An Analysis of American and British Ordnance from the 1781 Siege of Star Fort at Ninety Six, South Carolina
Author(s): James B. Legg; Steven D. Smith
Year: 2020
Summary
This is a paper/report submission presented at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.
From May 22 to June 18, 1781, the American Continental Army under the command of General Nathanael Greene laid siege to a Loyalist detachment occupying the fortified village of Ninety Six in the backcountry of South Carolina. The Loyalist defenses included an eight-pointed, star-shaped earthwork fort that was the focus of the American siege, including a desperate and unsuccessful direct attack on the last day. The known American artillery consisted of six-pounder cannon, while the Loyalists defended with three-pounders. Excavations at the still extant Star Fort in 2018 and 2019 recovered a diverse array of ordnance fired by both sides, including material that is not otherwise documented. This paper presents an analysis of that ammunition, revealing differences in manufacturing techniques and quality, and which has significance for future work on battlefields of the Southern Campaign.
Cite this Record
An Analysis of American and British Ordnance from the 1781 Siege of Star Fort at Ninety Six, South Carolina. James B. Legg, Steven D. Smith. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology Annual Meeting, Boston, MA. 2020 ( tDAR id: 457247) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8457247
This Resource is Part of the Following Collections
Keywords
Culture
18th century artillery
•
Historic
Material
Metal
Site Name
38GN3
Site Type
Archaeological Feature
•
Fort
Investigation Types
Archaeological Overview
•
Site Evaluation / Testing
General
American Revolution
•
battlefields
•
Ordnance
Geographic Keywords
United States of America
Temporal Keywords
Colonial. 1781
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Steven D Smith
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 245
File Information
| Name | Size | Creation Date | Date Uploaded | Access | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Star-Fort-Artillery-Artifacts-Analysis.pdf | 97.63kb | Sep 15, 2020 | Sep 15, 2020 8:36:16 AM | Public | |
| Detailed artifact descriptions | |||||
| Star-Fort-SHA-text-revised-August-2020.pdf | 129.98kb | Sep 15, 2020 | Sep 15, 2020 8:36:16 AM | Public | |
| Text of Star Fort Presentation | |||||
| Star-Fort-Ordnance-SHA-revised-August-2020.pdf | 35.44mb | Sep 15, 2020 | Sep 15, 2020 8:36:16 AM | Public | |
| Power Point Presentation | |||||