Ground-penetrating radar helps locate lost graves
Staff Photo: David Dixon
By David Dixon
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DAWSON — A small team of local historians is currently working on a project to find lost graves in the Cedar Hill Cemetery in Terrell County.
The idea to use ground-penetrating radar (GPR) in this search came from the work the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Calhoun Rifles Camp in Calhoun County, did when they funded exploration of the Greenwood Cemetery in Cuthbert. That resulting search yielded 157 heretofore unknown graves of Confederate soldiers who died in the three hospitals in Cuthbert in 1864 and 1865.
That project was completed when a monument was erected in the cemetery in 2021. The monument to those lost soldiers was designed and paid for by the Calhoun Rifles Camp and the Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Ground-penetrating radar works by the unit sending a radio signal into the ground and then recording the signal when it echoes back from an underground object. In this case, the technician slowly rolls the unit over the surface and watches for variations in the subsurface soil density.
The current project in Cedar Hill Cemetery has found indications of at least 47 soldier and loyal slaves in the Confederate Soldier Park portion of the cemetery using GPR provided by The Georgia Rural Water Association’s Jeff Hanner.
Half of this section is where a memorial to the slave’s monument was erected in 1923 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Mary Brantley Chapter. The other half of this large plot is where a numbers of soldiers were buried during and after the War Between the States.
In addition to using GPR, the researchers also were aided by Dawson City Manager Tracy Hester, who provided the team with a copy of the 1857—1928 cemetery plots. With the possession of this important document, the team has started a historical search using the names on the plot. Some of these men’s graves have been located while some are still missing.
As the research proceeds, the team hopes to relocate or find the lost men of Terrell County who are buried in the historic cemetery.
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