Freedom on the Frontier: The Archaeology of the Black Regulars of Fort Davis

Summary

In the late 1860s, the frontier army provided opportunities for black Civil War veterans, displaced northern black workers and formerly enslaved men to develop careers.  During the Civil War, black soldiers had successfully won the fight for equal pay, and the military was a rare space that offered regular pay, educational opportunities, and limited opportunity for upward mobility.  The segregated cavalry and infantry units of the black regulars, however, quickly became posted in some of the most remote areas of the frontier. The post of Fort Davis (now a National Historic Site) saw each of the black regiments call it home at some point during the period of 1867 to 1885.   Materials recovered from trenching in 2009 and from excavations at a barracks' building in 2015, provide unique insights into the challenges men faced and how they faced them as they navigated a racially frought place and time.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2017   •
• Tales of the Texas Frontier: Research Conducted by the Fort Davis Archaeology Project (FODAAP) in Fort Davis, Texas

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 525