An Historical Archaeological Examination of a Battlefield Landscape: an Example from the American Civil War Battle of Wilson's Wharf, Charles City County, Virginia
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W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 2003 An historical archaeological examination of a battlefield landscape: An Example from the American Civil War Battle of Wilson's Wharf, Charles City County, Virginia Jameson Michael Harwood College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons, Military History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Harwood, Jameson Michael, "An historical archaeological examination of a battlefield landscape: An Example from the American Civil War Battle of Wilson's Wharf, Charles City County, Virginia" (2003). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539626393. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-bkaa-yg82 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AN HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF A BATTLEFIELD LANDSCAPE: An Example From The American Civil War Battle Of Wilson’s Wharf, Charles City County, Virginia A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Anthropology The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Jameson Michael Harwood 2003 APPROVAL SHEET This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Jameson MichaefHarwood Approved, May 2003 t Norman Barka Dennis Blanton MarleyBrown, III DEDICATION To the soldiers who fought and died the Wilson’s Wharf battlefield landscape TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements v List of Tables vi List of Figures vii Abstract ix Introduction 2 Chapter I. Issues in Battlefield Archaeology 7 Chapter II. Battlefield as Cultural Landscape 17 Chapter III. Research in Battlefield Archaeology 26 Chapter IV. Flistorical Perspective On the Battle of Wilson’s Wharf 41 Chapter V. Archaeological Perspective On the Battle of Wilson’s Wharf 70 Chapter VI. An Historical Archaeological Perspective On the Battle of 114 Wilson’s Wharf Appendix 131 Bibliography 134 Vita 150 iv ACKNOWLEGMENTS The success of this research was due to the commitment of a number of people. The project would not have been possible without a generous grant from the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program. The expert team of battlefield archaeologists consisted of Christopher Adams of the Lincoln National Forest, Charles Haecker of the National Park Service Intermountain Support Office, Paul Nasca of the College of William and Mary, and Bryan Shanks of the Lincoln National Forest. The author wishes to express his appreciation to Dennis Blanton, Director of the William and Mary Center for Archaeological Research, for having faith that a wild-eyed graduate student could locate a little-known Civil War battle deep in the wilds of Virginia. The author is also indebted to Dr. Norman Barka and Dr. Marley Brown III for their careful reading and critique of the manuscript. Also, thanks to Dr. Douglas Scott for paving the way in the field of battlefield archaeology and for providing much needed encouragement during the project. This material is based upon work assisted by a grant from the Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of the Interior. v LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Confederate and Union Participants at the Battle of Wilson’s 58 Wharf 2. Proposed verses achieved coverage of study areas 74 3. Battle-related artifact types and percentages 86 vi LIST OF FIGURES Study Area Location and Environs 5 Aerial Photograph of Site Environs 6 Union Major General Benjamin Butler 45 Eastern Virginia - Spring 1864 47 Union Brigadier General Edward A. Wild 53 Officers and Men of the 1st Regiment United States 54 Colored Troops Confederate Major General Fitzhugh Lee 56 Battle of Wilson’s Wharf - First Phase 60 Battle of Wilson’s Wharf - Second Phase 63 Battle of Wilson’s Wharf - Final Phase 66 “Sketch of Works at Wilson’s Wharf or Landing” 68 Wilson’s Wharf Battlefield Survey Examination Areas 73 Photograph of Area 1 - Transect 1 75 Photograph of Area 3 - Lee’s Ravine 76 Archaeologist Conducting Survey 83 Recovered Bullet In Situ 83 Artifact Locations Marked By Pin Flags 84 Mapping of Artifact Locations 84 Representative Bullets and Firearm Artifacts 87 Parrott Artillery Projectile Fragment 96 vii 21. Straight Back Sword Fragments 97 22. Buttons 99 23. Miscellaneous Artifacts 103 24. Equipment and Hardware Distribution Within Site 107 Examination Areas 25. Ammunition Distribution Within Site Examination 108 Areas viii ABSTRACT This thesis presents a case study for the historical archaeological examination of a battlefield. It presents an American Civil War battlefield, known as the Battle of Wilson’s Wharf, not so much as an archaeological site but rather as a cultural landscape of conflict. An examination of the artifactual residue of the battle patterned within the cultural landscape combined with an analysis of the historical documentation on the May 24, 1864, engagement, reveals a much broader insight into the nature of battlefields than can be reached through either history or archaeology alone. The thesis also makes recommendations for additional fieldwork on the battlefield. ix AN HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF A BATTLEFIELD LANDSCAPE: An Example from the American Civil War Battle of Wilson’s Wharf, Charles City County, Virginia INTRODUCTION May 24th, 1864. Charles City County, Virginia. After an all night ride the 2,500 Confederate cavalrymen under the command of Major General Fitzhugh Lee finally reached their destination. As the military activity near Richmond developed into a virtual stalemate, the Confederate government decided it was time to deal with a small situation transpiring downriver. On May 5 , Federal troops assigned to protect the communication and supply line of the Army of the James had landed at Wilson’s Wharf and established a base of operations. All throughout the month reports had come in stating the Union garrison was continuing to fortify their position. However, it was not the strategic location of the fortification that worried the Southern military as the Union navy controlled the James River. Rather it was the nature of the Federal infantry stationed at Wilson’s Wharf that caused Confederate officials such discomfort. For the Union soldiers consisted of two regiments of United States Colored Troops (U.S.C.T.) under the command of the contentious Brigadier General Edward Wild. As in North Carolina, Wild continued to take the war to the local populace by raiding the surrounding countryside from his base at Wilson’s Wharf. Accounts of Wild’s activities, ranging from the factual to the fantastical, led outraged Southern citizens to demand action. By May 23, the Confederate army could no longer tolerate the idea of black soldiers operating freely in the heart of Virginia and General 2 3 Braxton Bragg sent the cavalry force to “break up the nest and stop their uncivilized proceedings in the neighborhood” (Fitzhugh Lee’s Postwar Report 1866). This thesis is based on an investigation of the May 24, 1864, Battle of Wilson’s Wharf conducted by the William and Mary Center for Archaeological Research in the fall of 2000 (Harwood 2001) (Figure 1 and 2). The project was funded by a grant from the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP). The project sought to demonstrate the value of a systematic metal detector survey combined with in-depth historical research as a means of delineating troop positions within a battlefield site. The artifact distributions not only demonstrated a positive correlation with aspects of the historical record, but also provided valuable insights into areas where the written accounts were incomplete or silent. By drawing on the data collected during the 2000 survey this thesis presents a case for the historical archaeological examination of a battlefield. It presents the Wilson’s Wharf battlefield not so much as an archaeological site but rather as a cultural landscape of conflict. An examination of the artifactual residue of the battle patterned within the cultural landscape, combined with an analysis of the historical documentation on the May 24, 1864, engagement, reveals a much broader insight into the nature of battlefields than can be reached through either history or archaeology alone. The thesis also makes recommendations for additional fieldwork on the battlefield. 4 The following chapters provide an historical archaeological examination of the Wilson’s Wharf battlefield landscape. Chapter One examines issues related to the study of battlefield archaeology. Chapter Two presents the battlefield as a cultural landscape and examines the study of landscapes in historical archaeology. Chapter Three discusses the study of battlefield archaeology from its beginnings up to the present day. Chapter Four presents the history of the Battle of Wilson’s Wharf. Chapter Five provides a description of the cultural landscape encompassed by the battle and presents the data recovered from the 2000 fieldwork. Chapter Six provides an historical archaeological examination of the Battle of Wilson’s Wharf through a comparison of the historical record and the behavioral patterning of artifacts within the cultural landscape of the battlefield. 5 C erri» . V C , m .STUDY Al i ■ j Sturgeon cHr*k^ Pomt :• 2 A© • * L ig h t ;■ Mifes .'■ M Flats % " > • ' . v ■ ... t •'•**i . %3SU, l * | ' V w * fcn-non. H'v ^ 4000 feet larsh v'i; *2>\ 1000 meters Figure 1. Study Area location and environs (U.S. Geological Survey [USGS] 1980, 1987). 6 500 feet Figure 2. Aerial photograph of site environs (USGS aerial photo).