Every Man Turned out in the Best He

Northeast Historical Archaeology Volume 40 | Issue 1 Article 5 2011 "Every Man Turned Out in the Best He Had": Clothing and Buttons in the Historical and Archaeological Records of Johnson's Island Prisoner-of-War Depot, 1862-1865 Tyler Rudd Putman Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/neha Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Putman, Tyler Rudd (2011) ""Every Man Turned Out in the Best He Had": Clothing and Buttons in the Historical and Archaeological Records of Johnson's Island Prisoner-of-War Depot, 1862-1865," Northeast Historical Archaeology: Vol. 40 40: Iss. 1, Article 5. Available at: http://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/neha/vol40/iss1/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Anthropology at Digital Commons at Buffalo tS ate. It has been accepted for inclusion in Northeast Historical Archaeology by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons at Buffalo tS ate. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 86 Putman/Clothing and Buttons of Johnson’s Island Prisoner-of-War Depot “Every Man Turned Out in the Best He Had”: Clothing and Buttons in the Historical and Archaeological Records of Johnson’s Island Prisoner-of-War Depot, 1862–1865 Tyler Rudd Putman During the American Civil War, federal authorities sent captured Confederate officers to the military prison on Johnson’s Island in Lake Erie, Ohio. These prisoners came from a narrow demographic; most were Southern, white, upper-class males. They left many documentary accounts of their experiences in the camp, some of which detailed how they used clothing to display both individu- ality and group identity in their civilian, military, and incarcerated experiences. Twenty years of excavations on Johnson’s Island have resulted in the discovery of at least 1,393 prisoner buttons and numerous other clothing-related artifacts. This study compares the buttons from a single latrine feature and the site as a whole with a unique primary source—a laundry notebook kept by an unknown prisoner—to test the interpretive potential of the historical and archaeological records, and consider what they reveal about prisoners’ clothing. Using data gathered through the end of the 2008 field season, this article examines the biases of both the archaeological evidence and the documentary sources related to changes in prisoner clothing. The results demonstrate how archaeologists can relate isolated privy or latrine features to site-wide patterns over extended periods of time. Pendant la guerre de Sécession, les autorités fédérales ont envoyé des officiers confédérés capturés à la prison militaire de l’île Johnson dans le lac Érié, en Ohio. Ces prisonniers venaient d’un groupe démographique assez restreint; la plupart étaient des hommes blancs, du Sud, et de la classe supérieure. Ils ont laissé de nombreux témoignages écrits de leurs expériences dans le camp, et certains décrivent comment ils ont utilisé des vêtements pour afficher à la fois leur individualité et leur identité de groupe, à travers leurs expériences civiles, militaires et en tant qu’incarcérés. Vingt ans de fouilles archéologiques sur l’île Johnson ont abouti à la découverte d’au moins 1393 boutons de prisonniers et de nombreux artéfacts liés aux vête- ments. Cet article compare les boutons provenant d’une fosse de latrines et du reste du site avec une source primaire unique - un cahier de blanchisserie gardé par un prisonnier inconnu - afin de tester le potentiel interprétatif des sources historiques et archéologiques et explorer ce qu’ils révèlent sur les vêtements de prisonniers. En utilisant les données recueillies jusqu’à la fin de la saison de fouilles de 2008, cet article examine les biais inhérents aux données archéologiques et aux sources documentaires relatives aux changements dans les vêtements des prisonniers. Les résultats démontrent comment les archéologues peuvent relier des latrines isolées avec des schémas visibles à travers le site, sur une période de temps étendue. The Johnson’s Island Prisoner-of-War coats. Examining the artifactual remains of Depot these men’s imprisoned lives, especially archaeologically recovered buttons and Between 1862 and 1865, thousands of clothing artifacts, in conversation with their Confederate officers lived on Johnson’s writings, including a unique laundry Island, Ohio. As prisoners of war (POWs), inventory maintained by one prisoner these men struggled to maintain and modify (FDJI 1865), sheds new light on their their senses of individual and group identity. experiences. This struggle touched many aspects of their Johnson’s Island is in Sandusky Bay on the lives, including the material culture sur- Ohio side of Lake Erie and remains most rounding them. Some continued to refer to notable historically for its use as a Union POW themselves as Confederate officers, while depot during the American Civil War. On others set their military lives aside amid the this small island, federal authorities con- more pressing demands of surviving incar- structed a stockade and prison camp with ceration. These men wore fine linen shirts, 12 barracks and a hospital (“Blocks” 1–13), as coarse wool shirts, uniform frock coats with well as, after the summer of 1864, two large gold braid, and unadorned civilian sack mess halls. Inside the prison walls, prisoners Northeast Historical Archaeology / Vol. 40, 2011 87 used block-specific latrines. Other structures Winter 1994; Geier and Potter 2000; Geier, Orr, outside the walls served as guard housing and Reeves 2006; Geier et al. 2010). Placing and administrative spaces (Bush 2000: 66). clothing artifacts from Johnson’s Island in At the end of hostilities, the national gov- conversation with written accounts ernment demolished most of the camp from prisoners there demonstrates the and sold the materials at auction. multidimensional nature of prisoner-of-war Johnson’s Island reverted to its pre-war experiences and the necessity of combining usage as farmland and later was the site historical and archaeological techniques of a failed “pleasure resort” venture in accessing past cultures. (Frohman 1965: 122). In the early 20th century, quarrying destroyed much of the Clothing on Johnson’s Island area associated with the guard quarters and one of two earthen forts on the Clothing entered the Johnson’s Island island. The first systematic archaeological prison environment in four ways, each survey began in 1988 in response to discussed in detail below. Prisoners wore encroaching housing development (Bush and carried some garments into the insti- 1990). The island gained National Historic tution when they arrived. Later, some pris- Landmark status in 1990. In 2002, a grass- oners received packages containing roots preservation organization, the clothing from contacts outside the prison. Friends and Descendents of Johnson’s Island Other men relied on the prison authorities, Civil War Prison (FDJI), purchased the who issued garments to those in need. majority of the prison-compound acreage and Prisoners with money avoided the indignity of the second earthen fort, preserving these areas wearing prison clothing by purchasing gar- for future study and interpretation. Since 1988, ments from the sutler, a civilian shopkeeper David Bush has led excavations on Johnson’s who operated in the prison. These four routes Island, currently working with Heidelberg for clothing acquisition resulted in wardrobes University’s Center for Historic and Military much more diverse and personally significant Archaeology. than might be expected in an institutional Excavations on Johnson’s Island have environment. Although most of these routes resulted in the recovery of thousands of do not leave distinct archaeological signatures, artifacts representing many aspects of all contributed to the material world of the mid-19th-century military and social life. The prison and its artifactual traces. federal government used the prison com- Because they did not always arrive on pound for only three years during the Civil Johnson’s Island immediately after capture, War, and prison authorities dug new latrines POWs brought a variety of garments into the for each barracks block approximately every prison. Horace Carpenter, for instance, a first four to six months as older ones were filled lieutenant in the 9th Louisiana Infantry, was and covered (Bush 2000: 67). Artifacts recov- captured when Port Hudson fell in 1863 and ered in the excavation of each latrine were was imprisoned near the front for several thus deposited during brief periods of time, months before being transferred to the North. and comparing these assemblages demon- Carpenter noted that, by the time his group strates changing conditions in the prison. reached Johnson’s Island, “there was nothing Feature 3, the latrine discussed in more detail in our apparel to mark the Rebel soldier” below, contained a homogenous primary (Carpenter 1891: 708). Even when soldiers deposit sealed with a clay cap when federal entered the prison wearing their uniforms, the guards filled it (Bush 2000: 70). Among the clothes might not meet Confederate regula- most common artifacts recovered from these tions. Especially later in the war, many officers latrines are buttons. Such “small finds” reveal in the field adopted civilian garments or wore details about facets of the historical human enlisted men’s uniforms (Arliskas 2006: 17). experience of special interest in recent archaeo- Uniforms remained significant after logical work, including that concerning gender prisoners arrived, as many captured officers (Beaudry 2006), incarceration (Casella 2007; tried to maintain physical representations of Beisaw and Gibb 2009), and conflict (Geier and their respectable military identities as a means 88 Putman/Clothing and Buttons of Johnson’s Island Prisoner-of-War Depot Figure 1. Our Mess, an 1864 drawing by W. B. Cox of prisoners on Johnson’s Island. (Courtesy of the Friends and Descendants of Johnson’s Island Civil War Prison, Tiffin, Ohio.) of resisting institutional authority. A January these photographs wear detachable collars, a 1864 drawing by Johnson’s Island prisoner mark of a gentlemanly status.

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