A COMPREHENSIVE GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL APPROACH AT SOUTH MOUNTAIN BATTLEFIELD, WASHINGTON AND FREDERICK COUNTIES MARYLAND

On September 14th, 1862, three days before the Battle of Antietam, a furious battle took place in the passes of the South Mountain in the Maryland Blue Ridge. Part of the battle between the rear guard of the Army of Northern Virginia and the vanguard of the Army of the Potomac swirled in and around the now demolished farmstead of the Wise family in Fox Gap. The authors have attempted to relocate and map the Wise cabin foundation and well, the original fence lines of the Wise cornfield, the road network, and other elements of the mid 19th century cultural landscape employing a variety of geoarchaeological methodologies. Historic and modern land and aerial photography, stratigraphic, infrared photogrammatic, magnetometer, conductivity, and ground penetrating radar analyses were all combined with traditional historic and archaeological investigations to accurately map and reconstruct the battlefield landscape.