One hundred and fifty years after Lee’s surrender, archaeologists using the latest technology are adding important new insights to the American Civil War story that has been too often told by unreliable eyewitness accounts. In this thoroughly absorbing collection of essays, a group of seasoned historical archaeologists explore new directions for examining America’s most devastating war. Their scientific approach to the material remains of the war add mountains of new information that often bury the myths that abound. Battlegrounds and camps in Virginia, Kentucky, Texas, Missouri, Florida, and South Carolina are explored illustrating the character of the conflict. The inclusion of sites in the trans-Mississippi West (Missouri-Kansas border region) gives attention to an area often ignored in conventional histories of the war. In fact, the war really started there in 1856 with Bloody Kansas and continued until the hostilities ceased in Virginia.
The 16 essays focus on three central themes: 1) battlefield landscapes on land and sea; 2) logistical support and the life of the common soldier; 3) miscellaneous studies including military defense and artifact collections. Archaeological field methods are described that show how modern technologies can be applied to battlefield archaeology. Some of those techniques include remote sensing using magnetometers and ground penetrating radar. Systematic, scientific metal detector surveys are particularly effective in tracing the course of battle. Sometimes scorned by professional archaeologists because of their use by looters, metal detector surveys have proven to be very effective in mapping military engagements and campsites. Of course more traditional archaeological excavations are needed to recover larger items and verify remote-sensing finds.
From These Honored Dead is an important addition to the growing field of conflict archaeology. Despite the thousands of histories of the Civil War, it aptly illustrates that archaeologists have much to contribute before the whole story is told.
