Revolutionary War Tour

[N.J.THer]

Hi Everyone,
I thought I would share my Sunday with the group even though it did not include any digging. It is very long and probably not too exciting but I loved it.

I'm a member of a group of battlefield archaeologists that help state archaeologists do archaeological surveys of their sites. The group has worked in KY, DE, PA, NY and mainly NJ were we are based out of Monmouth Battlefield State Park.

This past weekend we sponsored a lecture by Dr. Douglas Scott, one of the foremost experts in the field of conflict archeology. He is well know for his work at the Battle of Little Bighorn and has many books of that and other sites he has worked over his great career. If you get a chance you should check his stuff out...very interesting.

Dr. Scott requested a tour of the local American Revolution sites in the area. On Saturday we did a quick hunt at Monmouth where he did find a nice British musketball. His first found Revolution period musketball. Then after the dig he was given a tour of the visitor center and battlefield. That night was his very informative lecture at Monmouth University.

Sunday is when the marathon tour began. At around 7:20am we started on the road heading for Valley Forge. At 8:30 we meet the graduate student in charge of the site. He opened up three dig sites for us to view which included what they believe were an officers hut facing the parade grounds, an enlisted hut and one of the camp kitchens. We went and viewed some of the artifacts that are on display. I discovered a group picture in the artifact display that I'm in...I didn't even know that existed..pretty cool.

Headed over to Washington's head quarters where they recently had another dig a few months ago. Toured that building and site. Then we left Valley Forge and headed to Princeton Battlefield. Where we met the curator on the field. He gave an very informative talk on how they believe the battle played out. Then we went inside the museum and checked out the collection which includes a wide array of period guns. If you are ever in the area you should stop and check out the battlefield then head over to the Priceton campus for Nassau Hall.

From Princeton we headed north to West Point where we meet up with a Major Scott. He was a super nice guy and headed our tour while we were there. First stop was the West Point Museum. I had never had the opportunity to view their collection before and wow what a collection. Keep in mind that through out history we have always sent our trophies of war back to West Point for safe keeping. They have been building this collection since the Revolutionary War. The Museum was super accommodating. At one point someone asked to see a piece not on display to the public. They pulled it out of storage on a cart for us to view it. Amazing.

Then we headed over to trophy hill where we stopped at the overlook on the Hudson River. I could see the spot on the other side of the river where the Hudson River Chain was attached. They have a section of the chain on display on the hill. There is a nice french four pound-er cannon that our organization borrowed about two years ago to make a cast. We used the cast to make a reproduction for the front of the visitor center at Monmouth Battlefield. I believe it is the only reproduction 4 lb gun ever made. There were cannons on display from the Revolution, War of 1812, Mexican-American War and the Civil War.

Next we headed over to the cemetery where we viewed the graves of Custer, General Winfield Scott, Margaret Corbin and many other historic graves.

One funny story involved Egbert Ludovicus Viele's tomb. Being an engineer he designed his own tomb which is a big pyramid with two sphinxes at the entrance. After his death, his wife felt the two sphinxes were too busty so she had them replaced with ones with smaller chests. The other two were dumped in the river. One was recovered and is in the backyard of one of the homes at West Point. Viele also had a buzzer wire installed from the tomb to the superintends house in case he was buried alive. To each their own.

We left West Point and the last stop on the world wind tour was Fort Montgomery. They have a new visitor center with brand new exhibits which look great. The fact that around 100,000 artifacts have come out of the site they have some great stuff on display. Since they knew we were coming they met us after the Fort was closed. We walked through the fort where they have awesome wayside exhibits overlooking the excavated sites. Where the cannon battery was there is a nice view down the Hudson. There were originally six 32 lb Cannons in this battery. They have one on display there which they fired earlier in the day. That is one impressive gun and it is hard to imagine six, that I believe have a range of around three miles, lined up. If you ever get the chance to check out West Point and Fort Montgomery please do it. They are right down the street from each other and located in a beautiful setting. Great for the family.

That ended a once in a lifetime private tour of some great Revolutionary War sites. It was a long day but I know all six of us would have done it again in a heart beat.

One of my favorite parts of the day was being able to hold some period rifles. I've held reproductions before but never the real thing. That British Blunderbuss is one heavy weapon. I would hate to have to march with that sucker.

I took way too many pictures to post them all but if there is something you would like to see just let me know and I will try to post it.

NJ

[Connecticut Danny]

Does anybody have good leads on Connecticut bury treasures? Thank you. lovejoydc@att.net