Buffington Island Battlefield Archaeological Project


DOCUMENTS \| PRESS ARCHIVES \| TRAIL \| LIBRARY \| WHO'S WHO \| LINKS HEIDELBERG \| CHMA \| BI HOME PAGE \| ARCHAEOLOGIST

Updates from the field, June 5, 1999

	Each morning brings a twenty mile drive from Ripley, W.Va., to the Buffington Island Battlefield Memorial Park, crossing the Ohio River at Ravenswood, W.Va.
	Early Saturday morning Larry Hamilton (H.A.R.) and two volunteer excavators recovered the first of several Spencer repeating carbine cartridges found during the course of the day.
	Detector operator Keith Bailey and excavator Kelly Hockersmith explain the significance of one of the recovered artifacts to a volunteer from Portsmith, Ohio.
	The Spencer carbine, a new weapon in 1863, was carried by some of the Union Cavalry Regiments involved in the battle. Spent bullets and ejected cartridges (pictured here) were recovered.
	With temperatures approaching 90° and high humidity, the field crew and a large number of volunteers swept a parched cornfield and recovered many significant artifacts.
	The crew takes a "shade break" and visits the remains of the road over which Morgan escaped with part of his command. Morgan's baggage train clogged this road and blocked units lead by Col. Basil Duke. Duke's command was trapped and forced to surrender beneath these bluffs.
	Battlefield artifacts found on Saturday include spent Minie and musket balls, carbine and pistol bullets, Spencer cartridges and an 1857 "Seated Liberty" dime.

Check out the next day!