Confederate Encampment

Confederate Encampment. McGowan's South Carolina Brigade. , Archaeology Reveals Hidden History , Excavations revealed a virtually untouched Confederate encampment at this location. The rich finds provide a picture of the soldiers' daily lives as they struggled through the harsh winter of 1863-64., Archaeologists excavated sites of two Confederate huts (outlined in white) with the remains of a hearth (rock mounds) surrounding a fireplace (path of red clay) scorched by months of fires., The borrow pits, the source of clay for daubing chimneys and walls, were later used to dispose of ash and trash., Very few food containers or animal bones were found at this camp, indicating that the soldiers' sparse diet probably consisted of corn meal, salt pork, and hardtack. Archaeologists discovered this jug made in South Carolina (left) in one of the nearby borrow pits and reassembled it., Confederate camps were designed to mirror the military units' organization, thereby strengthening company cohesion and discipline, and enabling rapid deployment, McGowan's soldiers assembled for the march to the Wilderness with only 30 minutes of preparation., Soldiers camped in a line, forming a company "street," with the company commander at the head of the street. The three larger huts in the illustration above are for higher-ranking regimental officers. The huts at Montpelier followed a similar pattern., Approximately 400 of McGowan's soldiers and enslaved workers camped at this site. Latrines were located at the bottom of the hill, away from the soldiers' huts. Soldiers and enslaved laborers were issued only a tent and a handful of nails with which to construct their hut. They obtained the remainder of the materials, timbers, clay, and stone, from the woods around them. Each hut measured 12 feet square and held four soldiers., (inset) McGowan Encampment Layout , Black squares represent approximate locations of hut sites