TENNESSEE: Archaeologist Finds ‘Pristine’ Civil War Site
A Knoxville archaeologist said he’s discovered the remains of a small Civil War earthen fort off the Third Creek Greenway. Now Charles Faulkner is working to preserve the site he spotted eight years ago.
The elevated site sits just north of the Norfolk Southern railroad and yards off the greenway trail. It was built as a redan, said Faulkner, a University of Tennessee professor emeritus of anthropology who’s studied and written about Tennessee history and archaeology for years.
Faulkner said the redan — equipped with a cannon and likely built by Union troops in the later part of the war — was designed to protect the railroad bridge. A redan is an earthwork fortification with an open back or gorge. A 2009 UT Archaeological Research Laboratory report recommending the site be preserved noted that this fort seemed crescent shaped.
Similar Civil War forts remain in Tennessee. A 2003 report by state archaeologists about Civil War sites lists three redans in Loudon County and one in Claiborne County. But this earthwork off Sutherland Avenue wasn’t known by anyone alive until Faulkner glanced its way on a November 2006 walk with his wife, Terry.
“I looked up at that hillside and I thought, ‘I wonder what’s up there?’ … I walked up there and of course the minute I saw this I knew this was man-made,” he remembered.
Faulkner determined the high ground was surrounded by a ditch and its parapet wall held a cannon placement called an embrasure that faced the railroad. He estimates the fortification covered less than or about an acre. Now the south wall is gone, disturbed by a later sewer line. The north and west walls stand. He’d like to get an archaeological dig at the site for more study. “What’s here is pristine,” he said on a site tour last month with the News Sentinel.
Historical archaeologist Sam Smith visited the earthwork shortly after Faulkner found it. Smith, who retired from the Tennessee Division of Archaeology in 2013, co-authored the 2003 state report listing Civil War military sites. He said the Knoxville spot “looks convincing in terms of its shape and location.”
“It could have been thrown up quickly and not garrisoned for a long period of time as the war moved on,” Smith said in a telephone interview. “It would be worthy of an actual project trying to focus on everything that’s available as far as documentation and some limited archaeological testing to see if any remains are there to help confirm that is what it is.”
Documentation hasn’t been found. Union Capt. Orlando Poe’s 1863-64 maps of Knoxville defenses don’t cover the area. Faulkner said Confederates or Union soldiers, perhaps those in the 1st U.S. Colored Troops Heavy Artillery, could have built the redan.
The 2009 Archaeological Research Laboratory work mapped the area and ran metal detectors over its ground. Five early railroad spikes and a Civil War-era hatchet head were found slightly north of the redan. The lack of specific Civil War artifacts, the report advised, doesn’t negate the site’s significance. That report concluded “it is not unimaginable that this particular earthwork, whether permanent or temporary, was established between 1861 and 1864. … The physical existence of the earthwork represents a piece of Knoxville’s Civil War history.”
Faulkner hopes the redan can become a “mini park” with signs about its history. He’s also completing paperwork to submit the site for the state’s Civil War Trails program.
His efforts to get the redan recognized were sometimes stalled by its recent owner history.
When Faulkner first saw the land it belonged to out-of-town owners. Later, Knoxville businessman Tim Zitman purchased the tract, donating 4.7 acres to the Legacy Park Foundation. The nonprofit this July transferred the land to Knox County.
County officials will talk to city of Knoxville counterparts about the site, Knox County Parks and Recreation Department Director Doug Bataille said last week. It’s possible, he said, the county would transfer the land to the city since it’s adjacent to the greenway land.
“It’s an interesting little piece of history,” said Bataille. “I think it’s fascinating we have these little pieces of history tucked in our community and remains are still there.”
-Knoxville News-Sentinel
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VIRGINIA: Diners Eat Up History
BROADWAY – While for some, a candlelight dinner is a ticket to romance, at the John Kline Homestead it’s a ticket to another time.
On Nov. 22, dinner guests were invited to the home at 223 E. Springbrook Road in Broadway to travel to 1864 and experience the trepidation felt by Valley residents as the Civil War brought devastation to their lands.
As guests supped on pork loin and sweet potatoes in the historic home of Elder John Kline, a national leader in the Brethren faith, actors portraying Kline’s family, friends and even his spirit played out scenes from the fall of that year.
Paul Roth, left, narrator, host, and president of John Kline Homestead Trust Board of Directors, talks with diners before their candlelight meal at the John Kline Homestead in Broadway on Nov. 22. The meal, set in the early 1800s, was accompanied by re-enactors portraying the turbulent social and political state of the Brethren community during the civil war.
(Photo: AP)
“History can be very dry and static,” said Paul Roth, president of the John Kline Homestead Trust board of directors.
“I believe people need to be able to have an experience. And everyone likes to eat,” Roth laughed.
Volunteers with the trust hold several candlelight dinners throughout the year at the homestead, which dates to the early 19th century, as a way to highlight Kline’s life and ministry, as well as to raise funds to help preserve and maintain the property.
“The ambiance of the candles allows your imagination to take over,” Roth said, as the shadows on the walls grew longer.
“You actually experience the history and the angst of the people during this time.”
During the Civil War, the pacifist Kline was given permission by both Union and Confederate armies to cross their lines to continue his ministry. According to the homestead, he wrote to several government officials on behalf of Brethren and Mennonite men who were opposed to military service during the war, and was even jailed for this opposition.
But in June 1864, Kline was shot and killed by local Confederate militiamen who suspected him of Union sympathies.
The homestead credits Kline’s efforts with helping preserve the unity of the Brethren Church while other Protestant denominations split into Northern and Southern branches during the War Between the States.
“I think John Kline’s vision was for unity and for sharing God’s word, regardless of who politically was in control,” said Joe Russell, 68, of Lititz, Pa., who came to the event with a group of members of the White Oak Church of the Brethren.
Russell was among the many guests for the Nov. 22 dinner, which Roth opened with a prayer.
“Lieben vater im himmel,” he began in German, the predominant language of many early Anabaptists.
While the actors played out their roles, visitors from near and far ate silently as they listened to the Kline family’s struggles.
“This is an actual place where you can go and experience (history),” said Jim Myer, 74, also of Lititz, Pennsylvania.
With the diners transported back 150 years ago to the fall of 1864, a supernatural element was introduced into the evening as well, with a visitation from the spirit of Kline — or at least a portrayal of him from actor Larry Glick.
Roth said the themes and characters of the candlelight dinners change each time they’re held, with different scenes from Kline’s life played out.
The next candlelight dinners at the John Kline Homestead are scheduled for 6 p.m. Dec. 19 and Dec. 20. The cost is $40 per person. Those interested can call 421-5267 or email [email protected].
-newsleader.com
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