Hope they find it. "A high-stakes hunt for history has been quietly under way this winter at Tuckahoe Wildlife Management Area in Screven County, Ga., and the preliminary findings are raising eyebrows all the way to Atlanta. As regular hunters chased deer and feral hogs, archaeologists armed with new imaging technology focused their attention on the banks of Brier Creek, where a pivotal Revolutionary War battle was waged nearly 235 years ago. The Battle of Brier Creek unfolded the afternoon of March 3, 1779, when British forces led by Col. Mark Prevost decided to circle back on an encamped Patriot army and launch a surprise attack from behind. The strategy yielded a decisive victory for the British and left about 150 American soldiers dead and hundreds of others captured. The defeat was so resounding that some historians believe it extended the war an additional year. Although battle details were carefully recorded by the British, complete with maps and diagrams, little has been done over the past 234 years to explore the battlefield itself – until last year. That’s when Cypress Cultural Consultants of Beaufort, S.C., launched a new effort to locate the actual site of the event and determine whether the area was sufficiently intact to offer new insights into an important chapter in our nation’s past. After months of research and planning, the group examined the area with aerial technology known as LiDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging. The result was a series of precise, three-dimensional maps that offer views of even minor changes in the earth’s surface. The maps identified a series of linear “features” where sampling was later conducted to determine whether the area was part of the defensive line hastily arranged by the Patriot forces. As it turned out, they were correct. The company’s principal investigator, Daniel Battle – who is also the grandson of legendary Augusta Chronicle reporter John F. Battle – said he could not discuss the project or its findings so far because the assessment remains incomplete. However, according to a status report in the Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution journal, “early assessments indicate that a linear field of strewn battlefield evidence stretches several hundred meters along a naturally low topographical feature.” Those areas, the article added, “appear to retain excellent information gathering potential.” What happens next is unclear, according to state officials." http://chronicle.augusta.com/sports/outdoors/rob-pavey/2014-01-18/archaeologists-zero-revolutionary-war-battle-site-screven?v=1390068759
