A community meeting will be held in Smyrna on Nov. 25 about the 1864 Battle of Ruff’s Mill Project.
The meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 25 at the Smyrna Public Library, Meeting Room, 100 Village Green Circle SE, Smyrna.
The LAMAR Institute is seeking to locate the 1864 Battle of Ruff’s Mill and to identify and interpret its components across the landscape during the American Civil War.
Funded by a grant from the American Battlefield Protection Program of the National Park Service, this project will incorporate historical research, archaeology and public outreach.
They are seeking the following participants:
• Landowners in the Concord Covered Bridge Area who wish to be included in the project.
• Individuals who may have artifact collections from that area and time period and are willing to have them photographed.
• Educators, preservationists and community members interested in brainstorming about how this project and its information can benefit the community in terms of education and outreach. Among the potential topics are STEM, the African-American role in the military and content for trails and beltway signage.
On July 4, 1864, Union Brigadier General John Fuller’s brigade moved from the Nickajack Creek Bridge on Concord Road and Ruff’s Mill, “after a bitter struggle,” and seized the first line of Confederate works near the present Gann Cemetery, according to a marker posted near the Concord Covered Bridge by the Georgia Historical Society.
This Federal assault on Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston’s left and the one at Smyrna on his right were incidental to Johnston’s retreat from Kennesaw to the Chattahoochee River.
Union Col. Edward Noyes, later Governor of Ohio from 1872 to 1874, lost a leg in this battle.
The LAMAR Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Savannah.
Battlefield research has been a focus of the institute for the past several decades.
Information: SmyrnaGa.gov, TheLamarInstitute.org, GeorgiaHistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/battle-of-ruffs-mill
