Conference Agenda

The U.S. Army bandsmen who resided at Fort Walla Walla in the 19th century came from diverse occupational and geographical backgrounds. New documentary research, conducted in preparation for a new archaeological project at the site, has uncovered more information about their personal and professional lives and those of their families. Many of them emigrated from Germany or Ireland, several served in the American Civil War, and they were often married to women employed as U.S. Army laundresses. These bandsmen remained active in veterans' organizations in Walla Walla, and subsequent generations of their families often continued the bandsmen tradition. Past archaeological projects at the site collected three German silver lyre insignia that were worn by bandsmen in the late 19th century and these items, along with this new documentary research, offers personal details of the lives of these men and their families and provides insight into what the lyre insignia represented.

The spherical lead ball is one of the most ubiquitous finds on conflict and hunting sites from the introduction of firearms until the mid-nineteenth century. Recent advances in the analysis of lead balls using new forensic investigation methods adapted to archaeological material culture and employing live-fire research offers new opportunities to understand the cultural variability of spherical lead bullets. Coupled with the analytical methods is a reevaluation of documentary data on cultural ideals of what was a desired standard for casting balls. The results of documentary analysis, application of advances in material culture studies, and live-fire research provides vital information for new perspectives on interpreting tactical engagements on both small and large landscapes to more accurately interpret lead ball uses from archaeological contexts.

During the American Civil War, Glasgow-built blockade runners emerged as crucial facilitators of supply to the Confederacy, prolonging the conflict, and sustaining chattel slavery by clandestinely running cargo into Confederate ports. This research explores the historical archaeology of these cargos, investigating the material culture carried, and highlighting items beyond munitions that helped maintain a sense of normality amid conflict. Analyzing primary sources and material culture, this research reveals how Britain met non-combat market demands. Comparing artifacts from Camp Lawton (JS1), a Confederate prison that held Union POWs near Millen, Georgia, this study establishes a direct link between blockade-run cargos and terrestrial Southern sites. Supplies flowed from Wilmington, North Carolina's port, to Millien in the interior of the Confederacy via rail, feeding illicit markets used by guards and POWs. This research underscores the global connections between the Confederacy and Glasgow's 1860s economic boom fueled by enslaved labor, despite Britain's anti-slavery position.

Intelligence Preparation Of The Battlefield (IPB) is a systematic process implemented by intelligence professionals to analyze the threat and the environment continuously. Thus enabling a military commander to maximize combat power in present and future operations. When applied to the archaeological study of the Battle Of Big Dry Wash (Arizona, 1882), it provided archaeologists insight into how and why the battle unfolded spatially. Moreover, the evolution of this four-step process into IPAB enabled archaeologists to confirm, refute, and add to the historical record information critical to this unpopulurized battle during the Apache Wars. The first step in implementing IPAB involved defining the operational environment; secondly, it focused on determining the environmental effects of the Mogollon Rim on combatants; third, it evaluates the force capabilities of all Apache and U.S. Army Forces; and fourth, it determined courses of action taken by Apache and Army leaders.

The Camden Expedition National Historic Landmark includes nine properties scattered across southwest Arkansas that relate to the Spring, 1864, campaign by the U.S. Army. One of those, the battlefield at Prairie D’Ane, has been largely ignored, to the point that the actual battlefield location and the way in which the two forces traversed it are poorly understood. Since 2018, the Arkansas Archeological Survey has been working with volunteers and state agencies to locate the limits of the battlefield and reconstruct the movement of forces across it. This paper details those efforts and the findings resulting from them. This helps to fill in this part of the Camden Expedition, shows the importance of public-supported research projects, and touches on how this work is central to ongoing efforts to mark and preserve the property as an aid to economic development in the region.

In 1774 Lord Dunmore’s War broke out between the Colony of Virginia and the Shawnee and their Indigenous allies over who owned the Ohio drainage of Virginia. The Colony of Virginia reacted to this war by calling out county militia, building forts, and organizing a large offensive campaign. This border warfare was renewed during the American Revolution when many of the Ohio Indigenous peoples allied with the British.

One of the forts built in 1774 and reused during the Revolution was William Warwick’s in present Green Bank, WV. Recent archaeological and archival research on this fort have enhanced our understanding of its design and construction, the material culture, diet, and activities of its occupants, the militia companies that garrisoned this fort, and the community/neighborhood that was connected to this fort, and how these compare to other forts in the region. We will also report on public and descendent community efforts.

The importance of Fort Butler (16AN36) in Donaldsonville, Louisiana and the African Americans who defended it during the American Civil War (1861-1865) has been minimized. Referred to as “contraband”, formerly enslaved African Americans helped build, maintain and successfully defend the Union fort against a much larger Confederate force that attempted to capture this strategic position in 1863. Under the auspices of flood control, the privately owned site located at the confluence of the Mississippi River and Bayou Lafourche was nearly destroyed in 1902-1904 to build a levee, followed by additional modifications and a pump station in 1955. A series of individual monuments at the now invisible fort memorialize the pump engineer, Confederates, African Americans, and the battle. TerraXplorations, Inc. continues to investigate Fort Butler and how it is remembered even as a new pump station is being built on its remains.