"The French Engineer Burst A 24-Pounder In The Fort At Red Banks": Contextualizing An Accidental Artifact

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Beyond Battlefields: Culture and Conflict through the Philadelphia Campaign" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In the fall of 1777, the Royal Navy was prevented from reaching Philadelphia by river obstructions, a small Pennsylvania Navy, and two forts. Fort Mifflin and Fort Mercer, on opposite sides of the Delaware river, served as the principal American defensive works. On 22 October 1777, Crown Forces attempted to take Fort Mercer by direct assault and failed, and thereafter they laid siege to Fort Mifflin through land and naval bombardment. During the siege two cannons exploded at Fort Mercer. Recent archaeological survey at Fort Mercer discovered a cannon fragment from this period of siege. This paper will recount the geophysics, excavation, recovery, and conservation of the artifact, and presents the historical context of the piece. Which cannon do we have?

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Beyond Battlefields: Culture and Conflict through the Philadelphia Campaign   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology