Until now, archaeologists of the Civil War have concentrated their efforts on the battlefields. This volume is the first dedicated to the archaeology of Civil War encampments, where the soldiers spent most of their time and where more died from disease than from wounds on the battlefield. Huts and History is a fine introduction to a new subfield of archaeology that we are bound to hear more about in the near future. It examines methodology and case studies of a wide range of encampment sites in New Jersey, Kentucky, and Virginia, including Grant’s headquarters at City Point, Virginia.
A recruit entering either the Union or Confederate army in 1862-63 would spend 10-12 days in combat and 431 days marching or in camp. Lee’s camps were larger than any southern city save New Orleans. Archaeologists are finding the materials remains of this kind of life, and thus unveiling an untold story of the war. Sadly, the sites are in grave danger of destruction. They are targets of looters, but more importantly they often stand in the path of rampant development, especially in northern Virginia, where much of the Civil War was waged. —Mark Michel
