National Civil War Battlefield Condition Assessment
Assessing the Condition of American Civil War Battlefields
In the steaming heat of a South Carolina summer, Confederate forces under Generals Hagood and Colquitt advanced their forces toward an unsuspecting Union camp, located on the banks of the Stono River. The attack plowed through the disorganized Federals, over an abandoned plantation, and toward the southern reaches of James Island. When the battle was over and the smoke cleared, both sides plotted their next moves in the ongoing campaign for the occupation of Charleston, the birthplace of the Civil War. The participants gave little thought, if any, to what would become of the ground they had so viciously clashed over in 1862.
Grimball's Landing Click here for a larger version
One hundred thirty years later, much thought is being given to battlefields like Grimball's Landing, South Carolina. Unfortunately, this interest in Civil War battlefields has grown not solely from public interest, but also from humbling experience. In the late 1980s hallowed ground of the Manassas battlefield of Virginia was in eminent danger of being developed as a commercial shopping center. Because of this misfortune the National Park Service (NPS) obtained funds to update information concerning the Civil War battlefields and to monitor new developments related to them.
At the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies (CAST), a team of nine researchers in 1993 completed an eight month study of 98 battlefields with funding from an NPS grant. The project was headed by NPS project supervisor John Knoerl. Questions guiding the project included: what are the current landuse types and acreages, and what areas have and have not dramatically changed over time. Answers to these questions are helping the NPS give recommendations to Congress concerning battlefield protection. Mapping the battlefields has more clearly depicted the problem areas and will aid local authorities in planning zoning codes or land purchases.
Several software applications were used for the project. GRASS (Geographic Resources Analysis Support System) was the geographic information system utilized for project analysis. GRASS, developed by the US Army Corps of Engineers, features a number of helpful tools for environmental research. MAPGEN, a software package which interfaces with GRASS, proved to be an excellent tool for map production, and was used to produce the battlefield maps. FrameMaker workstation publishing software and Wingz spreadsheets round out the software packages used.
Data for the project was obtained from a variety of sources, including U.S. Census TIGER data (Topological Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing System), National Register property data, and USGS Landuse/Landcover raster data derived from aerial photography. Additionally, park officials at the 98 locations provided USGS 7 1/2" quad maps upon which new urban areas and core and study areas of the battles were drawn.
The project procedure began with digitizing the quad maps received from the battlefields. Digitized data included new building sites and areas, newly flooded areas, and the core/study lines. Next, the landuse/landcover data was up dated according to new urban areas. If four or more building sites were located within a 200 meter area, that area was interpreted as urban. Only landuse types within the core/study area were retained; these were transformed into vector lines that MAPGEN could utilize. Additionally, other vector lines such as roads and streams were incorporated from TIGER data. Once all the linework was entered in MAPGEN, fill patterns, line types, colors, text, and marginal information were added.
Two maps were constructed of each of the 98 battlefields, covering 13 states from New Mexico to Pennsylvania. One map shows the present landuse of each battlefield in seven categories: water, urban, intensive agriculture, pasture and cropland, forest, quarries, and barren land.
Landuse map for Stones River
The second map displays the level of integrity retention each battlefield possesses based on how many acres within the core/study areas had changed or not changed over time.
Landuse map for Kolb's Farm Click Here for larger version
Larger version of Landuse report for Kolb's Farm
Integrity report for Kolb's Farm Larger version of integrity report
Working on the project were team leader Galen Denham, Rick Thompson, Bruce Gorham, Shelby Johnson, Glenn Barton, Brian Culpepper, Mike Garner, Malcolm Williamson, and Joe Bellas, with assistance from Dr. Fred Limp, CAST Director.
While this project focussed on landuse, It is possible to provide more information in these mapping studies. Many layers of data can be combined to provide an in-depth study of each battlefield, such as elevation models, tax parcel information, and utility development related to urban encroachment. It is hoped that more battlefields will be subjected to this kind of detailed study in the near future, as protection issues become more important to the National Park Service.
Adapted from: American Battelfield Protection Plan, an article by Joe Bellas, NCRI Newsletter Vol. 3, Spring 1994
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