The Battle of Ruff’s Mill was fought in July 1864 when Union forces pushed across Nickajack Creek at the Concord Covered Bridge. So heavy was the assault, the Confederates abandoned the entire defensive line after an intense fight.   

According to Philip Ivester, President of Friends of the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District (FCCBHD), the National Park Service awarded a $95,887 grant for Ruff’s Mill Battlefield Research to the LAMAR Institute as part of the American Battlefield Protection Program.

The LAMAR Institute, and FCCBHD worked with Commissioner Lisa Cupid and Cobb Parks and Recreation Department to ascertain Battlefield boundaries, artifacts, buildings and trench lines, as well as, other archeological points of interest that still remain.

LAMAR Institute team, Rita Elliot, Daniel T. Elliott, and Philip T. Ashlock, as well as, photographer Mark Albertin, Scrapbook Video Productions, worked for over two weeks in the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District and vicinity. Their mission is to “conduct archaeological and historical research in the  Southeastern United States and to advance public archaeological education.”  

The Battle of Ruff’s Mill was one of only 16 Battlefield Preservation Planning Grants awarded by the American Battlefield Protection Program.