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THE MILAM STREET BRIDGE ARTIFACT ASSEMBLAGE: HOUSTONIANS JOINED BY THE COMMON THREAD OF ARTIFACTS – A STORY SPANNING FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO MODERN DAY A Dissertation by JOSHUA ROBERT FARRAR Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Luis F. M. Vieira De Castro Committee Members, Donny L. Hamilton Christopher M. Dostal Joseph G. Dawson III Anthony M. Filippi Head of Department, Darryl J. De Ruiter May 2020 Major Subject: Anthropology Copyright 2020 Joshua R. Farrar ABSTRACT Buffalo Bayou has connected Houston, Texas to Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico since Houston’s founding in 1837. During the American Civil War of 1861-65, Houston served as a storehouse for weapons, ammunition, food, clothing, and other supplies destined for the war effort in Galveston and the rest of the Confederacy. Near the end or soon after the Civil War ended, Confederate material supplies were lost or abandoned in Buffalo Bayou under the Milam Street Bridge in Houston. In 1968, the Southwestern Historical Exploration Society (SHES) recovered around 1000 artifacts with an 80-ton dragline crane operated off the Milam Street Bridge. About 650 artifacts from this collection were rediscovered by the Houston Archeological Society in 2015, stored in filing boxes at the Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park. This dissertation serves as an artifact and document-based study using newspaper accounts, sworn statements, and archaeological reports to assemble and detail the history of the Milam Street Artifact Assemblage – from abandonment in the bayou to rediscovery at the Heritage Society. In many ways it is a personal account that aims at connecting the author to the place and circumstances that led to the loss and rediscovery of this artifact collection. Through document, artifact, and map analysis, three theories are proposed and critically analyzed concerning how and why these artifacts were lost in Buffalo Bayou. Finally, a relevant subset of the artifacts have been conserved for museum exhibits including at the Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park in Houston and the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin. Issues and ethical stances ii surrounding documenting, preserving, conserving, and curating historical artifacts are presented based on lessons-learned creating these museum exhibits and the mismanaging of this artifact assemblage since its discovery in 1968. iii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my loving wife and children. Y’all stuck with me to the end and supported me the whole way. Thanks be to God that we have finally reached the end of this project. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Castro, and my committee members, Dr. Hamilton, Dr. Dostal, Dr. Dawson, and Dr. Filippi, for their guidance and support throughout the course of this research. Thanks also go to my friends and colleagues in the Houston Archeological Society. Special thanks to Linda Gorski and Bob Sewell. Without them this project would never have happened. Thanks goes to Amy Borgens and the Texas Historical Commission for placing their archives, photos, and immense knowledge at my disposal. Finally, thanks to the Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park for their generous loan of the artifacts and their logistical support of my museum exhibit work. Special thanks to Ginger Berni, you were terrific! v CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES Contributors This work was supervised by a dissertation committee consisting of Professors Luis F. M. Vieira de Castro (advisor), Donny L. Hamilton, and Christopher M. Dostal of the Department of Anthropology, Professor Joseph G. Dawson III of the Department of History, and Professor Anthony M. Filippi of the Department of Geography. Historical document analysis in chapter 2 was conducted in part by the Texas Historical Commission and the Houston Archeological Society. Artifact identification and museum curation research in chapters 3-5 were conducted with the assistance of and in conjunction with the Houston Archeological Society and the Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park. All other work conducted for the dissertation was completed by the student independently. Funding Sources Graduate study was supported by fellowships from Texas A&M University – specifically by the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies and the Department of Anthropology. Dissertation research fellowships were awarded by the College of Liberal Arts and the Department of Anthropology. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................ii DEDICATION .................................................................................................................. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... v CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES ............................................................. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................vii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ x CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 1 Study Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 The Milam Street Artifacts Reveal a Human Story ................................................... 1 Background Overview.................................................................................................... 2 The Region ................................................................................................................. 2 Contemporary Steamship Use .................................................................................... 5 The Union Blockade ................................................................................................. 10 Confederate Arms, Artillery, Munitions, and Equipment ........................................ 18 Joseph R. Anderson and the Tredegar Iron Works .................................................. 21 Southern Antebellum Fiscal Policy .......................................................................... 27 Economic Vision and Environmental Determinism of the Confederate Nation ...... 30 Texas in the Civil War .............................................................................................. 33 Why Texans Fought in the Civil War ...................................................................... 40 Why One Texan Fought in the Civil War: An Intimate Example ............................ 44 The Galveston-Houston Economic Zone ................................................................. 49 Milam Street Bridge or Milam Street Bridges? ........................................................ 56 CHAPTER II ARTIFACT HISTORY ............................................................................. 61 Chapter Introduction: Balancing Written Records and Artifact Analysis.................... 61 How Historical Records Supplement Artifact Analysis Concerning Contextual Evidence ................................................................................................................... 61 From Whence These Artifacts...................................................................................... 66 How Did These Artifacts Get to Texas? .................................................................. 66 vii Why Were These Artifacts in the Waters of Buffalo Bayou: Detailing the Three Theories .................................................................................................................... 69 103 Years in the Bayou ............................................................................................ 81 The 1968 Excavation ................................................................................................ 83 1999 Attempt to Find a Ship .................................................................................... 85 Given the Available Evidence What Most-Likely Happened .................................. 86 From Lost and Found to Lost Again, Found Again ..................................................... 97 Where Did the Milam Street Artifact Assemblage Go After 1968? ........................ 97 Are There More Artifacts Under the Milam Street Bridge? ........................................ 99 CHAPTER III CONSERVATION ................................................................................. 100 Why Conserve Old Artifacts? .................................................................................... 100 The Environmental Factors of Buffalo Bayou ........................................................... 107 Conservation of a Subset of the Milam Street Artifacts ............................................ 112 Creating a Conservation Strategy ........................................................................... 112 The Role of Conservation in Research ....................................................................... 121 How Conservation Influenced the Milam Street Artifact Assemblage .................. 121 Conservation through Digitization ......................................................................... 127 Digitization: An Acceptable Proxy for Artifact Conservation?