Button, Button, Who's Got the Button: Uncovering Clues to the Garrison of Fort George, Turks and Caicos Islands
Author(s): Neal Hitch
Year: 2013
Summary
In November 2010, the Turks and Caicos National Museum led the first archaeological investigation of Fort George Cay, a small uninhabited island in the Turks and Caicos. The collection of multiple regimental buttons offered clues to who actually garrisoned the fort. Very little of the history of Fort St George (now named Fort George) has been documented. This presentation provides detailed descriptions of the buttons found and the regiments that served at the fort. Originally built in 1795 by Loyalist planters, the fort provided protection to settlements against attack by the French and privateers. In late 1798, the fort was taken over by British troops. Accounts relating to the fort are few, varied, and often contradicting, leading to scant concrete historic information. The buttons aided in determining the Royal military regiments that served in the Turks and Caicos, a fort rarely mentioned in official regimental records.
Cite this Record
Button, Button, Who's Got the Button: Uncovering Clues to the Garrison of Fort George, Turks and Caicos Islands. Neal Hitch. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Leicester, England, U.K. 2013 ( tDAR id: 428455)
This Resource is Part of the Following Collections
Keywords
General
Fort
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regimental buttons
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regiments of foot
Geographic Keywords
North America
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United States of America
Temporal Keywords
1795-1820
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 693