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Preliminary Report to the Maumee Valley Heritage Corridor on the Fallen Timbers Archaeological Survey Battlefield
by G. Michael Pratt, Heidelberg College, June 21, 1995
Legends die hard, but on the first day of the survey, it was clear that the Battle of Fallen Timbers occurred in the uplands rather than the floodplain and to the northeast of the present park rather than in it. The recovery of over four hundred bullets, buttons and other artifacts from within the City of Toledo parcel between N. Jerome Road and I-475 demonstrate, without a doubt, that a major part of the Battle of Fallen Timbers was fought across the present woodlot and adjacent fields. The archaeological evidence also supports Dr. G. Michael Pratt's interpretations of the location and course of the battle based on his research of the eyewitness descriptions (Pratt 1995).
Prior to the onset of field work, the survey area was prepared by establishing a 25 X 25 meter grid in the field and woods area. The grid was staked by a Toledo City Survey Crew that was assisted in brush clearing operations by Toledo Metroparks and City of Maumee personnel. Beginning on Saturday, June 10, Richard Green and Larry Hamilton, remote sensing specialists from Historic Archaeological Research; Bret Ruby and Bill Anderson, archaeologists from the National Park Service's Hopewell Culture National Historic Monument and a crew of volunteers began a remote sensing survey of a sample of the Toledo property under the direction of Dr. Pratt. Within the first 30 minutes, during a steady rain, several buckshot and musket or rifle balls were detected and recovered by the field crew. By early afternoon several buttons from the uniforms of Anthony Wayne's Legion of the United States were found along with more musket balls, buckshot, rifle balls and a gunflint.
Dr. Pratt displays a socket bayonet found at the field site June, 1995.
A turnout of dedicated volunteers, eventually numbering over 150, worked in rain, heat, and even hail. The assistance of these historically minded citizens permitted the project to proceed ahead of schedule in spite of the unexpectedly dense artifact scatter. Although the project was scheduled to run from 1 to 8 P.M. on weekdays, the project staff worked an 8 A.M. - 8 P.M. schedule, reserving mornings for Global Positioning System (GPS) mapping, so that the entire staff was available to supervise the 20 volunteers/day. By the end of the first week almost all open field areas and significant areas of the woods had been subjected to archaeological survey. The second weekend of the project (June 17 & 18) was devoted to an attempt to demonstrate the extent of the most concentrated area of artifacts, interpreted as the "fallen timbers" area. A 50 m. wide corridor and two 25 m. wide corridors were staked out from the edge of the U.S. Rt. 24 right-of-way for 350-450 m. at right angles to the original corridors. Survey of these areas recovered nearly 200 artifacts. By Tuesday, all survey and recovery efforts ceased and the HAR staff shifted efforts to GPS mapping of artifact locations. At present, mapping activities should be completed by the end of the project period.
Preliminary Results: The Fallen Timbers Archaeological Project recovered at least 320 battle related artifacts, including 39 U.S. Army buttons, 6 plain buttons, a socket bayonet, a musket flint and 271 rifle and musket shot of varying caliber. Cleaning and laboratory analysis of over 100 more recovered artifacts is expected to reveal additional battle-related material.
A field display of some artifacts found at the excavation site June, 1995.
The survey revealed that the majority of the artifacts were located in a broad band (over 200 m. wide) which extends from U.S. 24 most of the way across the City of Toledo property. This area contains the majority of the spent musket and rifle shot (most of which appear to result from U.S. Army "buck and ball" loads) and is interpreted as the location of the "fallen timbers" and therefore the target area for the U.S. skirmish line gunfire.
The western edge of this same area contains virtually all the buttons. The uniform buttons were lost when the U.S. battle line charged into the overgrown thickets of the fallen timber area. Eyewitness accounts of the battle indicate the Indian warriors advanced through the fallen timber from 160 yards to within 40 yards of the U.S. skirmish lines. The socket bayonet and spent bullets recovered about 150 m. (about 160 yards) west of the edge of the bullet and button concentration probably mark the approximate location of the main U.S. battle line. A light scatter of spent shot was recovered in nearly the same location across all three survey corridors; while musket and rifle shot were found in the woods and in the fields to the west of the wood lot. These bullets were probably fired by Indian warriors in the "fallen timbers" area. Some may be accidental discharges by the Kentucky militia, who were reported to be positioned well behind the U.S. battle line.
A press conference held at the field site June, 1995.
The archaeological evidence supports the interpretation suggested by Pratt. The battlefield area lies east of the large ravine which begins in the woods east of N. Jerome Rd. and continues across U.S. 24 and into the yards along Fallen Timbers Lane. The U.S. line probably formed some 150 m. (about 160 yards) to the east of the ravine line, and the fallen timbers area (the Indian position) lies about 150 m. further east. These battle positions probably extended from the edge of the valley, and are demonstrated to extend at least 400 m. (440 yards) into the City of Toledo Parcel. Although the heaviest part of the fighting appears to have occurred east of the woodlot, archaeological remains of the battle were recovered from all of the areas of the property that were examined.
Pratt, G. Michael
1995 "The Battle of Fallen Timbers: An Eyewitness Perspective." Northwest Ohio Quarterly: 67(1). Winter 1995.
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