Old number 9: Vandals and thieves tried to diminish this Civil War cannon. The weathered survivor, displayed for a decade at a Georgia battlefield, will be a star artifact at an upcoming Atlanta History Center exhibit

Key's battery howitzer at Pickett's Mill (Picket photo), number 9 on top of dented muzzle (Georgia State Parks), gun after it was recovered in Spalding County, Ga. in 2010, and artillery Capt. Thomas Key (Wikipedia); click to enlarge images

A dinged-up 12-pounder howitzer that survived numerous battles, years of vandalism and theft from a city park will be returned next month from a Georgia battlefield to the Atlanta History Center, where it will be featured in a new exhibition telling a bigger story about the Civil War.

The gun, manufactured in Boston in 1851 for the Arkansas Military Institute, has been on loan for nearly 10 years to Pickett’s Mill Battlefield State Historic Site northwest of Atlanta. It’s possible it was used to mow down Federal attackers who futilely charged through a ravine toward Confederates waiting for them in strength.

“Captain Key's howitzer is one of the most important artifacts /stories we have going into the new exhibit,” Gordon Jones, senior military and historian at the AHC, wrote the Picket in a recent email. “It'll be a cornerstone of the Atlanta Campaign area, right up there with the U.S. Army wagon, Confederate flag that flew over Atlanta, Cleburne sword, plus more new acquisitions.”

Jones was referring to Confederate Capt. Thomas Key, whose Arkansas artillery battery served in the division of legendary Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne during the Atlanta Campaign.

Key's Battery flag (Wikipedia

The AHC in 2016 lent the gun to the state park as it prepared to move the “Battle of Atlanta” cyclorama painting from the city’s Grant Park to the center’s facilities in the Buckhead neighborhood (The gun, below, during its move from the AHC to Pickett's Mill).

For the AHC and history aficionados, the audacious Key and his four-gun battery are remembered for being in the thick of things in numerous 1864 Atlanta Campaign battles – Dalton, Pickett’s Mill, Peachtree Creek and Jonesboro, among others..

Yet this bronze gun has a postwar history as interesting as its service during the war. It had several postwar homes and was vandalized while displayed outside in Grant Park. Indignities included a broken cascabel, hacksaw marks and scores of indentations.

The howitzer was subsequently stolen, turning up in a county south of Atlanta.

The AHC gained custody of the weapon and had it refurbished and placed on a carriage that was built in 1936.

Thomas Bailey, who makes and restores carriages and other artillery components, recalls working on the Key howitzer, which has an artillery shell jammed into its 780-pound barrel.

“It always stood out to me how beat up it was,” said the owner of Historical Ordnance Works in Woodstock, Ga. “Somebody tried breaking it up for scrap. There were saw marks on the trunnion.” He estimates the barrel had about 60 marks from a sledgehammer.

So you can say this gun is a survivor -- from the horrors of war and the ravages of vandals.

Key and his men always in the thick of things

The Key battery howitzer was one of two cast by Cyrus Alger & Co. for the Arkansas Military Institute. The number 9 is stamped on its muzzle face and the barrel is marked with an eagle atop a globe.

At Chickamauga, in September 1863, his superiors lauded Key for his gallantry and effectiveness, saying that in the fiercest part of the struggle he ran his battery by hand to within 60 yards of the enemy's lines.

Key and his cannons played a large part in the Confederate victory at Pickett’s Mill on May 27, 1864. Cleburne ordered Key to place two guns to the right oblique to enfilade the ravine. 

It’s uncertain whether number 9 was one of those two, but it certainly was among the four battery guns there.

Federal troops under Brig. Gen. William Hazen charged uphill in their attempt to take the top of a ridge. Key’s howitzers were ready for them. The battery fired about 182 rounds of spherical case and canister in two hours.

The Federal army suffered about 1,600 casualties at the battle, compared to 500 for the South. (At right, volunteer Michael Hitt at Pickett's Mill ravine in 2023, Picket photo)

On July 25, 1864, Key’s Battery was issued Napoleons captured from the Federals during the Battle of Atlanta and number 9 was sent to the Macon Arsenal. The Napoleons were considered a step up.

In his postwar book, Key wrote he regretted parting with number 9, which had been with his men at Perryville, Missionary Ridge, Resaca, New Hope Church,  Peachtree Creek and other battles.

“So it cannot be thought strange that I regret having separated from my command a gun that has been my companion under such trying and bloody circumstances.”

The howitzer made a lot of stops after the war

A 2016 newsletter produced by the Georgia Battlefields Association tells what happened to number 9 after the war:

At war’s end, the gun became property of the U.S. Army and was sent to the Washington Arsenal.

In 1880, upon a request on behalf of the state militia, number 9 was one of four guns (including two originally belonging to the Georgia Military Institute) sent to Rome, Ga. In 1887, Atlanta requested four obsolete guns for display in Fort Walker in Grant Park; the Rome guns were selected. (Fort Walker is not far from the old Cyclorama building).

“Over the years, the gun was vandalized: initials scratched, dented, pieces broken off, overturned, etc.,” according to the GBA newsletter, authored by Charlie Crawford, who then served as GBA president.

Michael Hitt, a volunteer historian at Pickett’s Mill and Civil War researcher, provided the Picket two vintage post cards (below) showing the gun when it was at Fort Walker.

In one photograph, the barrel lies on the ground and the left cheek of the gun carriage is heavily damaged.

“Maybe a tree or part of one fell on it,” Hitt said. “The other image shows it remounted, with a big dent on the muzzle, at an 11 o'clock position.”

Something unexpected found at residence

In the 1980s, Hitt – then a suburban Atlanta police officer -- restored three artillery pieces languishing at Fort Walker, part of the South’s defensive works in Atlanta. But vandals continued to damage the guns.

“There’s a lot of history connected with that fort,” Hitt, lamenting the lack of city protection, told The Atlanta Journal in 1984 (article below). “It’s like they abandoned it.”

Things somehow got worse.

“In 1985, all the guns were removed from Fort Walker,” according to the GBA. “Number 9 was removed from its carriage and displayed on a Grant Park monument, from which it was stolen in summer 1993.”

In February 2010, a tip about stolen goods led sheriff’s deputies to a Spalding County house, where they found stolen items, including a crate with a damaged cannon barrel inside. The whole affair was covered by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Hitt at that time identified the gun as number 9 and said it was part of the Helena Artillery, also known as Key’s Battery. It was part of the Confederate Army of Tennessee.

While a small debate ensued on whether the gun belonged to Georgia, Arkansas or the U.S. Army, the gun eventually was reclaimed by Atlanta. According to the GBA newsletter, it sat in a crate in the foyer of the old Cyclorama building for a few years.

In 2014, the AHC struck a deal with the city to restore and relocate the giant painting, locomotive Texas and other artifacts in the Cyclorama building to a new wing in Buckhead. That meant the howitzer would move, too.

What a long strange trip it's been for gun

After it was cleaned up, the Key howitzer was shown off in the visitor center at Pickett’s Mill, which is in Paulding County, just northwest of Atlanta.

John Nash, head of the Friends of Pickett’s Mill Battlefield, recalls taking his cannon trailer to the AHC to take the gun and carriage to Pickett’s Mill. The carriage was among those built by Works Progress Administration (WPA) employees in the 1930s when the guns were at Fort Walker.

Now the gun is heading to Buckhead. (Editor's note: I learned about the upcoming move from a Facebook post on The Atlanta Campaign History and Discussion Group.)

The Atlanta History Center in May closed its longtime Civil War exhibit, “Turning Point,” to make way for two new galleries that will feature breathtaking artifacts and a broader discussion of issues that engage the republic to this day: our belief systems, victory, defeat, reconciliation and the evolving meaning of freedom.

Museum officials said they will announce the confirmed name of the new Civil War era exhibition and an opening date in the next week or so.

AHC CEO Sheffield Hale with Union 20th Corps wagon that traveled near what is now the AHC (Picket photo)

Some people on social media had expressed worry the gun would go back into storage at the AHC. Or they advocate it should stay at Pickett's Mill.

Josh Headlee, curator and historic preservation specialist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which oversees state parks, said the weapon’s association with the battle made it a compelling artifact there.

“Rather than it sit in storage for all that time, the AHC was generous enough to reach out to us about the loan,” said Headlee. “Since the Key’s Battery played a prominent role in that battle, it has been a wonderful temporary addition to the Pickett’s Mill exhibits. However, Key’s Battery played an important role in the battles for Atlanta as well, so it’s just at home in their collection as it is ours.”

Hitt, a board member with the Pickett’s Mill friends group, agrees.

“I was able to get the Key battery howitzer (loaned) out from the AHC several years ago with the knowledge that it would be returned when it was needed for a display. Well, it is going to be part of a display now at the AHC and I don't have an issue with it. The gun's Atlanta story is just as interesting as the Pickett's Mill story.”

So there’s the story – for now – about old number 9. Living historians occasionally fire a reproduction Key’s Battery gun at Pickett’s Mill. The next event is scheduled for Jan. 17.

Those wanting to see the original gun at Pickett’s Mill before it leaves have only a few weeks. It will be back in Atlanta some time in February

The old GBA newsletter said the artifact might win a contest for most interesting story. “Go see the gun and marvel at its long, strange trip.”

2023's Top 11 Picket posts: Fredericksburg cannonball house, fallen witness tree, loads of river artifacts, flag finial find -- and much more

Artifacts and archaeology continue to be big draws to this blog. The top 11 Civil War Picket posts – by Blogger page views -- in 2023 included posts on an impressive collection of period rifles, a Virginia home that comes with a cannonball and a flag finial found in the ravine of a Georgia battlefield.

We’ve got several items in the works (USS Monitor, Fort Sumter flags, POWs) and we look forward to rolling out those and more in 2024. Thanks so much for your continued interest. Please tell a friend or two about us. Happy New Year!

11. GETTYSBURG AMPUTEES: Even after 160 years, unpublished photographs associated with the Battle of Gettysburg occasionally come to light, including one unveiled this year depicting Federal amputees and other wounded recovering at a hospital. – Read more

10. CSI: NASHVILLE:  The Metro Nashville Historical Commission partnered with local police 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. Here’s what they learned – Read more

9. SAVING A CIVIL WAR SURVIVOR: Restoring the Adam Strain building in Darien, Ga., and an adjoining one-story building is a labor of pure craftsmanship and sweat equity. The Strain survived the burning of the coastal town during the Civil War. – Read more

8. HOME COMES WITH A CANNONBALL: A piece of ordnance on an upper-floor brick wall is among the selling points for a 1848 Greek Revival residence in Fredericksburg, Va. As many as 100 shells a minute exploded over the town during the Dec. 11, 1862, Union bombardment. – Read more

7. LOADED WITH RIFLES: The Atlanta History Center, home to the Cyclorama painting depicting the Battle of Atlanta and a major exhibit on the Civil War, has acquired dozens of weapons in the past couple of years, bringing the total inventory to nearly 400. – Read more

6. WITNESS TREE DIES: An imposing witness tree that greeted visitors to Resaca Battlefield Historic Site in northwest Georgia is gone, lost to weather and old age. The spot where the tree was located is approximately the area where the Union’s 20th Corps and the 14th Corps overlapped one another during the 1864 battle. – Read more

5. FLAG FINIAL: Staff members and volunteers at Pickett’s Mill Battlefield near Atlanta thought a weathered finial – an ornament placed on the top of a flag – might be a reproduction. Here’s what they now say, and why. – Read more

4. MIGHTY MILITARY MINIATURES: Visitors to Gettysburg National Military Park in Augusta saw up to 300 military miniatures at an exhibition that supported efforts to conserve the park’s 2^nd North Carolina Infantry flag. Officials said the regiment likely carried the flag at Gettysburg in July 1863. The unit brought 243 men to the field and suffered 61 casualties in three days of fighting. – Read more

3. BRAILLE MARKERS AT GETTYSBURG: Three new markers feature landscape elevations that visitors are encouraged to touch. They were inspired by a massive topographic map created more than a century ago and on display at the visitor center. The creation of the tactile tables is part of a larger project to update interpretive signage throughout the park. – Read more

2. TREASURE TROVE: Descendants of Capt. James Lile Lemon of Georgia traveled to the Atlanta History Center to see items that belonged to him. Dozens of Civil War-period items were laid out on tables. Almost all related to a single soldier -- a curator's dream. There were personal items, a captured drum, revolver, letters, canteen, photographs and much more. – Read more

1. HUNDREDS OF ARTIFACTS PULLED FROM RIVER: Some of the captured weapons and ammunition that Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s troops dumped into the Congaree River in Columbia, S.C., in the last months of the Civil War reemerged during an environmental project that removed tar from the riverbed The haul included including cannonballs (photo above), canister, remnants of a saber and wagon wheel and dozens of bullets. – Read more

Interpretive panel installed for flag finial at Georgia battlefield

Click images to read text, see finial (Georgia State Parks)

An interpretive panel is now in place next to a flag finial believed to have been used by a Federal regiment during the Battle of Pickett’s Mill in northwest Georgia.

Officials at the May 27, 1864, battlefield near Atlanta recently unveiled the eagle flag topper to visitors during events related to the anniversary of the fight that ended in a Confederate victory during the Atlanta Campaign.

The panel, which describes the use of finials, was not present in time for the ceremony. Here’s what it looks like after installation. 

Although, it does not specify a possible unit, rangers and experts believe the finial may have been carried by an Ohio or Indiana regiment.

The artifact was discovered in a ravine in 1963, they say.

Previous coverage:

-- Wreath laying ceremony in famous ravine at Pickett's Mill

-- The story of the flag finial and how it was "rediscovered"

Wreath is placed in Pickett's Mill ravine where a US flag finial was found. Hundreds of Union soldiers died nearby in artillery slaughter

An honor guard Saturday above a ravine where flag finial was found (Picket photo)

On a gorgeous late spring day, about 40 people and I walked single file down a trail in Paulding County, Ga. Sun pored through the trees as we made a gentle descent, a deep and breathtaking ravine to our right.

This might have been on any other morning a carefree trek away from worry and traffic congestion in metro Atlanta. But Saturday was no normal day – it was the 159^th anniversary of the Civil War’s Battle of Pickett’s Mill. And hundreds of Union soldiers died in that ravine on May 27, 1864.

A few minutes earlier, at the Pickett's Mill park museum, visitors got an overview of the slaughter. We then set out for a wreath-laying ceremony at the spot where a finial, the top of a U.S. flag carried in the battle, was found in 1963 at the bottom of the ravine. The flag topper, which sits in a case in the visitor center, was the star of the program Saturday. It's the first new exhibit at the park in years, staffers said.

**Photo gallery of Saturday's events at Pickett's Mill**

John Hoomes, curator preservationist and interpretive ranger at Pickett’s Mill Battlefield, said the scene must have been horrific as canister from two Confederate artillery pieces tore into the Federal soldiers who climbed the ravine in the second futile attack. Several color bearers, who were defenseless, were shot down.

Each regiment in the Union army had two sets of colors, one the U.S. flag and the other a regimental flag. These banners were sacred -- a point of pride and a means of leading and rallying men amid the chaos of combat.

The enemy always shot at color bearers and tried to seize flags. The Pickett's Mill finial is believed to have been put on an American flag.

The finial at Pickett's Mill likely belonged to an Ohio or Indiana regiment.

“As you walk down entering the ravine, you are entering the deadliest part of the battlefield,” Hoomes said.

My photos can’t begin to show just how deep the ravine is and the height those unfortunate men in Col. William H. Gibson’s brigade had to scale. The wreath was placed near the bottom of the ravine and a creek. I felt it was too steep for my knees and ankles, so I did not venture that far down. (At right, local historian Michael Hitt points to the Federals' objective.)

After the ceremony, we walked back up to the approximate location of where two Confederate cannons rained hell down the ravine in 1864. One of them, a bronze 12-pounder howitzer that was part of Confederate Capt. Thomas Key’s battery, is on display in the visitor center (see above). The original 780-pound barrel sits on a reproduction carriage.

The howitzer was cast in Boston by Cyrus Alger & Co. in 1851 for the Arkansas Military Institute. The number 9 is stamped on its muzzle face and the cannon is marked with an eagle and globe.

Capt. Key and his Arkansas four-gun battery played a large part in the Confederate victory. Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne ordered Key to place two guns to the right oblique to enfilade a ravine.

Federal troops under Maj. Gen. William Hazen and Gibson charged uphill in their futile attempt to take the top of a ridge. Key’s howitzers were ready for them.

“They shot solid shot and canister. And that was 48 balls per (canister) round,” Stephen Briggs, then interim director at Pickett’s Mill, told me in 2016. The battery fired 182 rounds of spherical case and canister in two hours, he said.

Crew prepares to fire reproduction howitzer on Saturday (Picket photo)

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

On Saturday, a reenactor artillery crew was firing blanks. Key’s Battery, associated with the Friends of Pickett’s Mill Battlefield, drilled and fired a reproduction cannon as park visitors held fingers to their ears. Activities elsewhere in the park included musket firing and a demonstration of camp life.

Tommy Carter with the finial he pulled from the ground (Picket photo)

The finial is in the visitor center museum. An interpretive panel had not arrived by Saturday but should be put up soon. For years, the finial was on a trophy stand and used as a book weight in the park library. Until last year, it was thought to possibly be a reproduction, but experts are now saying it is genuine.

Tommy Carter (above) of New Hope, Ga., was reunited with the finial for the first time since he and a cousin dug it up in the ravine in 1963. (It’s important to note that this was private property at the time, about 10 years before the state began acquiring land for the park and later prohibited such activity.)

The original Key's Battery cannon is only a few feet away from the finial exhibit. “That could be the cannon that hit that finial three times,” said Hoomes.

Where eagles dare: Bronze bird was atop a U.S. flag during a doomed, but heroic Union assault at Georgia's Pickett's Mill. It's now on display

The bronze eagle finial now on exhibit at Pickett's Mill (Georgia DNR)

For about 25 years, a small bronze eagle sat on the library shelf at Pickett’s Mill Battlefield outside Atlanta. It was a bit of a curiosity. The bird’s feet were missing, one wing was broken and the other was turned inward. It was affixed, oddly, to a trophy stand.

Staff members and volunteers thought the weathered finial – an ornament placed on the top of a flag – might be a reproduction. But they couldn’t find a donation slip to help explain the story.

Now, after a finial expert weighed in and a park staff member began extensive research, officials and experts are saying this eagle isn’t a fake. Rather, they say, it earned its current condition while under fire at the Battle of Pickett’s Mill on May 27, 1864, when attacking Union regiments poured into a ravine and were pulverized by Confederate artillery and rifles.

The Federal finial will be formally unveiled to the public Saturday during the anniversary commemoration of the battle in Paulding County, Ga. Afterward, a wreath-laying ceremony will take place in the ravine where the flag topper was found in November 1963, just a few days before the JFK assassination. (See coverage here of Saturday's event)

“Next to the original cannon that sits in the museum, (the finial) is one of the rarest artifacts that could be found from any Civil War battlefield,” says John Hoomes, curator preservationist and interpretive ranger at Pickett’s Mill. “Especially the eagle finials. They are the rarest.”

A portion of the ravine where the finial was found at Pickett's Mill (Georgia DNR)

Pickett’s Mill is one of the best-preserved Civil War sites in the country, with its famous ravine and remains of artillery emplacements and earthworks.

Hoomes says his research on the finial over the past year has been like solving a mystery. “I was a skeptic. I didn’t think it was the real thing.”

The dedication and battle anniversary fittingly fall on the Memorial Day weekend.

“People actually fought and died there for an idea, no matter which side the dreamer was on,” says finial expert Del Thomasson. “The eagle tells a story with every crease, bend, break, that someone held it high and was willing to give their life for that dream and idea.”

It was an honorable and dangerous job

Our story begins 159 years ago as Confederate troops parried Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s army as he marched on Atlanta. Sherman learned some tough lessons when he tried to flank and push back his foe at Pickett’s Mill as he moved on Atlanta.

Troops under Union Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard clashed with those of Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne, fighting at extremely close quarters. The Federals – most Midwestern regiments -- charged down ravines and uphill against the Confederates. At least 700 of the men in blue died and the advance on Atlanta was delayed a week. The Union suffered about 1,600 total casualties in the slaughter, compared to the South's 500. 

Each regiment had two sets of colors, one the U.S. flag and the other a regimental flag. These banners were sacred -- a point of pride and a means of leading and rallying men amid the chaos of combat. The enemy always shot at color bearers and tried to seize flags. The Pickett's Mill finial is believed to have been put on an American flag.

“Carrying the colors into battle was an honor and privilege, as well as a dangerous job. Those that carried the colors needed to be courageous,” according to a page on Connecticut history. “The flags also symbolized national and regional pride for the soldiers as they went into battle.” (Sketch at left a quartermaster color bearer by Alfred Waud, Library of Congress)

Hoomes tells the Picket the location of the finial discovery in the 1960s lines up with the movement of a brigade led by Col. William H. Gibson. Among the five regiments were the 49^th Ohio and the 32^nd Indiana.

In his memoirs, Confederate Pvt. William J. Oliphant, who served in Granbury’s Texas brigade, recalled the charge of an Indiana unit. It’s quite possible it was the 32^nd. Oliphant said the attackers almost reached their lines before being forced back.

“The color bearer of the regiment fell with his colors, instantly another siezed [sic] the flag and held it aloft only to fall dead. Again and again it was raised until six brave men yielded up their lives in trying to keep it flying. The sixth man fell with the flag in front of our company and only about ten or twelve feet from us. There it lay a prize within our grasp. I could have reached it with a single bound but thought as it was already ours, I would wait until their line had been completely driven back before picking it up. When the Indiana regiment broke and fell back for the last time, leaving their flag on the ground at our feet, one of the brave fellows turned, and seeing it was being left behind, threw down his gun, came back and picked it up. He straightened himself to his full height, gritted his teeth and flapped his flag in our faces. Instantly a half dozen rifles were leveled on him and in another moment he too would have fallen riddled with bullets, but just then one of our boys cried out "don't shoot him, he's too brave." We lowered our rifles and gave him a cheer as he carried his flag safely away.”

Postwar illustration of Pickett's Mill by famed artist Alfred Waud 

Hoomes says he believes the finial in the park’s collection was on the flag of either the 32^nd Indiana or 49^th Ohio. “Of all the units, they had the heaviest casualties.”

Josh Headlee, curator and historic preservation specialist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, prepared the finial for the exhibit. The accompanying interpretive text does not specify a regiment because of uncertainty.

“It was found in the area of the regiments in question and there is a high probability that it is from one of those regiments, but as you surely well know, during those heated battles projectiles, dirt, and debris were flying all over the place and it’s not inconceivable that it landed there after being blown there from further down the line,” Headlee says. “So I’d say that we are better than 90% sure, but not enough to (definitively) pin it to a particular regiment.”

'We found a bunch of stuff'

Tommy Carter grew up near Pickett’s Mill and lives in New Hope, site of another clash during the Atlanta Campaign. Carter and a cousin, Hubert Rackley, often searched for Civil War relics in the area.

Finial in 2022 when it was on a trophy stand (Del Thomasson and Georgia DNR)

He told the Picket he was 9 years old when he and Rackley, both descendants of the Malachiah Pickett family, went to the ravine in November 1963 with a minesweeper. They had permission to be there, Hoomes says.

(It’s important to note that this was private property at the time, about 10 years before the state began acquiring land for the park and later prohibited such activity. Federal and state park officials always remind visitors to not disturb cultural resources on public land; they can face charges.)

“We found a bunch of stuff that day,” says Carter. “That eagle was the main one. We found it in a creek near where the rocks were.” The artifact was lying on its side, about six inches down, he said. The feathers were caked with dirt.

Maj. Gen. William B. Hazen, who led a large brigade at Pickett’s Mill, took shelter behind a large rock about 50 yards away. Noted veteran and author Ambrose Bierce (right) was with Hazen and later wrote a caustic account of the futile Federal attack entitled “The Crime at Pickett’s Mill.”

Carter and Dennis Deal, a collector friend, believe the finial to be authentic and the same one found in 1963. Deal, also of New Hope, said Rackley showed him the artifact years ago. “I knew he found it and I (saw) it in his collection.”

Deal – who was not present at the discovery of the finial -- says he is in awe of the courage of the trapped Union soldiers and flag bearers at Pickett’s Mill. “It was really bad for the Yankees.”

Last year, Deal and Carter traveled to the ravine with park officials to discuss the finial and its location.

A book weight or perhaps a trophy

Flag topper expert Thomasson of Ringgold, Ga., was at a relic show in early 2022 when a volunteer at Pickett’s Mill came up and mentioned the finial sitting on the shelf. The volunteer, a member of the Friends of Picket’s Mill Battlefield, apparently believed the item was a reproduction and later sent photos.

Thomasson reached out to an eagle finials expert, relic collectors and, eventually, park officials.

Thomasson, who has a similar eagle in his collection, told them he believed the Pickett’s Mill item to be authentic.

“I thought it was a trophy or some kind of memorial. I did not know what it was. My boss at the time said it was like a book weight,” Hoomes says. Before it was remounted for the exhibit, the eagle was on a stand saying it was from the battle. The top line read "Federal Flag Staff Eagle."

Thomasson, the author of “Flagstaff Finials Toppers & Ferrules of the American Civil War,” paid a visit to Paulding County in March 2022. He visited the ravine and officials compared the Pickett’s Mill bird to a similar one in his collection.

Thomasson says the eagle likely belonged to an Ohio regiment, but it’s possible an Indiana unit carried it.

The position of Gibson's brigade (center) as it moved to attack (Georgia DNR)

After looking at accounts and hearing from Carter, Hoomes believes the finial to be battle-damaged and was carried during the second attack wave -- men under Gibson, not Hazen.

Bierce wrote of the attack: “Our brave color-bearers were now all in the forefront of battle in the open, for the enemy had cleared a space in front of his breastworks. They held the colors erect, shook out their glories, waved them forward and back to keep them spread, for there was no wind. From where I stood, at the right of the line -- we had “halted and formed,” indeed -- I could see six of our flags at one time. Occasionally one would go down, only to be instantly lifted by other hands.”

Carter took him to the site and there was a metal stake and orange ribbon nearby, Hoomes says. Someone, not an archaeologist, marked the site, the ranger says. If an archaeologist did not record the find, it does raise a question of provenance.

“I am convinced that it is real. I am convinced it is the one that Tommy and his (cousin) dug up.”

The evidence of authenticity adds up, he says

Some of the eagle finials in Wilson's collection (Courtesy of Kyle Wilson)

For his part, Thomasson contacted Kyle Wilson, an expert and collector of eagle finials.

Finials were made of higher quality material early in the Civil War, and makers included Tiffany and Co. and Cairns & Brother, both based in New York. Wilson, who lives in Lebanon, Illinois, told the Picket he is not certain who made the Pickett’s Mill finial.

He says the artifact is made of bronze and has remnants of gold gilding. The whole item, complete with mounting, would weigh up to two pounds. It was a solid piece and strongly attached to the wooden pole.

Wilson says the Pickett’s Mill wing could have been intentionally folded by its bearer so that it would not snag on overhanging tree branches, but he is not certain. The patina, evidence of oxidation and wear indicate the finial is real and that it was in ground for decades. “You can see wear where it was carried.”

Typical components of an eagle finial (Courtesy of Kyle Wilson)

And, he says, there are no known reproductions of the eagles. The manufacturing process was complicated and some were in three pieces, held together by soldering. A ball was attached to the feet and then attached to a base on top of the flag pole.

“It probably got blown off the staff by canister or possibly by a round ball,” he says. “I am 100 percent sure it was shot right off the pole,” instead of breaking off when the color bearer fell or dropped it.

It’s possible the flag was from an Indiana regiment. But, Wilson says, “If I was a gambling man, I would have to say it was Ohio. You see a lot more in Ohio.”

Hoomes said he hoped a metallurgical analysis would have been conducted to see what kind of shot hit the finial and broke off the wing, but that was not done.

'They bore witness'

There are varying accounts on how the finial came to be in the park collection. Carter says he does not know, while Deal says he believes Rackley donated it before his death in 1998. But Hoomes says Rackley obviously would have known it was real, and he wonders how the idea of a reproduction came about. Regardless, the mystery of the donation lingers.

A finial in Del Thomasson's collection next to the Pickett's Mill eagle

The finial is displayed in a small case at the visitor center. A new interpretive panel describes the importance of flags and decorative finials, which came in a variety of shapes, including spades, spheres and globes.

“The damage sustained as flagbearers carried them into battle help tell the story of the difficulty and violence faced by soldiers, like those at Pickett’s Mill. The damage visible on the Civil War era eagle finial to your right provides clues to the experience soldiers faced beneath it and the flag it once adorned,” part of the text reads.

“What caused the bent wing of the eagle? Could this finial have been with a flag flown in battle? Are the dents a clue? What happened to the eagle’s legs, which once would have grasped a metal globe on top of the flag staff?”

Park officials and others are excited about the display.

“What we thought was just a relatively mundane piece sitting on a shelf in the library has turned out to be quite an important artifact for the site there,” says the DNR’s Headlee. Hoomes says the finial symbolizes the Federal army of the Civil War and the United States today.

And, says Wilson, the eagles stood for patriotism just as much as the flags they topped.

“They bore witness to the horrible things and travesty that happened during the battle,” he says.

Saturday’s program at Pickett’s Mill will include guided and unguided tours of various stations within the battlefield. Visitors can experience a glimpse of both military and civilian life that will include home skills and crafts, cannon firings, musketry, military drills and camp life. The unveiling of the finial exhibit will be around 10 a.m. ET. A food truck will be available. Site admission is $3 - $6. Click here for more information.

Pickett's Mill: Candlelight tours back on, will focus on daring night attack at ravine

(Georgia State Parks)

Five candlelight tours next weekend will provide a front-row seat to a re-enactment of the desperate nighttime fight at Pickett’s Mill near Atlanta.

Spots are open for the March 3-4 tours at the well-preserved Pickett’s Mill Battlefield Historic Site in Paulding County. The tours originally were set for last fall, but a burn ban resulting from a drought caused the event to be postponed.

The tours, at a cost of $10 per person (no cost to children 2 and under) can be booked online here. Advance reservations are required. Each tour is limited to 30 people.

The event, being put on by the Friends of Pickett’s Mill Battlefield and the park, will focus on a Confederate counterattack and significant victory at the May 27, 1864, Atlanta Campaign battle.

Capt. Thomas Key and his Arkansas four-gun battery played a large part in the outcome. Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne ordered Key to place two guns to the right oblique to enfilade a ravine.

Federal troops under Brig. Gen. William Hazen charged uphill that afternoon in an attempt to take the top of a ridge. Key’s howitzers were ready for them. A second attack also failed.

The Federal soldiers were mired in the ravine. About 10 p.m., Brig. Gen. Hiram B. Granbury’s Texas troops, their bayonets fixed, went into action.

Hiram Granbury

“With darkness settling over the field … Granbury evaluated the day’s action. His troops had successfully repulsed the Federal attacks, suffered minimal casualties, and their morale stood at a high point,” said Michael K. Shaffer, a historian who will help conduct the tours.

Upon receiving orders from Cleburne to “clear his front,” Granbury initiated an all-out charge, Shaffer said. The Confederates chased the hapless Federals out, capturing several prisoners before returning to their lines.

Cleburne wrote of the counterattack: “Surprised and panic-stricken, many (of the enemy) fled, escaping in the darkness; others surrendered and were brought into our lines. It needed but the brilliancy of this night attack to add luster to the achievements of Granbury and his brigade in the afternoon. I am deeply indebted to them both.” (As a side note, Cleburne and Granbury were killed at the Battle of Franklin in Tennessee six months later.)

A reproduction artillery piece will be used to demonstrate the action that night.

Participants in the hourlong experience will walk part of the Blue Trail, see Granbury’s lines and re-enactors clash at the ravine.

Participants in the tours are encouraged to dress warmly and wear comfortable shoes. No pets or strollers are permitted. The park is located at 4432 Mount Tabor Church Road, Dallas, GA 30157