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An Analysis of Lead Shot from Fort Motte, 2004-2012: Assessing Combat Behavior in Terms of Agency Stacey Renae Whitacre University of South Carolina - Columbia

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An Analysis of Lead Shot from Fort Motte, 2004-2012: Assessing Combat Behavior in Terms of Agency Stacey Renae Whitacre University of South Carolina - Columbia University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations 1-1-2013 An Analysis of Lead Shot from Fort Motte, 2004-2012: Assessing Combat Behavior in Terms of Agency Stacey Renae Whitacre University of South Carolina - Columbia Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Whitacre, S. R.(2013). An Analysis of Lead Shot from Fort Motte, 2004-2012: Assessing Combat Behavior in Terms of Agency. (Master's thesis). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/2479 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AN ANALYSIS OF LEAD SHOT FROM FORT MOTTE, 2004-2012: ASSESSING COMBAT BEHAVIOR IN TERMS OF AGENCY by Stacey R. Whitacre Bachelor of Arts Georgia State University, 2008 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts in Anthropology College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2013 Accepted by: Charles Cobb, Director of Thesis Steven D. Smith, Co-Director of Thesis Carlina De La Cova, Reader Terrance Weik, Reader Lacy Ford, Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies © Copyright by Stacey R. Whitacre, 2013 All Rights Reserved. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A special thanks to my advisors Dr. Steven D. Smith and Dr. Charles Cobb for their patience and encouragement as I wrote this thesis. Their comments and suggestions were both insightful and supportive and this thesis would not be what it is without them. Steve especially put up with countless drafts and guided me through initial revisions. Thanks as well to committee members Dr. Carlina de la Cova and Dr. Terrance Weik and reader James B. Legg for reading my drafts and giving me comments. A big thanks to Jim Legg, as well, for being my go-to source for eighteenth century terminology and technology. This thesis could not have been written without the hard work of all of the members of the field crew for May and November of 2012, including Jonathan Whitlatch, Alison Baker, Tamara Wilson, Brianna Farber, and Nena Powell. A special thanks to Spencer Barker for all of his help and tips for metal detecting. Thanks to Jim and Steve as well for helping me get the hang of metal detection and putting up with all of the “artifacts” I collected. Tremendous acknowledgement and thanks to Mr. Luther Wannamaker, the wonderful landowner who so graciously allowed us to conduct excavation and metal detection on his property and greatly encouraged us in our endeavors. Additional thanks to Tamara Wilson for creating all of the beautiful maps in this thesis. Her help was indispensible and I cannot thank her enough. iii Laboratory conservation and analysis would not have been possible without the efforts of Jonathan Whitlatch, Alison Baker, and Daniel Stanford. A big thanks to the lab crew for all of the hours spent washing artifacts recovered from Fort Motte in 2012. Thanks again to Jim Legg for teaching me the finer points of cleaning and stabilizing lead shot and other metal objects. My friends Agatha Baluh, Joe Wilkinson, and Daniel Stanford provided countless hours of encouragement and patiently listened and contributed to theoretical and analytical discussions that clarified and honed many of the ideas used in this thesis. My family has also provided emotional and financial support during my writing phase: a special thanks to my parents, brother, sister, aunt, my grandmother. Additionally, I would like to thank anyone who provided me with food for the entirety of my graduate school experience. iv ABSTRACT The siege of Fort Motte took place between May 6 and 12, 1781. This battle was part of the American offensive against British posts in South Carolina during the American Revolution. During the siege, British troops were confined within the fort while American Continental forces as well as the South Carolina militia maintained a presence outside the walls. In addition to discussing the general history of the battle, I will specifically discuss the cultural variability of lead shot recovered from this site during archaeological excavation and systematic metal detection between 2004 and 2012. During the mid-eighteenth century, British troops were issued .75 caliber muskets. American Continentals were generally armed with .69 caliber muskets. The South Carolina militia was armed with a variety of firearms including muskets and rifles. Due to the firearm technology of the eighteenth century, it is possible to determine the type of firearm that fired individual lead shot. Surface characteristics as well as the weight and diameter of lead shot can be used to identify individual action. This information, combined with spatial distribution data, allows a close analysis of group and individual combat behavior in the context of the battle. This behavior is then analyzed in terms of agency. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................. iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................ v LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................ xi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER II THEORY ............................................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER III EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MILITARY CULTURE AND TACTICS ............................................. 28 CHAPTER IV HISTORY OF FORT MOTTE ...................................................................................... 50 CHAPTER V PREVIOUS ARCHAEOLOGICAL WORK ......................................................................... 63 CHAPTER VI METHODS ........................................................................................................... 69 CHAPTER VII LEAD SHOT ANALYSIS ........................................................................................... 90 CHAPTER VIII CONCLUSION ................................................................................................... 130 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................ 139 APPENDIX A LEAD SHOT CATALOG .......................................................................................... 151 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1. Differences between the Jaeger and the American Long Rifle ....................... 37 Table 6.1. List of Fort Motte archaeological proveniences: 2005-2012 .......................... 83 Table 7.1. Fort Motte (Areas 3, 5, and 6) total lead shot summary ................................ 94 Table 7.2. Fort Motte (Areas 3, 5, and 6) total lead shot included in weight/diameter analysis .............................................................................................................................. 99 Table 7.3. Amalgamation of comparison site data ........................................................ 114 Table 7.4. Area 12 (overseer’s house site) total lead shot summary ............................ 127 Table 7.5. Area 18 (camp site) total lead shot summary ............................................... 129 Table A.1. Fort Motte lead shot (Metal Detection Areas 3, 5, and 6 and unit excavation) ......... 152 Table A.2. Spherical lead shot (Areas 3, 5, and 6) not included in weight/diameter analysis ..... 163 Table A.3. Lead shot from Metal Detection Areas 4, 11, and 15 ................................................. 165 Table A.4. Lead shot from Area 12 – overseer’s house / Lee’s camp site (2004-2012) ............... 166 Table A.5. Area 12 shot not included in weight/diameter analysis ............................................. 167 Table A.6. Lead shot from Metal Detection Area 18 (camp site) ................................................. 168 Table A.7. Area 18 shot not included in weight/diameter analysis ............................................. 169 Table A.8. Area 3, 5, 6 canister shot (2004-2012) ........................................................................ 169 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1. Fort Motte general location map.................................................................... 10 Figure 3.1. Sketch of bore and rifling ............................................................................... 36 Figure 4.1. Mrs. Rebecca Motte ....................................................................................... 51 Figure 4.2. American engineer’s drawing of Fort Motte ................................................. 53 Figure 4.3. American engineer’s drawing of Fort Motte, profile view ............................ 53 Figure 4.4. Francis Marion ............................................................................................... 55 Figure 4.5. Henry Lee ....................................................................................................... 55 Figure 4.6. Vauban’s
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