Archaeology students trying to learn more about a Confederate prison that operated for less
than two months in southern Georgia are exploring where Federal soldiers were
held captive, and they’ve thus far turned up buckles, nails, a Rebel musket
ball and intriguing turtle remains.
Nails may have had multiple uses, a Federal trouser buckle (Camp Lawton Archaeological Project)
Georgia
Southern University Associate Professor Ryan McNutt said this season’s dig on the site of Camp Lawton began in January and
will go through April or early May. This is the first time the project has been
on the Federal side of the stockade since 2014.
Hundreds of
POWs died at Lawton during its brief existence in fall 1864. Prisoners were
shuttled among several Southern prisons, most notably Andersonville as Union
forces advanced on Savannah. The camp was built near Millen; a portion lies
within Magnolia Springs State Park and the rest is on the grounds of a former
federal fish hatchery.
Since the
announcement in 2010 of the discovery of the Lawton site, GSU has studied
several areas to get a better understanding of prisoner and guard life. McNutt
responded this month to a series of questions from the Civil War Picket. His
responses have been edited.
Q. One (Facebook) post said a prime
focus is the sutler's cabin. Was it within the prison area (where Federal
soldiers roamed)? What does the record say about the cabin, its purpose and
operation? Why would you like to find evidence of the cabin?
A. The sutler cabin seems to have been across the stream
from the gate, and directly in line with it on the main west-east running road
(in modern cardinal directions, not Robert Knox Sneden's). The record is
frustratingly quite vague.
Sutler cabin (top) at Camp Sumter/Andersonville (Library of Congress)
We know there was one, as there was at Andersonville
(photo above, log structure with slanted roof), as POWs discuss it.
Sneden (see
Union POW’s drawing below of Camp Lawton) seems to place it in the same general location,
though in at least several instances he places it on opposite sides of the road
leading to the bridge.
The sutler
at Andersonville seems to have been a James Selman Jr., followed by a James
Duncan, who may have been a Confederate guard and was possibly replaced again
by a James Selman. One of these individuals likely ran the sutler's
(cabin) at Camp Lawton. They were authorized by the prison commandants to sell
to the prisoners authorized items. From their stories, prisoners with
money that they were able to hang on to, or make, could buy eggs, flour, bacon,
cornbread, beans, baking soda, and blackberries; soap, shaving equipment,
clothing, tobacco, tobacco pipes, cigars, reading material, and so on -- for
eyewatering prices that were much higher than regular marker prices. Examples:
Fifty cents an egg, six dollars for a pound of bacon, and 25 cents a spoon for
baking soda.
Detail of Sneden's drawing shows sutler cabin, police area in center (Library of Congress)
We're looking for evidence of the cabin as part of a graduate student's thesis work, which is focused on shadow and underground economies inside prison camps. As one of the only sources of goods coming into the prison, it's like the sutler's cabin was the center point of much of the legal and illegal trade between prisoners, guards and prisoners and the sutler.
We're hoping to find evidence of this in the material culture around the cabin,
to get an idea of how heavily trafficked and used it may have been. Sneden
certainly seems to imply the area around the cabin was always crowded.
Q. What else are the students
concentrating on this spring?
Students sift through soil (Camp Lawton Archaeological Project)
A. Essentially,
just the area around the bank on the west side of the stream. Interestingly,
while Sneden shows it lightly occupied, he does show an area of shebangs
labeled 'Police' with no explanation, as well as potentially a chapel, though
this might be reading too much into Sneden's maps and images.
We're also getting a better idea of how densely the camp was occupied, where we have evidence of POW activity, and in a very real way, the extent of past impacts on the site during its transition from timberland to state and then federal fish hatchery, and CCC work.
We used Lidar data to pinpoint potential anomalies that
might be the sutler's cabin, and the students are learning how to locate those
on the ground, test them and get an understanding that even with the most
accurate technology you can get, archaeologists still have to dig to confirm our
guess of flat areas and odd shapes that show up in Lidar.
Q. So far we've got clear indications of a lightly occupied
area of the stockade, and our current grid is likely just off of where the
sutler’s cabin should be, but we have another area just west that might have
more promise. We're working from our known to our unknown, from areas that were
lightly tested in the past to areas that the project has never looked at
before. We're almost finished with our current grid, which has clearly showed
some POW occupation. Turtle bones and shells (left) possibly came from a hearth, and
we have a few other spots that might be POW shelters. We'll explore these with
test units, and we'll establish another area over our area of interest that
might be closer to the sutler's cabin and the main road.
But we also
clearly have empty spots, with no artifacts at all that seem to indicate the
presence of roads and paths shown on the plan created by the Confederates as
the camp was being built, and Sneden's water colors.
Q. Social media photos by the project
show numerous buckles -- trousers, knapsack or elsewhere. Are these believed to
be from Union POWs? What about the iron nails --- suspected use for them?
A. So far, we have one whole and one partial trouser
buckle, as well as three that are likely haversack or knapsack buckles. We also
have some different files -- metal and wood working, that seem to have
been fairly degraded when they were dropped. As well as one piece of
ceramic and some fragments of glass bottles. One of which was likely a pickle
or sauce bottle. These were all probably dropped by POWs. The trouser buckles
are standard issue on several Federal trouser types, and the buckles match
Federal issued equipment. While this isn't to say they are absolutely from
POWs, the Confederates present at the camp do not seem to ever have been issued
anything close to uniform items.
The nails may have
just been dropped -- most of them seem to have been pulled and bent, and aren't
modified in any clear way. But we haven't done a full analysis yet.
We've also
found a host of unknown items, and some personal effects such as what is
possibly part of a match safe, and maybe even a cigar case.
[An] unexpected moment was one of our artifacts
that is also the most puzzling. An iron strap with copper rivets, and a hinge
on one side, and a threaded rod on the other, it still has preserved leather
around several of the rivets. And it looks as though whatever it is, it may be
period.
(The GSU team also found what appears to be a
spent Confederate bullet. The Picket will have a separate article about this
soon.)
 |
| Cast copper alloy buckle with iron tongue (Camp Lawton Project) |
Q. Anything else readers might want to
know?
A. I'd be interested in being contacted by anyone who might
have an ancestor inside the stockade who left any memories, or anyone with
photos of Magnolia Springs State Park and the stream going back to the CCC
activity. Individuals are also always welcome
to email me (rmcnutt@georgiasouthern.edu) with any questions, and I'll get back
as soon as I can. They're also welcome to stop by the site, even if we're not
running a public day. (The GSU team usually is on site Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays during this field school.)
COMING SOON: Recovered
Confederate bullets at Camp Lawton raise questions about how often and why
guards fired upon prisoners there, at Andersonville and other sites.
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