GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF A CIVIL WAR LANDSCAPE: LITTLE FOLLY ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA

The Union troops and earthworks on Little Folly Island, South Carolina, played a key role in the siege of Charleston, South Carolina, during the American Civil War. Geoarchaeological methods, including gouge-auger coring, and sedimentological and foraminiferal analyses, were conducted to determine the location of a strategically important inlet and artillery positions on the island. Union maps and Global Positioning Systems were used to determine the location of the inlet dividing Little Folly and Big Folly Island and foraminiferal analysis from gouge-auger cores was used to document it in the marsh strata. The inlet was 1.8 km closer to Confederate batteries on Morris Island than previously thought. Sedimentary structures were used to differentiate anthropogenic and natural sand mounds along Lighthouse Inlet, resulting in the identification of four previously undocumented Union gun parapets.