A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF OUR HISTORY

General Information Preserve Our History

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WHO WE WILL WORK WITH and WHY

Our focus will be on  a local basis,working with preservation societies,government agencies,corporate
and private landholders. The corporate and private landholder must agree to donate artifacts to local
organizations or government agencies to display them locally.Since much of their efforts are directed
at saving a house or building,we will focus on the grounds of the sites,or other local site,such as
revolutionary and civil war campsites,skirmishes,and others .We will work in conjunction with or
under the supervision of local historians,archeologists,or other will a knowledge of local history.
We will also advise appropriate authorities in the event we discover prehistoric or gave sites.
Since most of the artifacts will remain at the local level,educational and tourism opportunities will
be available to the people of that area, to create an appreciation of local history to encourage
preservation.Artifacts that are warehoused are of no value to the people,it is time to rethink this
notion .

GENERAL METHODS OF RECORDING & RECOVERY

Although each site will determine its own specific needs,the following is a general summary
of how we are able to assist.Standard Grid layouts,layouts based on existing deed records,
systemtic metal detecting,color coded pin flags for various metals,mapping location of metals
to determine if a pattern exists,based on researched and historical information about the site.
GPS mapping,sampling grids,and more.
 

HAS METAL DETECTORS BEEN USED IN THIS OR IN A SIMILAR MANNER

Yes,Battle of Fallen Timbers,Ohio (Revolutionary War),The Little Big Horn(commonly known
as Custer's Last Stand),and many others.Why then do we need the U.S. Artifacts Recovery
Group? Because we are losing  undeveloped areas at a rate of 18 acres a minuate.Often battle
sites or other archeological interesting sites are assigned priorities by those few in control of our
heritage,thus many of the "insignificant" sites are ignored,and thereby lost to development. We
believe all site are worthy of attention because each one can have a significant impact on local
communities. If we were to hazard a guess,most building or homes that have been preserved
have never had the grounds investigated for artifacts .
 
 

OVERVIEW OF BENEFITS TO COMMUNITIES

Educational opportunities,Tourism,Interest in history and preservation,just to name a few of the
benefits of our methods.Highly dedicated people can make a difference.Before we hear "wish we
had done something",and these artifacts of our heritage are forever lost to the community,the
U.S. ARTIFACTS RECOVERY GROUP can assist in this sorely needed gap in current preservation
programs.

Welcome to the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Historic Preservation Study website.
                 Congress authorized the study because many historic sites of the Revolutionary War and
                 War of 1812 are at risk from rapid urban or suburban development. The goals of the study
                 are 1) to gather current information about the significance of, current condition of, and
                 threats to the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 sites, and 2) to present preservation and
                 interpretation alternatives for the sites.

             The NPS has identified over 1,800 sites of known battle actions and historic places
                 associated with both wars. Based on public comment and the recommendations of a
                 scholarly advisory panel, the NPS will winnow this list to a manageable number of sites that
                 can be field surveyed within budget and within one year. The list of sites selected for survey
                 will be made available online in mid to late August. Data gathered during field surveys will
                 help the NPS evaluate the current level of preservation at these sites and make
                 recommendations for further protection and interpretation.

Cornelison, John E. (Southeast Archeological Center, National Park Service)
CIVIL WAR PERIOD RESEARCH AT SHILOH NATIONAL MILITARY PARK. In July and November an
archaeological team from the Southeast Archeological Center under the direction of John Cornelison conducted research
directed to locating Civil War period features in several areas of the Shiloh National Military Park in western Tennessee, and
Corinth, Mississippi. A variety of investigative techniques were used, including ground penetrating radar, metal detecting, GPS
and total station mapping, and limited test excavations. Major research goals, which were met, included (1) locating the
earthworks for Battery Robinett at Corinth, Mississippi, the location of a major battle in 1862, and (2) documenting events
during the battle at Shiloh through systematic metal detecting in several areas of the park, coupled with total station and GPS
mapping. Two areas were also examined using systematic shovel testing. The shovel testing failed to locate a single Civil War
era artifact, while systematic metal detecting in the same areas located hundreds of Civil War era artifacts.The example
provides an important lesson about the kind of field procedures that should be used on historic sites. In one area, a Union camp
occupied for a month prior to the battle, predominantly utilitarian items and unfired rounds were found, while in a second area,
where extensive fighting occurred, large numbers of fired rounds were located. Ground penetrating radar was used to great
effect at Shiloh to delimit Confederate mass graves, as well as Union burial pits that had been placed in one of the Indian
mounds located on the battlefield. At Corinth, Mississippi, the GPR was used to successfully locate the earthworks for Battery
Robinett, the location of a major engagement fought in late 1862. The earthworks had been leveled after the battle, and the
area had been converted into a municipal park. The outline of the earthworks was known from historic maps, but no surface
traces remained. A systematic program of metal detection, shovel testing, and limited test pitting in May 1999 had delimited
appreciable Civil War activity, and eliminated most areas from consideration, but had not encountered the earthwork itself. The
first GPR transect laid out during the July 1999 fieldwork, in contrast, ran right over the top of the earthwork, the outline of
which was then traced using additional transects. Four 1x1 m units were opened in three areas to ground truth the signatures,
confirming the presence of the earthwork foundation.

Estimating the number of American battlefields is a subjective exercise whose result is determined by how battlefields are defined.
As noted earlier, the Army War College identified the location of more than 3,400 encounters, skirmishes, and battles associated
with the military history of our country. Other calculations have produced widely different counts. One exhaustive chronicler of
Civil War military action, Frederick H. Dyer, in his 1909 book A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, counted 10,455 military
actions in the four-year war. Using another definition, the U.S. Army counted 8,700 such actions in the Index to Battles of its late
19th century 128-volume War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.
Regardless of the definition, there are hundreds if not thousands of American battlefields, both small and large.