Pieces of aluminum from foil, beer and soda cans, wire and nails were the only discoveries Thursday afternoon as searchers armed with metal detectors began scouring the historic Black Jack Battlefield east of Baldwin.
“We’re literally just getting started,” said Douglas Scott, a battlefield archaeologist from Lincoln, Neb. “Today is to get everybody tuned up and working together.”
Scott, an adjunct anthropology professor with the University of Nebraska, is leading an archaeological survey of the battlefield where forces under abolitionist John Brown clashed with pro-slavery forces under Henry Clay Pate the night of June 2, 1856. Many consider it to be the first armed conflict of the Civil War.
Well, maybe they didn't find anything after all.