The Hammock Landing Battery and the Confederate Defenses Of

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The Hammock Landing Battery and the Confederate Defenses Of THE HAMMOCK LANDING BATTERY AND THE CONFEDERATE DEFENSES OF THE APALACHICOLA RIVER, FLORIDA by Charles Brian Mabelitini B.A., The University of Kentucky, 2006 A thesis submitted to the Department of Anthropology College of Arts and Sciences The University of West Florida In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts 2012 © 2012 Charles Brian Mabelitini TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ vii ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ xii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................1 A. Thesis Statement ........................................................................1 B. Hammock Landing Battery (Neal’s Bluff) ................................2 CHAPTER II. METHODOLOGICAL AND THEORETICAL APPROACH ........6 A. Research Questions ....................................................................6 B. Theoretical Overview.................................................................7 C. Archival Methods .....................................................................10 D. Field Methods ..........................................................................11 1. Topographic Mapping ........................................................11 2. Test Unit Excavation ..........................................................13 3. Metal Detection ..................................................................15 4. Laboratory Methods ...........................................................15 CHAPTER III. PREVIOUS ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH ........................17 CHAPTER IV. HISTORICAL CONTEXT ............................................................25 A. Introduction ..............................................................................25 B. Commerce and Industry ...........................................................27 C. Blockade and River Defenses ..................................................29 D. Apalachicola River Batteries ...................................................38 E. The Hammock Landing Battery .............................................. 47 F. Discussion ................................................................................52 CHAPTER V. ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS .....................................56 A. Gun Emplacement 2 .................................................................58 B. Powder Magazine 1..................................................................72 C. Metal Detector Survey .............................................................83 D. Discussion ................................................................................85 CHAPTER VI. 19th CENTURY HISTORIC MATERIALS .................................88 A. Architecture Group ..................................................................89 1. Nails ...................................................................................89 2. Spikes .................................................................................91 iv 3. Wood ..................................................................................92 B. Arms Group .............................................................................93 C. Miscellaneous Group .............................................................100 D. Discussion ..............................................................................102 CHAPTER VII. COMPARISONS WITH MANUALS AND RESULTS OF KOCOA ANALYSIS...................................................................105 A. Hammock Landing .................................................................106 1. Gun Emplacement 2 .........................................................107 2. Powder Magazine 1..........................................................114 B. KOCOA Terrain Analysis ..................................................... 120 C. Discussion ..............................................................................125 CHAPTER VIII CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .....................131 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................137 APPENDIXES .................................................................................................................151 A. 8LI334 Artifact Inventory .......................................................152 v LIST OF TABLES 1. KOCOA Elements and Examples ..........................................................................10 2. List of Features ......................................................................................................57 3. Pennyweight Measurements for Whole Nails ........................................................89 vi LIST OF FIGURES 1. Location of Liberty County, Florida (Illustration by author, 2011) ........................3 2. Location of Hammock Landing Battery (8LI334) (USGS Rock Creek 7.5’ Topographic Quadrangle, 1982) (Illustration by author, 2011) ...............................4 3. Topographic Map of the Hammock Landing Battery (Florida Public Archaeology Network, 2010) ......................................................................................................12 4. Overlay of 1936 and 2010 Topographic Maps of the Hammock Landing Battery in Torreya State Park, Liberty County, Florida (National Park Service 1936; Florida Public Archaeology Network, 2010) (Illustration by author, 2011) .........14 5. Topographic Map of Battery Gilmer (8GU14) (White 1999:63) ..........................19 6. Topographic Map of Battery Cobb (8GU94) (White 1999:64) .............................19 7. View of Wooden Platform at Confederate Gun Emplacement 17 (8ES126), Pensacola Naval Air Station (NAS), Florida (Swindell 1976:41) .........................21 8. Location of Pee Dee River Battery (38FL132) (Avery 2008) ...............................23 9. Apalachicola-Chattahoochee River System in 1861 (Turner 1988:4) ...................26 10. Undated Photograph of Captain Theodore Moreno (Mandrell 1988:349) ............34 11. Circa 1862-1863 Map of the Apalachicola River Showing the Locations of Land Batteries (adapted from George Washington Scott Papers, State Archives of Florida) ...................................................................................................................39 12. Map of Defenses at the Narrows showing Batteries Cobb and Gilmer, and the Obstructions in the Apalachicola and Virginia Rivers (U.S. War Department 1890[28]2:425) ......................................................................................................44 13. 1862 Map of defenses at the Narrows showing Fields of Fire of the Guns, Drawn by Corporal R.F. Hosford of Captain Gregory’s Company H, 5th Florida Infantry Regiment (State Archives of Florida) ....................................................................45 vii 14. Map of Lower Apalachicola River (ca. 1863) showing Locations of Iola, Forts Cobb and Gadsden, and Bloody Bluff (George Washington Scott Papers, State Archives of Florida) ...............................................................................................46 15. Artistic Rendition of Gun Emplacements 1 and 2 at the Hammock Landing Battery based on Archaeological Investigations (© David Edwards, 2011) .........48 16. Civil War-Era List of Distances Between Landings from Chattahoochee to Apalachicola (George Washington Scott Papers, State Archives of Florida) .......53 17. Hammock Landing Battery Site Areas (Illustration by author, 2011) ...................56 18. 1957 Photograph of Gun Emplacement 2 (State Archives of Florida) ..................58 19. Unit 1020N 1000E North Profile Showing General Soil Stratigraphy Across Gun Emplacement 2 Site Area (Illustration by author, 2011) .......................................59 20. Gun Emplacement 2 Platform Site Map (Illustration by author, 2011) .................60 21. View of Gun Emplacement 2 Platform Facing East (Photo by author, 2010) .......60 22. View of Gun Emplacement 2 Showing Remnants of Sleepers (Features 3, 4, and 5) and Planking (Features 8 and 10) Facing East (Photo by author, 2010) ...........61 23. View of Features 3, 4, and 6 East Bisection (Photo by author, 2010) ...................62 24. West Profile of Feature 6 Bisection (Illustration and photo by author, 2010) .......63 25. Unit 1017N 1000E Planview Showing Features 5 and 10 (Illustration and photo by author, 2010) .....................................................................................................63 26. Unit 1020N 998E Planview at Bottom of Zone 2 (Illustration and photo by author, 2010) ......................................................................................................................64 27. Unit 1015N 1000E Planview at Bottom of Zone 2 (Illustration and photo by author, 2010) ..........................................................................................................64 28. Planview of Units 1017N 996E and 1018N 996E Showing Feature 20 (Illustration and photo by author, 2010) ....................................................................................65 29. Diagram of 32-pounder Gun on Front-Pintle Barbette Carriage Showing Location of Traversing Pintle (adapted from Peterson
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