Civil War battle sites are important legacies of southern history and valuable community resources for public interpretation. Yet all battlefield locations are well marked and identified. New South Associates conducted an American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) grant funded project to map and survey the location of the Battle of Brown's Mill, a cavalry skirmish outside Newnan, Coweta County, Georgia, that occurred during the siege of Atlanta.

The Battle of Brown’s Mill was fought between a Union cavalry force led by Brigadier General E. M. McCook and a Confederate cavalry force under Major General Joseph Wheeler. Union Major General W. T. Sherman, as part of his strategy to cut off supplies to Atlanta, had dispatched McCook’s force to destroy railroads leading into the city. Although they succeeded in inflicting damage to Confederate rail lines and supply wagons, they were turned back southwest of Newnan and suffered considerable losses from a skirmish with the Confederates at Brown’s Mill.

The primary objectives of the investigations were to establish the core area in which the battle took place, decipher the troop movements into and out of the battlefield, and identify the location of the Union cannon battery, since most historic accounts of the battle revolved around this aspect. These results would enable the development of a 104-acre tract of land within the site for a passive recreation facility, featuring an interpretation of the battle. Like many other archaeological sites in the Piedmont region, agricultural activity, such as extensive plowing, had disturbed the area, but locals also had gathered artifacts for years. Consequently, local relic collectors were enlisted to help with any information they may have gathered in their own explorations. With the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) tools and infrared analysis, the amateur maps and artifact catalogs were used to discern major activity areas and potential mobilization routes of these Union and Confederate fighters. Historic maps and aerial photographs were correlated with archaeological survey and the mapping of collected munitions, and in combination, allowed us to reconstruct the routes the Union forces took entering the battlefield site, the locations of their clashes with the Wheeler's Cavalry, and the path of their retreat. New South’s study provided some understanding of the contentious events that took place there in that summer of 1864.