The Battlefield

The Battlefield. It's Bigger Than You Think. Since 2010, the Applied Anthropology Laboratories (AAL), in the Department of Anthropology at Ball State University has conducted archeology research on this battlefield with funding from the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP). These investigations have shaped a new perspective of the battlefield. The research methods used the ABPP's KOCOA analysis (see inset), which is based on the U.S. military's process for evaluating battlefield terrain and the use of landscape in battle strategy. KOCOA was applied to the American Indian's movements in order to better understand how the American Indian alliance used the landscape to soundly route St. Clair's army., The KOCOA analysis, coupled with artifact locations and historical research, led to expansion of the previously defined battlefield. This map shows the 787 acre expanded battlefield boundary (in green), which includes all aspects of the battle: the high ridge where the American Indians formed their strategic crescent; St. Clair's encampment; and the area of St. Clair's retreat to the southeast. The pink jagged line represents the possible path that the estimated 1,400 American Indians from nine different tribes could have taken to surround St. Clair's army's in 15 minutes, with the least possibility of being visible to the U.S. forces of approximately 1,000 soldiers., "It was but a few minutes, however, until the men were engaged in every quarter. The enemy from the front filed off to the right and left, and completely surrounded the camps, killed and cut off nearly all the guards, and approached close to the line." , -From the Military Journal of Major Ebenezer Denny