U. Tennessee Students Doing Work on Campus Discover Civil War Trench

U. Tennessee Students Doing Work on Campus Discover Civil War Trench

This is fascinating. Imagine stumbling onto a historic find like this.

Popular Mechanics reports:

College Students Were Doing Field Work on Campus—and Uncovered a Civil War Trench

Knoxville’s Civil War history runs deep. But on the University of Tennessee campus, it sits right under the surface.

During a construction project intended to turn a campus parking lot into a new dormitory, University of Tennessee students participated in the associated state-required archaeological excavation. And amazingly, the students uncovered additional portions of a known Civil War trench, complete with a Minié ballbthat had been used as a bullet.

“It kind of gets you geared into thinking about archaeology and prehistory, not as something in some far-off exotic place but as something that’s occurring right here in Knoxville, in Tennessee, on our own campus,” Will Joseph, a PhD student, said in a statement.

More Civil War battles were fought in Tennessee than almost any other state (second only to Virginia). That history peppers the land, so a state law requires that any new construction on state-owned property first undergo an excavation. Kandi Hollenbach, an assistant professor with McClung Museum and the University of Tennessee, took that opportunity to lead a team of students to survey the ground beneath the parking lot.

“Most field schools you have to go away, and there’s the cost of getting there, the cost of room and board,” Hollenbach said. “But being able to do it on campus—most students already have housing in place, they don’t have an additional travel cost, and if they have a job in the evenings or weekends, they can keep it.”

Upon removal of the asphalt, according to a post from the museum, the team uncovered a section of the previously known Civil War trench located next to the museum. Students also found an area where the soldiers had built a small fire (likely for warmth), and just 30 minutes into the dig, they discovered a Civil War lead bullet known as a Minié ball.

The trench could be part of the Battle of Fort Sanders from November of 1863, which was fought on and around what is now the Knoxville campus. Both Union and Confederate trenches are known to exist on campus. In 2009, a Confederate trench was found at the school’s Sorority Village, and there’s a Union trench stretching from the river through campus to Fort Sanders. A second trench connects the fort to the Hill.

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