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Geography, Department of Theses and Dissertations-Geography Texas State University Year 2007 Battlefield Landscapes: Geographic Information Science as a Method of Integrating History and Archaeology for Battlefield Interpretation Thomas Justus Nolan Texas State University-San Marcos, Dept. of Geography, [email protected] This paper is posted at eCommons@Texas State University. http://ecommons.txstate.edu/geogtad/5 BATTLEFIELD LANDSCAPES: GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SCIENCE AS A METHOD OF INTEGRATING HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY FOR BATTLEFIELD INTERPRETATION DISSERTATION Presented to the Graduate Council of Texas State University-San Marcos in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of PHILOSOPHY by Thomas J. Nolan, B.S., M.S. San Marcos, Texas May 2007 i BATTLEFIELD LANDSCAPES: GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SCIENCE AS A METHOD OF INTEGRATING HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY FOR BATTLEFIELD INTERPRETATION Committee Members Approved: __________________________________ Alberto Giordano, Chair __________________________________ Richard W. Dixon __________________________________ James Kimmel __________________________________ Robert Hunt Approved: __________________________________ J. Michael Willoughby Dean of the Graduate College ii COPYRIGHT by Thomas J. Nolan 2007 iii DEDICATION To my wife, Marjorie Penman Nolan, my father Dr. Carson Y. Nolan, and my mother Bess Gravitt Nolan (1922-2005) who encouraged me to pursue the goal of a Ph.D. when the only possible benefit would be my personal satisfaction. My mother was particularly proud that I would be another “Dr. Nolan,” and I regret she is not here to see it happen. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work would not have been possible without the help of a great many people from a variety of places. I would like to thank Dr. Ron Zawislak, Chair of the Department of Geosciences, and Dr. John McDaniel, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Middle Tennessee State University, for their encouragement and approval of a leave of absence to complete my course work in Texas. Thanks also to Ralph and Joyce Fullerton for their support. I am very grateful to Dr. Rich Dixon for a variety of reasons. Dr. Dixon encouraged my interest in the application of Geographic Information Systems to military geography and recommended the doctoral program in Geography at Texas State University-San Marcos which proved to be excellent advice. Dr. Dixon introduced me to my advisor, Dr. Alberto Giordano, who had just joined the faculty at Texas State and is one of the pioneers in Historical GIS. Dr. Dixon also helped me navigate the personally uncharted waters of the PhD. process. Dr. Dixon’s example in the classroom has helped me become a much better teacher. I would like to thank Dr. Alberto Giordano, my advisor, for his tolerance and patience while trying to teach an old forester new tricks. It has been a privilege to learn from such a talented geographer and scholar. Dr. Giordano and his wife Marta provided endless hospitality during my trips to Texas and I am deeply appreciative of their generosity. v I am indebted to Dr. Jim Kimmel for agreeing to serve on my committee at a very busy time in his career and for introducing me to heritage tourism. Dr. Kimmel’s class was one of the most enjoyable and thought provoking academic experiences I have ever had. My greatest disappointment with my time at Texas State was not having the opportunity for additional work with Dr. Kimmel and the chance to absorb his teaching skills. I would like to thank Dr. Bob Hunt from the History Department at MTSU for serving on my committee. I spent many happy hours reading the books he recommended. Dr. Hunt had a semester of non- instructional assignment to work on his forthcoming book on the Tullahoma Campaign and generously took valuable time away from his project to review my dissertation. Mitch Yockelson with the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland was a tremendous help locating records relating to the York fight. Ron Westphal and Meyers Brown at the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville helped identify some of the more obscure artifacts recovered from the battlefield. Bob Schlafly and Teri Arney with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation conducted forensic analysis of the cartridge cases from the fight. They also helped in the identification of the ordnance recovered. I would also like to thank Jimmie Hallis at the 82nd Airborne Division War Memorial Museum at Fort Bragg for locating documents relevant to Alvin York in the museum archives. I would like to thank my good friend Dr. Michael Birdwell, from the History Department at Tennessee Technological University for assistance with so many aspects of the project. Dr. Birdwell is the foremost scholar vi of Alvin York and the curator of the York Papers. Michael and Jim Deppen did most of the photography and artifact cataloging. Thanks also to David Currey for investing his time and money in a documentary film about the project. None of the field work would have been possible without the efforts of my close friends Michael and Pauline Kelly of Bartlett’s Battlefield Journeys in Lincolnshire, UK. Michael took care of all the logistics for the field work from procuring shovels to accommodation and transportation. Pauline was the perfect hostess during our stay in England and made sure Michael was prepared for the trip. Michael Kelly and David Bartlett are two of the very best Western Front historians and tour guides and their extensive contacts in France provided the framework for our investigation. French Regional Archaeologists Alain Jacques from Arras and Yves Desfossés from Champagne-Ardenne helped us through the archaeological permit process, gave us advice in the field, and identified many of the artifacts we recovered. Yves also rented a back hoe to help us discover the original burials of the Americans killed in the fight. We were fortunate to have the assistance of Belgian archaeologist Birger Stichelbaut from the University of Ghent during the first week in the field. British historians Eddie Browne and Ian Cobb contributed their experience and skill at metal detecting and are largely responsible for the success of the artifact recovery process. Frédéric Castier, historian and official representative of The First Division Museum in Wheaton, Illinois was invaluable in contacting local landowners and introducing us to the local people in Châtel-Chéhéry. Thanks to Mayor Roland Destenay of Châtel-Chéhéry and Mayor Damien Georges of Fléville for their vii hospitality and friendship. Damien is also Regional Forester and gave us the benefit of his thorough knowledge of the area. Thanks to Damien’s wife, Dominique who provided our accommodation and for her tolerance of the mud and debris which characterized our stay. Dr. Lucien Houllemare and his wife Annick of Châtel-Chéhéry graciously invited us into their home and made us feel very welcome. And finally, thanks to Taylor Beattie for sharing his extensive research on the Alvin York fight and his knowledge of the region and people in the Argonne. This manuscript was submitted on February 12, 2007. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................... v ABSTRACT .......................................................................................... x LIST OF FIGURES............................................................................... xii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................. 1 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................ 6 III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................... 30 IV. DOCUMENTARY RECORDS ............................................. 41 V FIELD WORK AT CHÂTEL-CHÉHÉRY ............................... 85 VI. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION.................................... 98 APPENDICES Appendix 1 – Permit Documents .............................................. 139 Appendix 2 – List of Artifacts ................................................... 149 Appendix 3 – Letters and Documents ...................................... 160 REFERENCE LIST............................................................................. 177 ix ABSTRACT BATTLEFIELD LANDSCAPES: GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SCIENCE AS A METHOD OF INTEGRATING HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY FOR BATTLEFIELD INTERPRETATION by Thomas J. Nolan, B.S., M.S. Texas State University-San Marcos May 2007 COMMITTEE CHAIR: ALBERTO GIORDANO Geographic Information Science (GIS) and technology can be used to integrate history and archaeology for synthesis and interpretation. This study applies Geographic Information Science and technology to reconstructing the events related to a patrol from G Company, 2nd Battalion, 328th Infantry Regiment of the American Expeditionary Forces on October 8, 1918, outside the village of Châtel Chéhéry, France that resulted in the award of the Medal of Honor to Alvin C. York. Evidence from documentary records, historic maps, and artifacts from a metal x detector survey were incorporated in a spatial database. Spatial analysis of the database using GIS provided a more complete picture of events than either history or archaeology individually. xi LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Study area for Alvin York Project ................................................36 2 12th Squadron reconnaissance photo mosaic .............................37 3 Photo 1370 from October 1, 1918 ...............................................38 4 Part of German 1:25000 map showing area around