Archaeology of a Civil War Prison in Blackshear, Georgia
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Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Fall 2019 Preserving the Memory of those Perilous Times: Archaeology of a Civil War Prison in Blackshear, Georgia Colin H. Partridge Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons, and the Military History Commons Recommended Citation Partridge, Colin H., "Preserving the Memory of those Perilous Times: Archaeology of a Civil War Prison in Blackshear, Georgia" (2019). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2027. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/2027 This thesis (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PRESERVING THE MEMORY OF THOSE PERILOUS TIMES: ARCHAEOLOGY OF A CIVIL WAR PRISON IN BLACKSHEAR, GEORGIA by COLIN PARTRIDGE (Under the Direction of Ryan McNutt) ABSTRACT In the closing months of 1864 Confederate prison authorities were forced to evacuate the large stockade prisoner of war (POW) camps at Millen and Andersonville, Georgia in the face of General Sherman’s ‘March to the Sea.’ While attempting to evade Union forces, approximately 5,000 POWs were sent along the Atlantic and Gulf railroad in southeast Georgia, stopping just outside of the town of Blackshear. For three weeks prisoners and guards camped along a small tributary of the Alabaha River with only a few stakes to mark a deadline between them. No formal prison enclosure or fortifications were constructed and while escapes were frequent the majority of the prisoners would endure their stay before continuing down the line to Thomasville. In this thesis, I continue the investigation of site 9PR26 by further delineating the boundaries with metal detection survey. By examining the spatial distribution of the artifacs I attempt to determine the general layout of the camp and why this particular location was chosen as the site of a makeshift prison by its commander. INDEX WORDS: Civil War prisoner of war camps, Conflict archaeology, Archaeology of internment, Metal detecting survey PRESERVING THE MEMORY OF THOSE PERILOUS TIMES: ARCHAEOLOGY OF A CIVIL WAR PRISON IN BLACKSHEAR, GEORGIA by COLIN PARTRIDGE B.A., University of South Carolina, 2012 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS STATESBORO, GEORGIA © 2019 COLIN PARTRIDGE All Rights Reserved 1 PRESERVING THE MEMORY OF THOSE PERILOUS TIMES: ARCHAEOLOGY OF A CIVIL WAR PRISON IN BLACKSHEAR, GEORGIA by COLIN PARTRIDGE Major Professor: Ryan McNutt Committee: Jared Wood Iain Banks Electronic Version Approved: December 2019 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project could not have been completed without the help and continued support of my professors, fellow students, family, and friends. Thank you to Dr. Ryan McNutt, my committee chair, for accepting me as your student and sharing your knowledge of historical and conflict archaeology. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee, Dr. M. Jared Wood and Dr. Iain Banks. Their guidance and encouragement during the work for this project will continue to benefit me throughout my career. I would also like to acknowledge the immense support I received from the other faculty and staff of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, as well as my fellow graduate students and undergraduate volunteers many of whom assisted in the field work associated with this project. Finally, as always, I would like to thank my family for supporting me throughout this period. I could not have done it without you. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................................... 2 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................... 4 LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 6 Civil War Prison Camps as Landscapes of Confinement ....................................................... 9 Previous Work at 9PR26 ......................................................................................................... 10 Methods and Significance of this Study ................................................................................. 16 CHAPTER 2: CIVIL WAR PRISONS, ENCAMPMENTS, AND THEIR ARCHAEOLOGY… ..... .18 Introduction… ......................................................................................................................... 18 Camp Blackshear .................................................................................................................... 23 Archaeology of Civil War Prisons and Encampments ............................................................ 28 Metal Detecting Sites of Conflict............................................................................................ 31 CHAPTER 3: METHODS ................................................................................................................... 36 Summary Results of the Metal Detecting Survey ................................................................... 39 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS ..................................................................................................................... 42 Artifact Patterning................................................................................................................... 44 Spatial Patterning .................................................................................................................... 55 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION .......................................................................... 65 Discussion ............................................................................................................................... 65 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 71 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 74 APPENDICES ..................................................................................................................................... 79 Appendix A: Artifact Catalog from the 2018-2019 Field Work ............................................. 79 4 LIST OF TABLES Page Table 4.1: Artifacts recovered in metal detecting survey by activity group .............................44 Table 4.2: Square nail pennyweight count and percentage ........................................................46 Table 4.3: Artifact distribution by activity group ..................................................................... 60 Table 4.4: Artifacts recovered from TU 1 by activity group .....................................................61 5 LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1.1: Site location topographic map ................................................................................. 11 Figure 3.1: 2013-2019 excavation areas aerial map .................................................................. 36 Figure 4.1: Distribution of artifacts across the 2018-2019 project area .................................... 43 Figure 4.2: Sheet tin fragments, Catalog# 43.01 ....................................................................... 48 Figure 4.3: Railroad spike, Catalog# 133.01. ........................................................................... 48 Figure 4.4: Railroad spike, Catalog# 84.01. ............................................................................. 49 Figure 4.5: Watering bit/ Horse tack, Catalog# 81.01 ............................................................... 49 Figure 4.6: Utensil handle, Catalog# 57.01. ............................................................................. 51 Figure 4.7: U.S. Army general service button, Catalog# 71.01. ................................................ 52 Figure 4.8: U.S. Army general service button, Catalog# 136.01. .............................................. 53 Figure 4.9: Grommet, Catalog# 82.01… .................................................................................. 53 Figure 4.10: Alloy Rivet, Catalog# 159.01…............................................................................54 Figure 4.11: Artifact distribution and site boundary ................................................................ 59 Figure 4.12: FS# 187 in shovel test ........................................................................................... 62 Figure 4.13: Feature 1 mid excavation photo ........................................................................... 62 Figure 4.14: Test Unit 1 closing photo ..................................................................................... 63 Figure 4.15: Test Unit 1 west profile ........................................................................................ 64 Figure 5.1: Civil War occupation