James Madison’s Montpelier

Celebrate Christmas in Another Century

The holidays are a time to welcome family and friends home and enjoy your favorite traditions. Here at Montpelier, we are getting ready to welcome back some of our good friends from the 3rd Regiment of the Army of Northern Virginia. The reenactors will visit Montpelier for a Christmas Civil War Living History on December 5 and 6.

Montpelier and the 3rd Regiment of the Army of Northern Virginia have a strong partnership. The regiment is currently working to rebuild some of the huts at the Montpelier Civil War Encampment Site. General Samuel McGowan’s South Carolinians occupied the site during the winter of 1863-64. The reenactors also visited Montpelier this past summer for Civil War Weekend. Continue Reading…

The Race to Winter

The last few weeks at Montpelier have been busy. The staff is gearing up for three very exciting events—The Running of the Montpelier Hunt Races, Freedman’s Farm, and Confederate Winter Camp Site Walking Tour, and the all-new Christmas Candlelight Tour at Montpelier.

The Running of the Montpelier Hunt Races will celebrate its 75th anniversary this Saturday, November 7. Marion duPont Scott founded the Hunt Races at Montpelier in 1934. Today, the Montpelier Hunt Races remain a beloved tradition in Orange County, Va. Continue Reading…

Civil War Huts return to Montpelier

In the depths of winter, Civil War soldiers have returned to Montpelier to build hut sites in the woods behind the Gilmore Farm.  No, this is not the story of a long-lost regiment of Confederate troops who have found their way back to Montpelier, but the story of a group of reenactors from the 3rd Regiment of the Army of Northern Virginia who used January 24, 2009 as the kick-off to recreate a set of winter huts.  We are working with the reenactors to enable visitors to experience first hand the conditions troops lived in at Montpelier during the Winter of 1863 and 1864.  For the past six years, The Montpelier Archaeology Department has been locating huts sites through archaeological surveys and excavations and at long last we are using this information to recreate the appearance of these huts.  On the weekends, reenactors will use the huts for reenactments and visitors are welcome to see the troops enact daily camp life.  Despite the chilly conditions of this past Saturday, more than 30 visitors came out to see and talk to the reenactors building the huts.  Read more in an article published in the Culpeper Star Exponent last week.

The reenactors cleared an area in the woods where the five huts will be reconstructed–one officers’ hut and four enlisted men’s huts–to create an abridged company street (a regiment of 500 men would consist of 10 companies–each with their own street of 10 huts).  The reenactors are cutting trees from the surrounding woods to build the huts and will daub them with mud to seal the cracks.  The huts will serve as their “base camp” for future reenactments held at Montpelier.  Expect to see more Civil War soldiers at Montpelier!The recreated huts are accessible to the public from the interpretive trail leading between the Gilmore Farm and the Confederate Camp site (archaeological site).  When reenactors are at the site, we will have a red sign at the gate to the Gilmore Farm that welcomes visitors to park at the Gilmore Farm and take a short walk up the logging road to the hut reconstruction site.  When the gate at the Gilmore Farm is closed, visitors can park across from the Montpelier Train station and take the interpretive trail to the hut site. (click on map to show a higher resolution

Civil War Trail (click on image to see more)

image)

Update (2/22/2009) The reenactors from the 3rd Regiment of the Army of Northern Virginia have been back at work and are nearly finished with the officer’s hut and have begun one of the enlisted men’s huts.  One thing the guys have learned is what hard work is involved in the construction of these huts.   They will back in full uniform starting on Sunday April 19th and through August will be out every third Sunday of the month–so please come out for a free visit to see their progress.

Update (7/30/2010)  Two of the log huts are complete and we will be hosting over 100 re-enactors across from the Montpelier Train Station this upcoming weekend (August 6-8).  While visiting, check out the improved trail network at Montpelier that features over five miles of hiking trails.

Five miles of Hiking trails at Montpelier

Artifacts from the Civil War Encampments

While the department’s archaeologists have been working in the South Yard with the students of the James Madison University field school, Lance Crosby, our resident Civil War enthusiast, has been searching the woods for more evidence of Civil War encampments. By means of a systematic survey, with all finds marked and plotted using GPS, he’s made some exciting finds that we thought we would share with our readers, even if they are but the tip of the metaphorical iceberg.

Bullets

A common find in metal detecting surveys, Lance has recovered a wide range of bullets over the past few months. The illustrated example, a Gardner bullet common to the Confederate forces, is one amongst many different types of bullet fired during the American Civil War. This bullet, approximately 0.58 caliber, is made of lead (the “white rust” is lead oxide) and weighs approximately 1-1.5 oz.Other examples include “wormed bullets,” or bullets that were jammed in the rifle and required extraction with a worming tool.

Firearm Hardware

In addition to bullets, several other types of firearm accessories or hardware have been recovered. Perhaps one of the more interesting and evocative is a “nipple” or “cone protector,” seen here pictured on the far right. The “nipple” was a small, threaded tube that connected to the chamber of the gun such that when the hammer struck the percussion cap placed over the nipple, the flash ignited and traveled into the chamber, ultimately firing the bullet. The hammer could, however, damage the nipple, and so the nipple protector was attached to the trigger and the donut-shaped protector placed over the nipple.The tompion (also, tampion), pictured above on the left, was a device inserted into the end of rifles to protect the bullet and powder charge from water.  Many of these rifle accouterments were located with other gun tools during surveys of the East Woods.

Spurs, Equestrian Hardware, and Vehicle Tools

Another interesting, and more rare, find is this example of a silver riding spur. A common part of a man’s attire, it was not unusual for an individual to own many different sets of spurs.As the detail shot (far right) shows, the spur is incised with the maker’s name, “Martin.” Samuel Martin was thought to have been working in Canada during the late 1700s.In addition to this spur, a number of other equastrian-related artifacts have been recovered, including horse shoes, farrier nails, and tack. (As the premiere mode of transportation until the early 19th century, some of these artifacts may be antebellum.) The artifact pictured to the right is a carriage wrench, used to tighten the hub and other hardware.

Utilitarian Items (Household Goods, Clothing)

Many of the artifacts recovered are of a far more mundane character, dealing with the every day lives of the soldiers of the Confederate encampments. Whether it was in terms of clothing (buckle, haversack hook), meals (fork), or lighting (lantern), the metal detector survey has begun to piece together a picture and story of camp life in the 1863-1864 period.

Something Unusual…

While the Spanish real-half (pronounced ray-al) from 1732, pictured to the right, is not directly linked to the Civil War, it is nonetheless one of the more interesting finds recovered from the metal detector survey. After all, 1732 is the date that the Madisons arrive at Montpelier, and also the year in which Ambrose Madison, James Madison, Jr.’s, grandfather, was poisoned!

And finally…

Metal detector surveys are only the first step in the preservation and understanding of the Civil War encampments and the lives of the soldiers who lived, worked, and died within them. The Montpelier Archaeology Department has recently secured a $35,000 American Battlefield Protection Grant to continue survey of the encampments, as well as engage in excavations.For more information on James Madison’s Montpelier as it features in news articles, please visit our “In the News” section of the main web page.

Civil War Camps located in East Woods

Our surveys in the east woods of Montpelier (behind the Constitutional Center) have been very successful in terms of locating a series of small Civil War camps. What has made these discoveries possible is the excellent work by our newest staff member, Lance Crosby. Lance, a long-time resident of Orange, has a passion for and knowledge of Civil War sites and artifacts that makes him invaluable for locating sites in areas slated for timbering. We are using Lance’s discoveries to not only protect the Civil War camps he has found, but also to interpret them through a walking trail. This new trail will feature signs detailing our discoveries from the Civil War era and providing information on good forest management practices.

Most of the sites Lance has located have no visible surface expression (mounds or depressions) so using a metal detector is the only effective means of finding them. What Lance has discovered is a series of artifact clusters containing CSA Gardiner bullets, gun tools, Confederate and Union buttons, an array of knapsack accouterments and other military accouterments. We think these sites represent the remains of bivouac positions for troops or guard posts positioned to overlook what was, during the Civil War, the farm center for Montpelier. Based on the absence of hearth features and small burnt nails (from ration boxes used for kindling), we believe these sites were occupied during the summer of 1862, when troops are known to have been at Montpelier. These smaller camps contrast with Montpelier’s larger regimental camps that we have located in the woods around the Gilmore Farm. An unexpected bonus from the survey work is that Lance has located several sites that may have been slave quarters from the Madison era.The technique that Lance employs for locating and recording artifacts is as follows: He begins the day by going to an area designated by the archaeology department, and using his metal detector, scans the ground for metallic signatures. These ‘hits’ are then carefully excavated, ensuring that he is not getting into an area of charred wood or the organic-rich soil of a feature. Once excavated, each artifact is tagged and bagged, and a marker is placed at the location with the corresponding hit number. Lance then records the location with a hand-held Global Positioning Station (GPS) unit. At the end of each day, the recovered artifacts are checked in by the archaeological staff and the GPS unit is downloaded. Once plotted in CAD, it can be determined whether there are definable clusters of artifacts that represent potential sites. Any such clusters are revisited with a laser transit by archaeological staff and the location of each hit is recorded to within a tenth of a foot.

The site areas we have located will be protected from disturbance during the timber thinning operations that will be conducted later this summer. This timbering is designed to comply with the Virginia Department of Forestry’s Best Management Practices (BMPs) for improving Montpelier’s forest resources. It will enhance the forests by removing at risk trees and trees that crowd the growth of stronger specimens. It will also allow the development of upland meadow areas within old fields.

Civil War Camp Surveys

We have begun a series of walkover surveys of the wooded portions of Montpelier in an effort to locate additional camps associated with the Confederate occupation of Montpelier. The areas we are focusing on are in the “East Woods” located behind the Constitutional Center and leading over to the Sheep Barn. Discussions with relic hunters relate that there have been Civil War buttons and knapsack accouterments recovered in this area and it is likely the site for summer camps. During walk-over surveys we are examining the area for depressions for huts and latrines and for any stone piles or mounds. Later this month we will return to likely spots to conduct metal detector surveys. All of this work is being conducted in advance of timber operations designed to cull weaker specimens from the wood lots to encourage a more open canopy. Following timbering, an interpretive trail will be constructed in this area that focuses on woodlot management. In the meantime, Megan, Brian, Steve, and Jeff are continuing to walk areas searching for surface features.