Savannah Under Fire, 1779: Expanding the Boundaries represents the second phase (2009-2011) in the search for the Revolutionary War Battle of Savannah. The first phase, Savannah Under Fire, 1779: Identifying Savannah’s Revolutionary War Battlefield was conducted between 2007-2009. Both projects were funded by the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program with grants awarded to Coastal Heritage Society, Savannah, Georgia. Each incorporated extensive primary document research, geographic information systems (GIS) mapping, shovel test excavation, ground penetrating radar (GPR), test unit excavation, and public outreach. This report is an addendum to the first project report (Elliott and Elliott 2009) and the reader is referred to it for additional historical context and results from the first phase of work. The first project’s success was rooted in major discoveries of intact battlefield features. The second project sought to locate additional tangible remains of the battle in order to expand the geographical boundary of the site and provide a foundation for its preservation. In addition, the second phase sought to expand other boundaries by working with constituencies interested in and/or able to protect the battlefield site and its many varied components. The second phase project expanded the existing site boundary 400 yards farther south through the documentation of artifact collections made several years ago during construction in a key area held by French Reserve Corps. These artifacts, in tandem with the project’s archeological study of the area, indicate that more portions of this part of the battlefield are likely to have survived at that location. This project also identified two key areas of buried A-horizons likely to represent the battlefield landscape. Investigation of twelve target areas in Savannah revealed promise for additional battlefield and period-related resources in two of those locations. The work also served to eliminate geographic areas of site potential, reducing the scope of future searches. The project also successfully shared information from both studies with the general public in a myriad of ways, and produced a 4th and 5th grade curriculum packet. Both phases of the Savannah Under Fire projects have created an extensive body of information unknown previously. This historical and archeological information holds much promise; the promise of a new understanding of the southern colonies’ role in the American Revolution; of this momentous global event unfolding in the everyday lives of those finding themselves in Savannah in 1779; of the revelation to many today that history survives in our everyday world - one just needs to pick up his feet. But the promise of that history can only be fulfilled if it is protected and if its story is retold in a thousand different media and venues to a thousand different audiences. We are pleased to have produced a compendium of information that can provide the content for such stories and urge the City of Savannah and its residents to protect the resources (both newly discovered and those that await discovery) that contribute to these stories. This should be just the beginning, not the end.

In the summer of 2005 Coastal Heritage Society plans were well underway to develop a derelict property into Battlefield Park in downtown Savannah, Georgia. This would be the culmination of a movement to memorialize the fallen of the 1779 Battle of Savannah. This area contained Spring Hill Redoubt, which was one of over a dozen redoubts surrounding British-occupied Savannah prior to the battle. French and American allied officers chose to attack Spring Hill Redoubt with most of its forces. This area served as the focal point of the entire battle. Immediately prior to construction, a CHS archaeological crew conducted archaeological investigations employing trenching with heavy machinery, shovel shaving, and hand excavation of features. This investigation located portions of the original Spring Hill Redoubt. This included an intact section of the redoubt’s palisade trench, which contained post stains and artifacts directly associated with the 1779 battle. This archaeological discovery, in turn, served as the impetus for two National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) grants (2007, 2009) that would broaden the focus to the remaining portions of the Revolutionary War battlefield throughout Savannah.

Between July 2005 and January 2010 Coastal Heritage Society (CHS) archaeologists undertook 34 archaeological projects in the Savannah area, with one additional project conducted in 2012. These efforts were only part of their Curatorial Department duties, which also involved the creation and development of museum exhibits at the Savannah History Museum; signage, exhibit, and master plan development at three established venues and two new venues; myriad archaeological public outreach efforts, and assistance with management of the society’s collections. Of the 35 archaeological projects, 31 were located at venues operated by CHS, including the Savannah History Museum, the Georgia State Railroad Museum (including the Savannah Children’s Museum), Battlefield Park (now Tricentennial Park), and Old Fort Jackson. Two projects, the “Savannah Under Fire” Revolutionary War Battlefield investigations, were archaeological surveys located throughout downtown Savannah that were funded by two National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program grants. Two other projects, the Railroad Ward and a relocated house in the railroad neighborhood, were located on property owned by CHS. All CHS-operated venues at the time of fieldwork wereNational Historic Landmarks and or National Historic Landmark Districts. The impetus for 33 of the 35 archaeological projects was construction, renovation, restoration, and/or rehabilitation projects. Archaeologists sought to fulfill two primary goals of every project; to answer specific site demands for architectural and construction details, and to discover broad and specific patterns of human behavior as revealed through the archaeological record. The latter truly defines archaeology and its nature as a sub-discipline of Anthropology and reflects attempts to refocus from the artifactual and architecturally- heavy emphasis of the pre-2005 archaeological investigations throughout the site.

During 2002-2003, Midwest Archeological Center (MWAC) staff conducted resistance geophysical surveys utilizing a Geoscan Research RM-15 resistance meter at the Ray house, Edwards Cabin area, and Sharp farmstead area within Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, Springfield, Missouri (WICR). The research was performed as part of a broader inventory of the cultural resources of WICR. The goal of the resistance surveys at WICR was to attempt to locate various structural elements and features of the properties that relate to the Civil War era in a non-destructive manner. At each surveyed area, soil resistance anomalies possibly the result of cultural activity are identified. Whether the anomalies are absolutely the result of cultural activity or of Civil War vintage can only be determined through future archeological testing of the anomalies.

Fort James Jackson (also known as Old Fort Jackson) is located in Chatham County, Georgia approximately three miles downstream from the City of Savannah on the Savannah River (Figure 1). The fort sits on Salter’s Island, surrounded by marshy lowlands. The brick fort was constructed in 1808, but was preceded in the 1770s by a less ambitious defensive work known as “Mud Fort”. Fort Jackson was designated a National Historic Landmark in February 2000. This report covers three archaeological investigations at Fort James Jackson conducted by Coastal Heritage Society (CHS) staff archaeologists between 2007 and 2011. This includes excavations on the tide tunnel (CHS Project No. 20), the terreplein (CHS Project No. 40), and the east magazine (CHS Project No. 41). This report also summarizes all the known terrestrial archaeological investigations conducted in the past at Fort Jackson.

The study area is located in urban Savannah, Georgia, which is located on a high marine terrace on the Savannah River in Chatham County, approximately 6 miles from the river's mouth (U.S. Department of Agriculture 1974; U.S. Geological Survey 1981). The Waldburg Street site is located on a low ridge in a tract bounded by Wheaton, Ash, and Henry streets, and South Boundary Frontage Road (formerly Bee Street). The study area is currently vegetated in a heavily landscaped maritime hardwood forest with an extensive grass and herbaceous understory. Public housing that previously covered the area has been razed and much of the rubble removed. Most of the utility lines that previously served the area have been disconnected. A series of streets that formerly crossed the study area but are no longer extant include Bolton, Genoa, Mace, and Waldburg streets. The Waldburg Street site, contains a buried deposit of early historic artifacts, midden and features that promises to enlighten our society on early life on the outskirts of Savannah. The potential for important Revolutionary War and Civil War components also was recognized from historical research, although no artifacts or features specifically linked to these events were identified. The Waldburg Street site was deemed eligible for inclusion in the NRHP. After consultation with representatives from the City of Savannah, Southern Research was contracted to prepare this research design for archaeological data recovery at the Waldburg Street site. A more detailed description of the Waldburg Street site is presented later in this research design and in Elliott (2003).

Archival and Field Research focused on the Civil War Sites recorded within the boundaries of Fort A.P. Hill Virginia, Caroline County, Virginia. Camp sites and defensive earthworks associated with Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's II Corps winter quarters of 1862-1863 after the Battle of Fredericksburg