A Phase II archaeological survey was conducted of an access road and Visitor's Center at Pickett's Mill Civil War Battlefield, a state operated historic site in Georgia. The project area was immediately to the rear of a Confederate defensive line which was attacked by Union forces on the evening of May 27, 1864 in an attempt to flank the southern forces which were defending the approaches to Atlanta. The attack by the northern troops was into a well defended position resulting in a sharp conflict in which the Union troops suffered severe losses. Fieldwork consisted of shovel testing, small test pits at two chimney falls, a metal detector survey of the project area prior to construction, and metal detector monitoring of construction. No artifacts related to the battle were recovered at either of the two chimney falls (which were avoided in construction) or in the shovel tests, but numerous artifacts related to the battle were recovered and mapped in the constructions areas. The recovered artifacts affirm the proximity of the project area to the battle. Other interpretations are difficult however, due to 1) the limited scale of the survey in relation to the battlefield as a whole, 2) the lack of information concerning the degree to which collectors removed artifacts from the battlefield prior to its acquisition by the state, and 3) a lack of comparative data from other areas of the battlefield.
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