Archeological Investigations of Teh 1874 Cavalry Barracks, Fort
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ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF THE 1874 CAVALRY BARRACKS, FORT LARAMIE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, WYOMING by Douglas D. Scott W.E. Sudderth and Christopher Schoen Midwest Archeological Center Technical Report No. 16 Prepared for Rocky Mountain Region, National Park Service United States Department of the Interior National Park Service Midwest Archeological Center Lincoln, Nebraska 1992 ABSTRACT The Fort Laramie Cavalry Barracks was constructed in 1874 and continuously occupied until the National Park Service began interpretation of its history. A restoration effort required mitigative excavations in the building's interior and along the west side. Over 5,000 artifacts were recovered that physically document the changing uses of the building through time. Several features were identified that relate to the use of the site since at least the early 1860s. The foundations of a structure predating the barracks were discovered beneath the floor. The probable area where the lime concrete was mixed for the wall construction was identified. The barracks washroom dry sump was excavated, and a late military period or early civilian period trash pit was sampled. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Support for this project was provided by the Rocky Mountain Regional Office. Rick Cronenberger and Adrienne Anderson, from that office, reviewed and commented on workplans at the project's initial phase. The park staff provided very helpful comments on the report draft. Financial constraints and personnel changes delayed the completion of the report, but Dr. F.A. Calabrese encouraged the authors to complete the work. The field phase was directed by Chris Schoen, with able help from Bill Chada and Tom Hensiak. The Fort Laramie staff, specifically former Superintendent Gary Howe, Chief Ranger John Burns, and Curator Louise Samson, deserve special thanks for their help, encouragement, and other aid rendered to see the field work to a successful conclusion. Carrol Moxham and Mary Johnson did their usual fine job of drafting line drawings and producing the photographs for this report. Judy Pace's editorial efforts are greatly appreciated and undoubtedly have made this a better report. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ........................................................... i Acknowledgements . ii Table of Contents . iii List of Figures . iv Introduction . 1 A Brief History of Fort Laramie and the Cavalry Barracks ..................... 3 A Summary of Previous Investigations . 7 Description of Excavations . 9 Artifact Descriptions . 23 Interpretations . 303 Summary . 309 References Cited .................................................. 311 111 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. The reconstructed Fort Laramie Cavalry Barracks ....................... 323 2. Data recording underway after floorboard removal . 323 3. Plan of the excavations of the barracks . 324 4. Profile of Feature 1, a probable dry sump . 325 5. Excavation limits reached in Feature 1 ............................... 326 6. The compacted area, Feature 2, found in TU-9 ......................... 326 7. Feature 3, a trash pit as excavated in TU-G ........................... 327 8. Profile of Feature 3 in TU-G ...................................... 327 9. A late nineteenth century bottle found in TU-G ........................ 328 10. A Spencer cartridge found in association with Feature 4 .................. 329 11. The east wall of Feature 4, a building foundation . 329 12. Glass bottles and bases recovered in the Barracks . 330 13. Oyster can label and condom box ............ ·....................... 331 14. Hersheys Cocoa label and Steinblock wine cork seal . 332 15. Pabst beer bottle ............................................... 333 16. Miscellaneous artifacts . 334 17. Camp boiler lid attributed to Pvt. John Robinson, 5th Cavalry ............. 335 IV INTRODUCTION The 1874 Fort Laramie Cavalry Barracks is one of the best preserved Plains Indian Wars enlisted men's barracks (Figure 1). In 1985, with the culmination of a long planning process, the National Park Service (NPS) began physical restoration of the barracks, to its nineteenth-century appearance. Restoration plans called for the replacement of floors, partition walls, door frames, and window frames, as well as improvement of the drainage around the barracks. Other construction included upgrading utilities and the installation of an underground fuel oil tank. Several of these restoration and adaptive use activities required ground-disturbing impacts. As a part of the historic preservation compliance process archeological investigations were undertaken in the vicinity of the surface disturbing activities. Three areas were investigated by the crew from the Midwest Archeological Center (MWAC), and one area was monitored by park personnel. MWAC personnel excavated a series of test units along the west side, rear elevation, of the building. This area was to have drainage tile emplaced to funnel runoff away from the barracks foundation. Test units were excavated to determine the presence or absence of cultural features in that area. Cultural features, if identified, were to be excavated to mitigate the effect of construction impacts. Excavation was limited to the construction zone. The site for the fuel oil tank was tested to determine if construction would effect any cultural deposits or features at that location. This area is located east of the north half of the barracks. The barracks interior was also tested. The original barracks floor was laid with the joists either just above or directly on the native clay surface, which accelerated their deterioration. In order to provide for better air circulation and eliminate subfloor joist contact with the soil, the area between and beneath the joists was to be excavated. The archeological investigations conducted in the barracks interior were designed to minimize impacts to intact subsurface cultural resources caused by interior restoration activities. The interior archeological investigations focused on the recovery of cultural debris that had collected beneath the barracks floor since its construction in 1874 (Figure 2). A few centimeters of dust and dirt had accumulated beneath the floor in 111 years, along with construction and remodeling debris, and lost personal possessions. The artifacts were collected and recorded in order to ascertain if any artifact depositional pattern was apparent. The room layout and use during the army period is fairly well documented, and the post-army occupation room layout and use is also moderately well documented. Analysis of the artifact deposition pattern was intended to correlate historic room use/function through time with the cultural debris left behind by the various occupants and their associated activities. Subsurface testing was conducted to determine if other cultural features or occupations were present. Several construction-related features were noted, and pre-barracks and post-army occupation features were identified and recorded. These are assessed and interpreted relative to the analytical goal of defining the depositional pattern. Interior subsurface testing efforts were primarily limited to the south half of the barracks due to the extensive post-army occupation subfloor disturbance in the barracks' north half. The north half contained several abandoned utilities trenches, and the area below the joists had been excavated by the post-army period occupants. However, this occupation left behind a great deal of trash which was recorded and collected by park staff, and forwarded to MWAC for processing and analysis. Park staff also monitored the backhoe excavation of the new utilities and sewer lines trenches (Samson 1986). MW AC field investigations were conducted between September 23 and October 7, 1985. The backhoe trench monitoring was conducted from March 20 to 25, 1986. During the restoration effort, another archeological feature was discovered. The senior author returned to Fort Laramie on October 21, 1986, to fully record and further test the feature. Upon completion of this last activity artifact analysis and reporting was to have commenced. Unfortunately, personnel changes and a lengthy detail by one of the authors forced the report into abeyance until late 1988. Artifact processing and writing then began in earnest and culminated in this report of investigations. 2 A BRIEF HISTORY OF FORT LARAMIE AND THE CAVALRY BARRACKS Fort Laramie's history is the subject of numerous articles and books (cf. Hieb 1954, Mattes 1980, Lavender 1983) and need not be repeated in detail here. Broadly, there are three periods of cultural occupation which can be identified historically and archeologically. The first is the Fur Trade Period which began in 1834 with the construction of Fort William and ended with the sale of the second fur trade post (Fort John) to the U.S. Army in 1849. The Army or Military Period extended from 1849 to 1890. In June of 1890, the fort and military reservation were turned over to the Department of the Interior and opened to homesteading. This Farm Period began with the homesteaders and lasted into the 1930s. In 1938 the National Park Service began its administration of the area as an historic site. The specific history of the Cavalry Barracks is detailed by McDermott and Sheire (1970). They have done an excellent job of placing the construction of the barracks in the historical setting. They have documented the conflicting authorities of line and staff officers regarding the selection of fort sites and the type of construction allowed at a given