced dolls at domestic sites often,” Fracchia later told me. “I do not know why it was a Fort Negley.” (National Park Service photo, left, from Fort Stanwix)

He made a reference to it possibly being a “Frozen Charlotte,” small, usually unclothed dolls popular during the mid-19^th century until about 1920. If you want to know more about how they got their name, click here.

The short version, according to the National Park Service: The name “Frozen Charlotte” was associated with the dolls once they were gaining in popularity. It is inspired by a folk ballad about an underdressed “Young Charlotte” or “Frozen Charlotte” who froze to death while on a carriage ride to a winter’s ball.

The find was especially exciting, with Malone carefully walking it over for Blackburn and O'Sullivan to see.

Perhaps surprisingly, not many personal items have been found in recent years.

Hey, public: This is your chance to join a dig

The Metro Nashville Historical Commission works out of the restored Sunnyside Mansion in Sevier Park, a few miles southwest of Fort Negley.

Following a disastrous loss at the Battle of Franklin in November 1864, Confederate Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood moved upon Nashville, digging in below the city. Federal Maj. Gen. George Thomas attacked about two weeks later, sending Hood’s battered army off the field on Dec. 16.

One of the master plan renderings of the upgraded Fort Negley (Picket photo)

It has long been known that dozens of bullets, including Minie balls, were left on the porch door and columns on the big house at Sunnyside. Fracchia showed me evidence of those before I traveled to Fort Negley. The restored mansion includes display areas showing where some of the bullets or cannon rounds hit.

Fracchia said officials don’t have detailed descriptions of what happened on the property during the battle, but they believe Confederates must have been a significant target because of the number of bullets and holes. They eventually were forced to retreat.

The commission has found rifle pits and entrenchments on the land. 

Fracchia’s work extends other sites. The commission recently won a grant to fund a website where Nashvillians can upload photographs of artifacts they find on their property.

Adam Fracchia and Liana Blackburn show off Unit 6 to visitors (Picket photo)

Fracchia maintains a laboratory with items from Fort Negley and Sunnyside (I will report more on the latter in a subsequent post).

On the day I was in Nashville, a woman visiting Sunnyside Mansion asked about helping with the archaeological work.

“You have to show the public this is yours,” said Fracchia.

Site grid and Liana Blackburn and Adam Fracchia (Picket photos)

Editor's note: Please contact Nashville archaeologist Adam Fracchia at adam.fracchia@nashville.gov if you have questions about the project or want to join the work on site.

CSI: Nashville goes Civil War. Police 3D scanners and drones help plot trajectory of bullets fired on Sunnyside Mansion during battle

A mosaic shows likely trajectories of bullets fired by Union troops (MNPD)

What do police crime scene investigators and archaeologists have in common? It turns out, a lot.

Both take extreme care with evidence. They create detailed notes and photographs, make measurements and diagrams, then document and analyze the data.

These skill sets came into play when the Metro Nashville Historical Commission partnered with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department to study two unoccupied log structures at Sunnyside Mansion in Sevier Park.

They wanted to solve the mystery regarding embedded bullets and holes discovered earlier this year in the cabin walls. The 44 “defects” – bullets, holes and chips – were associated with the December 15-16, 1864, Battle of Nashville, a significant defeat for the South.

Nashville police photographs of bullets, defects and removed projecticle

For Adam Fracchia, archaeologist with the historical commission, the ballistics project has provided an opportunity to learn more about the battle and its impact on the mansion. The house -- situated between battle lines -- was occupied for a time by Confederate pickets. Advancing Union troops fired upon Confederates in the log structures – made of stout cedar -- and used the residence as a hospital.

Sunnyside Mansion, the headquarters for the commission, has been undergoing an extensive restoration.

“I went and looked at the building and I noticed the bullet holes,” said Fracchia, who found more upon inspection. A forensics colleague suggested he reach out to the police department. “We wanted to get a (look at bullet) trajectory and where they were fired from.”

For Nashville police, the partnership was an excellent way to further test their FARO 3D scanners, which were used in the investigation of the 2020 Christmas Day bombing in the city. The scanners take 360-degree measurements and capture other details from a crime scene. (Photo courtesy of FARO Technologies)

Taking advantage of modern technology, police merged the scans with images they took by drones to make a mosaic of the mansion – which was built in 1852 – and show likely bullet trajectories and direction.

The project was only the second time that the department combined FARO and drone data, said Officer Douglas Belcher of the crime scenes detail.

“This gave us a great opportunity to test the technology we have and we think it did very well,” Belcher told the public during a July 13 presentation in the visitor center at Fort Negley, a large Union defensive fortification.

Another disastrous battle for Confederates

Nashville fell to Union forces in early 1862, relatively early in the Civil War. Tennessee was a strategic location for the Northern army and it built defenses in the capital.

Following a disastrous loss at the Battle of Franklin in November 1864, Confederate Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood moved upon Nashville, digging in below the city. Federal Maj. Gen. George Thomas attacked about two weeks later, sending Hood’s battered army off the field on Dec. 16.

The property now in Sevier Park is in the middle (click to enlarge map)

It has long been known that dozens of bullets, including Minie balls, were left on the porch door and columns on the big house at Sunnyside. Fracchia says you can still see evidence today.

The bullets and bullets in the log structures were found in February as restoration work reached that area on the north side of the house.

Until the damage was found, officials did not know whether the structures might have been elsewhere on the property before being moved to the house. Fracchia theorizes they may have been used as a kitchen or other ancillary purposes. Evidence of cabins for enslaved persons has not been found.

The north face in the 1980s and now (red is the area of study)

By the time of the Civil War, log structures were not fashionable and siding would have covered them, the archaeologist said. “The bullets likely went through the siding and they probably replaced the siding and the bullets were covered up.”

Fracchia said officials don’t have detailed descriptions of what happened on the property during the battle, but they believe Confederates must have been a significant target because of the number of bullets and holes. They eventually were forced to retreat.

Siding still covered the buildings when restoration began. “The more siding we took down, the more we found,” Fracchia said.

Crime scene unit logs entry points with rods (MNPD)

Old school and high tech meet

The police crime scene unit’s work at Sunnyside Mansion wasn’t all fancy gadgets. Officers did old-fashioned work first, marking and photographing the “defects” and using handheld rods to help determine trajectory and origin. An angle finder helped plot direction of impact – from the “leading edge” of the bullet. All of this information, including labeling of the defects, was used to complete the analysis.

“The goal is we want to determine origination. We are trying to figure out where the bullet came from,” crime scenes investigator George Bouton told the Fort Negley audience. “Bullets are predictably unpredictable,” he said. Flight paths are dynamic, including the effects of gravity on trajectory.

Police found and marked 44 bullet "defects" (Image MNPD)

Fracchia told the Picket that at some point after the battle, someone had chiseled out some of the bullets before the siding was replaced. “Nobody in active memory knew there were bullet holes in that wall.”

The archaeologist said a total of seven bullets were embedded in the two log structures. Most remain in the larger of the cabins. The smaller cabin, unfortunately, had to be taken down after the police examination because of its poor conditions. The logs have been kept.

The presentation included photos of a three-ring Minie ball and a Williams cleaner bullet.

“We are assuming they are Union bullets, given they were coming from the north, and fits the battle.” Some of the shots fired upon the mansion also came from the northwest.

The two embedded bullets mentioned by police are soft and burrowed themselves into the cedar. They are fairly well lodged in there, Fracchia said. “We don’t know exactly how far they were fired from.”

Officer Steven Jones said the logs had the density of railroad ties. “So it was extremely good cover.” He said most of the bullets were likely .40- or .50-caliber. "It seems to be a heavy concentration of fire in one area.” 

While Sunnyside Mansion is not a crime scene, it was an interesting opportunity for the police department to employ old skills and new technology.

“The last time a human touched this was in 1864,” said Bouton. “It has been that long. It is still right there where it ended up.”

Maps of Federal attack and Southern positions and bullets (MNHC)

More research at site lies ahead

There’s more work ahead, but the project already is helping flesh out details of the fight around Sunnyside as Union forces swept in from the west and north.

“We see a much more complicated picture out of the battle and how it actually played out,” said Fracchia. “It was crucial to tell this part of the Battle of Nashville.”

The commission has found rifle pits and entrenchments on the land. One pit was found this spring when crews were digging a new sewer line to the mansion. “They hit a discoloration in the soil.”

“The soil was burned and there was charcoal. We found melted lead and two percussion caps.” Fracchia (left) said it was evidence of a small fire. “It was very cold during this time period.”

A researcher from Louisville, Kentucky, is doing dendrochronology work to determine the age of the logs.

“We are working on researching what else these bullet holes may tell us,” said Fracchia, adding he may do metal detector surveys and research the site using geophysics. (Metal detecting is illegal on any city property, including parks, he said).

The aim is to tell a wider story and put up interpretive panels next year after the renovation. The archaeologist would like the surviving cabin to have a few places left open so that visitors can see bullets, holes and chinking between the logs. (The holes would be protected by plastic or thick glass.)

Sunnyside Mansion was built in 1852 and it included outbuildings

Fracchia’s work experience has included archaeology in the East, including Baltimore, and forensic aviation archaeology -- he has helped identify fallen US service members overseas.

His goal in Nashville and Davidson County is to build awareness “that could lead to stewardship and ownership and preservation.”

“What is really surprising is the depth and interest in history and the fragility of these resources. We don’t know that they are there until we find them.”

Editor's note: Please contact Adam Fracchia at adam.fracchia@nashville.gov if you have questions or want to join the work on site.

One of the bullet holes tested in a log structure (MNPD)

The rear of the log structures; the one on the right has been removed (MNPD)