Blood, Sweat and Tears: New Research in Military Archaeology

Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2014

The papers in this session discuss recent research on and adjacent to military sites dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. The papers in this diverse session include the study of geochemical signatures, the remains of a burnt site, 19th century brick and mortar forts, and the study of a naval hospital.

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  • Documents (5)
Documents
  • The 1812 period Naval Hospital at Point Frederick, Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario (2014)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jeffrey Seibert.

    Over the last five years, archaeologists’ understanding of the War of 1812 Naval Establishment at Point Frederick / Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario has undergone some profound changes. Among these is the recognition that the 1812 period naval hospital does not correspond with the current Commandant’s house, but instead represents an entirely separate and ruined structure associated within the same area of the complex as the Commandant’s house but distinct from it. Through the...

  • Archaeological Investigations of Civil War Activity in an Urban Setting: Franklin, Tennessee (2014)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Larry McKee.

    Since 2003, the Nashville office of TRC Environmental Corporation has carried out a variety of archaeological investigations linked to the U.S. Civil War in Franklin, Tennessee. Located near Nashville, Franklin saw extensive action during the war, capped by the bloody Battle of Franklin in late 1864. The TRC archaeological efforts have ranged from work on city parks on the outer edge of the town to recovery of an isolated soldier’’s burial to a search for remnants of Federal defensive lines in...

  • Geochemical Identification of the Extramural Activity of Laundry Washing at Cantonment Burgwin (LA 88145), Taos, New Mexico (2014)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Judith E. Thomas. Kaitlyn R. Volanski.

    During the occupation (1852-1860) of Cantonment Burgwin near Taos, New Mexico, the Army laundresses processed the soldiers’ laundry using lye soap near their quarters. Lye, or potash, contains phosphorus, an element that is relatively immobile when added to the soil, as with discarded wash water. Archaeological excavation of Cantonment Burgwin’s laundresses’ quarters identified the footprint and internal configuration of their four-room building. To locate the laundry washing area, chemical...

  • Though War, Peace, and William Peace: The Archaeological Investigation of Fort Caswell (2014)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Vincent Melomo. Thomas Beaman.

    Fort Caswell has stood for nearly two centuries as a haunting reminder of the strategic importance of the Cape Fear River and the port of Wilmington in southeastern North Carolina. While much of the original 1826-1837 brick and mortar fort are still standing, key architectural features of the fort, and its unwritten history, lie hidden beneath the sand. Since its construction, the site has seen several phases of modification, abandonment, and reuse. The first archaeological research was...

  • «Where Patriotism and Loyalty Intersect with Truth:» The Archaeology and Public Engagement of the 1947 Pine Camp Barracks Fire (2014)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only E.W. Duane Quates.

    At approximately 0230 in the early morning of December 10, 1947 an officer’s barracks, T-2278, caught fire. The building burned, killing 5 U.S. Army Officers. This event marks the only structural fire in the history of what is now Fort Drum, NY (then Pine Camp) that resulted in the loss of human life. In the Summer of 2012, the Fort Drum Cultural Resources Section conducted a magnetometry survey and excavations of the site, in order to determine its eligibility for listing on the National...