Archaeology at the Civil War and Buffalo Soldier House

Archaeology at the Civil War and Buffalo Soldier House. . , Military service was a definitive step for African Americans toward obtaining full rights of citizenship during the century after the Civil War., How were The Hill Community residents connected to national and world events?, After serving in the 7th Infantry Division of the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War, John Green and hew new wife Eliza Skinner Green began living here in 1879., When Green passed away in 1895, Eliza married William Dobson and likely began renting out the house while living with her new husband. His nephew, Sgt. William Gardner, was a Buffalo Soldier in the U.S. Army and veteran of the Spanish American War., In 2003, a storage trunk found inside this house revealed detailed military records of Gardner's service., Digging for Meaning , Sometimes artifacts, found on a site can connect us to national events in the past. Archaeologists discovered two military buttons circa 1860-1880 on the site that may have been from John Green's uniform., Emblazoned with eagles, these buttons connect us to the political and social struggle for African Americans to obtain full rights of citizenship in the United States.,

"Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters, U.S.; let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his soldier and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship." , Frederick Douglass

, Military Records
Documents found here detail William Gardner's 26 years of "honest and faithful" service in the Ninth Colored Regiment, Troop E from 1886-1908., He served with the cavalry in the American West and in the Philippines and Cuba during the Spanish American War., His unit was at the battle for San Juan Hill when Theodore Roosevelt led his famous charge., Site History ,

1879 . John Green leases property from Robert Walker for $10 per year, with an option to buy for $100. , 1895 . John Green dies without a will, leaving his wife, Eliza, with a $10 annual lease on the property. , 1897 . Eliza pays off mortgage to Walker and owns the property outright. , 1921 . Eliza dies and leaves the property to her nephew, Walter Skinner, who sells it to Malcar and Elizabeth Gardner for $500.

, [Caption:] , Through military service, African Americans laid claim to full citizenship.