Last fall's dig (Michael Gregory) |
Last fall, a team unearthed debris, several postwar
artifacts and one that did date to the period: A .58-caliber Minie ball, about
75 centimeters (30 inches) down, a depth where they were expecting to find Camp
Douglas materials.
Diggers will again work in a backyard
vegetable garden inside what is believed to be the prisoners’ living area. They will be working in two spots in the garden.
The Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation is
trying to find precise locations of camp features in an urban area that has
seen extensive development in the past century, and where much of history is
covered by miles of pavement and buildings.
Archaeologist Michael Gregory, a member
of the foundation’s board, said the work began Thursday and will likely
continue through next Wednesday, April 25. The team found a half dime from 1854, he said Friday.
The home, built in 1885, is in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood.
Bullet found in home's back yard (Michael Gregory) |
The resident had visited one of a half
dozen such digs at nearby John J. Pershing Magnet School for Humanities on Calumet Avenue. “He
loves the neighborhood and loves everything that goes along with it,” Gregory
said this week.
Gregory said the goal this time is to get a better view of the
camp layer deposit, recover artifacts if present “and maybe find some type of feature --pier support for a
building, pit, fence post holes, etc.-- that we can relate to plans we have for
the camp in order to know more specifically where within Prisoners Square we
are excavating.”
He believes the location where the bullet was found was relatively undisturbed since the end of the Civil War.
He believes the location where the bullet was found was relatively undisturbed since the end of the Civil War.
The
foundation is trying to bring protection to the 60 acres by having it listed on the National Register of Historic Places. That's an involved process that requires evidence that camp-related features survive, even if underground. No buildings survive.
Camp Douglas originally served as a Union training facility for about
40,000 soldiers – including African-Americans -- being rushed to the front.
Much of the site was converted to a prison camp for 26,000 Confederates. About 4,000 Rebels died
at the prison.
Gregory said the organization also hopes
to conduct ground-penetrating radar surveys at six sites, most on public right
of way, later this spring. The GPR can see deeper in the soil for any undisturbed
camp features.
Camp Douglas exhibit at museum in Wisconsin (Michael Gregory) |
Some of the artifacts found in the
neighborhood in the past few years are on temporary display at the Civil War Museum in Kenosha,
Wisc.
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