Erroneous grave marker to be replaced

A Maryland resident is correcting an error on the tombstone of his great-great grandfather that misidentifies the man as a Confederate soldier. • Article

Update: Monteith Swamp battlefield survey

Monteith Swamp was a small but important engagement during the Union conquest of Savannah, Ga. The Picket wrote in August about a non-profit archaeological group winning a federal grant to document the forgotten battlefield, which mostly sits on private land.

Daniel Elliott of the LAMAR Institute was on site in November and has provided updates on his personal blog.

Using ground-penetrating radar and other technologies, LAMAR has located two portions of the December 1864 battlefield along the Chatham and Effingham county lines.

“One is in the northwest corner of Harrison’s Field and the other is further north in the swamp margin. Finds include grapeshot, bullets, a scabbard tip. Other finds may be related to the Civil War period, including cut lead, cut brass, many 19th century buttons, and various iron and brass hardware,” writes Elliott (above).

The search has also yielded a "fine specimen" of an earlier Union uniform button and fired brass percussion caps “that clued us into the battlefield landscape.”

“Since then we have been plugging along unearthing and mapping an assortment of battle and post-battle objects in Harrison’s Field,” writes Elliott.

Harrison's Field photo courtesy of Cindy Wallace

Profs use podcasts to share history

Two Longwood University professors have begun a podcast series called "That a Nation Might Live," giving weekly dispatches about the people, events and issues of the American Civil War. The podcasts, at civilwar150.longwood .edu, will run through 201as part of the sesquicentennial commemoration. • Article

Sunken Road / Bloody Lane

For several hours on the afternoon of Sept. 17, 1862, wave after wave of Union troops to dislodge a much smaller force of Confederates solidly entrenched in the Sunken Road, used by Sharpsburg, Md., to reach their fields. Finally, the men in gray were pushed back to Piper Farm. A famous photograph shows piles of bodies in Bloody Lane a couple days after the battle. I walked the road on a recent rainy weekday. I was alone, deep in thought about the lives lost that desperate day at Antietam.

Grant will help preserve portion of Franklin

A state grant of $960,000 was awarded to help preserve part of the Franklin, Tenn., battleground upon which a strip mall currently exists. The money will help purchase the property so that preservationists can install a park. • Article