Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Civil War encampment

April's student Magen completed the Union encampment site catalogue the other day. She identified four percussion caps and four Minie balls, including three probable US Army issued .58 caliber projectiles and one .54 caliber Burnside carbine projectile.

Of the 126 recovered artifacts, Magen identified 29 as equestrian; specifically, horseshoes and horseshoe nails.

Most of the other artifacts are miscellaneous bits of hardware, particularly nails, many too corroded to determine function or type.

Artifacts related to eating and drinking included three fork fragments, one knife, and two ceramic sherds: whiteware and American gray stoneware.

I'll try to find some time tonight to plot the different categories on our site map. Hopefully, their spatial distribution will reveal something of the way in which the camp was organized.

Jennie Cosham, registrar at the Maryland Historical Trust, assigned the number 18CH788 to the site. After the field session we will get a report out that includes both the encampment and the north end of the Port Tobacco courthouse survey.

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