NEW ULM - Three archaeologists and two Brown County Historical Society (BCHS) employees discussed the Brown County Battlefield project Tuesday in the annex.
Trefoil Cultural and Environmental Heritage of Sauk Rapids received a $33,008 National Park Service grant to identify boundaries of 1862 Dakota War battlefields in several townships including Milford and the City of New Ulm by landscape analysis, historic maps, oral histories and archeological investigation.
Mapping of cultural resources and delineation of battlefield boundaries will aid in the completion of National Register of Historic Places nominations for each site.
"We won't dig things up," said Research Archaeologist Joe McFarlane.
"We're looking at sites with future research potential. It's not what we find as much as where we find it," said Trefoil President and Principal Investigator Richard M. Rothaus.
"It's a tough task but well documented. Largely defined by land typography and buildings. We have maps of cabins where people lived and land features," said Rothaus. "We have a long list of things and I'm sure we'll find more."
Darla Gebhard, BCHS research librarian, said the battlefield project on the U.S.-Dakota War centers on non-military citizen/soldiers defending New Ulm against the Dakota Indians.
"We know where to go to research the battlefields," Gebhard said. "A battlefield ravine in Milford Township is still there."
Gebhard said forts were built in Hanska, Home, Sigel, Stately and Burnstown Townships in order to protect settlers from Indian attacks.
"It was asymmetrical warfare," said historian/writer Dan Hoisington whose 2004 book "A German Town" was the first comprehensive history book about New Ulm.
The project starts in May 2010.
A final report will be available to the public in early 2011.
The project will be part of a 150th anniversary display in 2012 at the Brown County Museum.
"We can show that news of the battles reached far beyond the New Ulm boundaries," Gebhard added. "There were stories about it in the New York Times."
Rothaus said the battles were fought for complicated reasons and had far-reaching consequences which will be borne out by research.
During the two attacks on New Ulm, about 190 of 258 buildings were burned.
More than 140 people were killed in Brown County during the U.S.-Dakota War.
Deaths during the entire War were estimated as high as 800.
(Fritz Busch can be e-mailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).
