Port Tobacco Archaeological Project

Rainy Day Tasks

2008-05-08T17:07:00.003-04:00

In light of the forecast for considerable rain Thursday night and into Friday, we will suspend fieldwork at Port Tobacco until Saturday. I hope to continue with the survey of the fields south of town.

Of course we continue work when it rains, just not necessarily in the rain. We will complete the site map for the middle field between Port Tobacco and Warehouse Point. Hopefully, we will be able to post it tomorrow.

One warning that should be necessary, but that I will make just the same: those fields are private property and may not be entered without the owner's permission. In any case, I hope that those of you who follow this blog know better than to indiscriminately collect artifacts, especially in the midst of a scientific investigation.

New Pre-Revolutionary War Site

2008-05-07T06:47:00.002-04:00

I was out surface-collecting with Pete and Elsie yesterday. We found unequivocal evidence of a pre-Revolutionary War site.

Of the hundreds of objects that we mapped and collected, we found no Pearlware ceramics (1780s+), some Creamware (1764+), Chinese porcelain (18th through early 19th centuries), tin-glazed earthenware (18th century), and lots of white salt-glazed stoneware (1720s to ca. 1800).

There are a few later ceramics, but they are so few and scattered that they probably represent a later occupation.

These historic materials are interspersed with lots of prehistoric lithic artifacts, mostly flakes, and two early prehistoric projectile points. There is a fair amount of oyster shell that I suspect is associated with the historic occupation, not the prehistoric. If the latter is as old as I think it is (Archaic), oyster was not available in the area at the time those peoples lived along the Port Tobacco River.

Again, we have a large amount of data to process, so I don't have any images to post at the moment. We also have much more to collect in the field.

Jim

Cemetery Preservation

2008-05-06T07:31:00.006-04:00

Mount Rest Cemetery sits on a hill just south of La Plata and is the burial grounds for Christ Episcopal Church, the same one moved from Port Tobacco in the early 1900s. Most of the stones in this spot are fairly modern, but according to Dave Chapman, cemetery director for the parish, many of the older stones and burials were removed to this site.

My firm, Grave Concerns, was hired by the Charles County Genealogical Society to repair two of the older stones that had broken. This cemetery was vandalized about 10 years ago and was restored, but careless grounds keepers have damaged other stones over time. Another problem is that well-meaning people decided to encase some of the fragile marble tablets in concrete...always a bad idea.

An employee of Grave Concerns mending the gravemarker of Virlinda Stone.

The same stone after reapir.

There are many ways to preserve old burial grounds and just as many things one should NOT do to fix a stone. Like I mentioned above, a marble marker should never be repaired or re-erected using concrete or Portland cement. That material is much harder than marble and will create a snap point for the softer stone.

I will be speaking to the Charles County Genealogical Society on May 15th about cemetery repairs, research, and preservation and I will also discuss the subject one evening during the summer archaeology session at Port Tobacco in June. See ya'll there!

And Yet More Sites...

2008-05-05T16:42:00.003-04:00

Yes, Pete and I were out again with Elsie and Carol. We were collecting the field immediately south of Port Tobacco proper and found compelling evidence that the town site extends further south than the current landscape suggests. Aside from one or two historic period sites, we found a good deal of late prehistoric material (Late Woodland).

We also noted that the concentrations of artifacts and oyster shell paralleled a linear area, poorly drained. I had noted it last year and suspected it might be a relict stream channel, and it may be; but it also might be the road leading south from Port Tobacco to Warehouse Landing.

We have a great deal of artifact washing and cataloguing, and lots of drafting to do, but hopefully we will have something more definitive ready by the end of next week. I'll try to snap a few photographs tomorrow.

Jim

Sites Found in Fields

2008-05-04T17:39:00.002-04:00

Sunday was a beautiful day to spend in the fields south of Port Tobacco. Elsie, Pat, Frank and Carol joined Pete, Scott and me for a day of controlled surface collecting and precision mapping. It will take a week or so to get everything washed and mapped, but I think we have two 18th/early 19th century sites and at least one relatively well-defined Late Archaic site.

We'll be out again tomorrow surveying the field immediately south of Port Tobacco.

That's all for now. My neighbor has a nice bowl of risotto waiting for me.

Jim

PTAP in the Field

2008-05-03T14:31:00.003-04:00

Sunday and Monday the Port Tobacco Archaeological Project returns to the field. We will be surface collecting the fields extending southward from town to Warehouse Point.

We are looking for Indian sites as part of our continuing effort to understand Native American lifeways in the valley, as well as determine how and when the Port Tobacco River shifted and the role of upland sediments in that movement.

Of course, we are also trying to locate historic period sites. Are there early sites south of town representing Chandler's Town (late 17th, very early 18th centuries)? Did the move of port facilities south to Warehouse Point occur at one time, or incrementally, leaving traces of progressively later occupations as one moves south along the river?

Our study will be complicated somewhat in that the process of sedimentation from the uplands to the east that buried the town and filled the river channel probably covered the fields as well. Hopefully, the plow will have scratched some of these deeper deposits, bringing enough artifacts to the surface to allow us to identify prehistoric and historic deposits.

I'll post some initial impressions after fieldwork tomorrow, if I have the energy after slogging through plowed fields all day.

Jim

Movie Night Poll

2008-05-02T07:58:00.002-04:00

After some techinical difficulties, the new poll is up for movie night. You have 4 choices and once the polling is done on June 1st, we will have a run off of the top two vote getters and post a second poll to decide which movie we will watch!

- Peter

Field & Lecture

2008-05-01T18:40:00.002-04:00

Pete had some technical difficulties launching the poll for the field session movie night...hopefully we can get it done tomorrow. I'm half glad for the difficulty because I have two announcements and I prefer to make them today rather than wait:

We will be conducting a controlled surface collection of the fields south of Port Tobacco. So far, weather permitting, we plan to be there from 9:30AM to 3PM this Sunday and Monday. We will rendezvous in front of the courthouse. Volunteers welcome. Please contact me at JamesGGibb@comcast.net if you are interested in participating.
On May 13, the Charles County Archaeological Society will meet at the old Train Station in La Plata, 7:30PM to 9PM. I will speak about a ca. 1690-1730 site that I excavated in southern Prince George's County, a site likely to be similar to its contemporaries in the Port Tobacco. A brief discussion for our new bylaws and election of officers will precede the talk.

We are gearing up for an eventful summer.

Jim

Clearly Established?

2008-04-30T09:54:00.004-04:00

On Sunday, I posted an excerpt from Barry Kent's "Susquehanna's Indians." In the excerpt, Kent says that the Susquehannock presence at the Piscataway fort was "clearly established" by archaeology. Later on in the same book he has this to say:

"One typical tulip pipe was found at the Piscataway fort and is in fact the only real archaeological evidence for identifying the Susquehannock occupation of that site in 1676 (Stephenson et al. 1963:137-38)." (147)

These tulip pipes are clay smoking pipes that appear to be a melding of earlier Susquehannock styles with the colonial styles of the time. An interesting artifact in deed, but does one pipe clearly establish anything? In this case the researchers had the benefit of archival records that suggested the Susquehannock occupation. Otherwise, I would be quite skeptical. (psst...don't tell anyone but I am still skeptical)

-April

Consider the Elephant

2008-04-29T06:55:00.006-04:00

Consider the Elephant is book by Aram Schefrin and purported to have been told by Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes. While I am certain Edwin was privy to much of what his brother said and did, I think much of the writing is the author's prose and flair. Regardless, the following exerpt about Atzerodt caught my eye:

It was half after midnight when the second man appeared. He wore short black Blucher boots, a dirt-streaked ancient bang-up coat and a bollinger hat with the crown crushed in along most of its circumference. His eyes were little marbles, of no discernible shade; he had no neck; his eyebrows melded above his nose; his jaw had a Cro-Magnon look and his hair flopped down over his ears and tucked itself inside them. Surratt, who'd answered the door this time, had never seen him before. He was dismayed at the look of him. "What do you want?" he asked. "Mein nomme its Atzerrrrodtt." "What?" "My nomme its Atzerrrrrrrodtt." " What?" "lch komme by Meester Brawner... " "Ah." Surratt allowed the fellow by, and the bourbon breeze which trailed him. "We're out of rooms," Surratt explained. "You'll have to sleep here in the parlor." "Oh, ya, fine, fine." "I'm going to bed. It's late." "Oh, ya, long trip. Gutte nacht to you. "Appolonia, in the morning, was the first to discover him. She shrieked, took a tight grip on her nose and ran into Mary's bedroom which was just behind the public room on the second floor. Mary threw on a cottage cloak and came out to examine the man. He was snoring on her best settee with his knees tucked into his chin. "John!" she hollered. "Get down here! Who is this golem?" Surratt quickly skittered down the stairs. "His name is Atzerodt, Ma." "I don't care what his name is. The man is a stinking pig!" "He won't be here long..." "I don't want him near Anna. Get him out of my house! "Along about noon, Surratt met Wilkes at Deery's billiard hall. They stayed long enough for Wilkes to make a good dent in a quart of brandy. Surratt explained the problem he had with Atzerodt; Wilkes agreed to foot the bill for a room at a hotel. "Shall I bring him tonight?" Surratt asked. "No. I don't need him there. Tell him to meet us at midnight at Gauthier's restaurant. "Surratt sped home and woke Atzerodt. Mary had let him siesta, afraid to poke the man. After much confabulation, the clerk at the Pennsylvania House agreed to take Atzerodt in. "Any luggage?" "No," said Surratt. "Does he look like owns anything?"

Wilkes knocked on the door of room 52 at the Pennsylvania House. The room was as filthy as the man himself. Atzerodt owned next to nothing, but what he had was strewn over bed, chest and floor, mixed with flakes of puffy dough likewise dispersed from the schnecken he'd been gorging on from the German bakery. "Kill da Fice Pressident? Ya, dis iss a choke?" He was backpedaling, slithering, stumbling over his own debris, then bending to snatch up a shirt, a sock as if to say how could you ask such a thing from such a tidy man? "You refuse?" Wilkes glowered. "Ya, I refuse." Now Atzerodt stood his ground. "You're already in deep enough to be hanged ..." "Ya, but ..." "And I will see to it that you are, if you don't do what you're told. "Atzerodt touched his neck, his chin. Nodded. Bowed his head.

The picture below shows Booth threatening to kill Atzerodt if he doesn't fullfil the changed plan to assasinate Andrew Johnson.
I still think Adzerodt got a bum deal.

Indians of the Chesapeake

2008-04-28T13:31:00.004-04:00

This Fall I will be teaching a course on Chesapeake Indians at Villa Julie College in Stevenson, Baltimore County, Maryland. I have taught a class in Historical Archaeology at Villa College each Spring for the past three years. This will be a new course...I'm currently putting it together. I expect to use Helen Rountree and Randolph Turner's (2002) Before and After Jamestown: Virginia's Powhatans and their Predecessors (University Press of Florida) as a text.

As several of us pointed out in Nancy McConaty's recent article in the Independent, we don't know a great deal about the Chesapeake region's indigenous populations at the time of Contact/Invasion. Hopefully, our research at Port Tobacco will contribute to that growing body of data, even if the deposits we examine predate the historic period by several centuries.

For readers in the northern part of Maryland who might be interested in the Villa Julie course, here are some of the specifics. For administrative details, visit the College's site: www.vjc.edu.

HIST-311-E1 Topics: Indians of the Chesapeake
Offered at Villa Julie College by Jim Gibb
Fall 2008
Wednesday, 7:00-9:50PM
Room TBA
Course Description
Indians in Maryland claim great antiquity. Archaeologists agree, documenting at least 12,000 years of aboriginal occupation of the greater Chesapeake region. This course surveys the extensive archaeological evidence, introducing students to the theories, methods, and findings of archaeological research. Students will develop analytical skills and knowledge of both the ancient past and the troubled present of local Native Americans.

Jim

Susquehannocks in Maryland

2008-04-27T20:29:00.002-04:00

In preparation for my fellowship, I am re-reading Barry Kent's "Susquehanna Indians". Kent places a Susquehannock village not far from Port Tobacco in 1675.

"By February, 1675, some Susquehannocks were reported living at the Patuxent River in Maryland (Hanna 1911:48). Ostensibly the Susquehannocks had come into Maryland to seek protection from the Seneca, but some officials feared that they actually had a secret alliance with the Seneca and had come into Maryland to discover the trength of the province. That same month the Susquehannock Chief Harignera and several others came before the Assembly to ask where they could live within the province. After much uncertainty and debate it was decided that the Susquehannocks should move above the falls of the Potomac (Maryland Archives II: 429). The Susquehannocks failed to move that far up the Potomac, for in the summer of 1675 they were living at an abandoned Piscataway Indian fort opposite the present-day Mount Vernon. Archeological work at the Piscataway site (Stephenson et al. 1963) has clearly established their presence here" (Kent 2001:47).

-April

Bearded Archaeologist Shows Sherds

2008-04-26T16:05:00.004-04:00

All right, that isn't the actual headline for Nancy McConaty's latest story in the Independent, but it fits the picture of Pete in front of the Port Tobacco courthouse, sherds in hand. Here's the link, courtesy of Elsie (thank you Elsie):

http://www.somdnews.com/stories/04252008/indytop190333_32205.shtml

The story is about the aboriginal peoples of the Chesapeake at the the time English settlers arrived. It is a story about a story...a journalist's summary about what archaeologists know, or think they know, about local Indians and the invading Susquehannocks from the north.

Coincidentally, April is about to embark on a one month post-doctoral study of collections in Pennsylvania that relate to her dissertation work in New York, research that included among its subjects the Susquehannock. How about an occasional blog from Pennsylvania April?

As modern Americans, we tend to think in terms of jurisdictional boundaries, but of course if there were boundaries in the 17th century, they differed from those of today. We can draw a link between research in central New York State with work in Pennsylvania to our ongoing work along the Port Tobacco River. Context, as we say in archaeology, is everything, and the levels of context critical to the interpretation of an artifact or deposit ramify out from the particular unit in which it is exposed, to the site, the county, the region, and often--for the historic period--the emerging global economy.

Jim

Fast Line Between Richmond and Washington

2008-04-25T08:45:00.003-04:00

We have been talking a lot about the Civil War history of Port Tobacco lately. The town's location, between Richmond and Washington, ensured that it would have a part in that war.

Port Tobacco saw Richmond-Washington traffic long before the Civil War, as this advertisement shows.

From Daily National Intelligencer, Washington, Friday, September 30, 1814
Source: William and Mary Quarterly Vol 14 No. 2, April 1934 p 168-169

-April

Other Fields of Inquiry, Part 2

2008-04-24T20:44:00.005-04:00

Since Jim and Scott weighed in on what else is going on in our lives, I guess this is a good time for an announcement. The Port Tobacco blog will be reducing its frequency from 7 days a week to 4 days a week during the month of May. The reason for this is that I will be away from the project for that time.

I have been awarded a Scholar in Residence Fellowship by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission to continue my work on Susquehannock archaeology at the Pennsylvania State Museum. I will be back to Port Tobacco in June and everyone will be sick of me by the end of the ASM Field Session on June 23rd.

We should be back to 7 days a week of blogging in early June and we may be blogging more than once a day during the Field Session. So, enjoy the small respite while it lasts. It will be up to the Men of PTAP (Jim, Peter, and Scott) as to which 4 days they blog each week so I'll let them fill you in on that.

I've got a few more blog posts to do this weekend before I head to Harrisburg so you are not free of me yet.

-April

Mulberry Grove

2008-04-23T11:20:00.006-04:00

Last week, April and I mapped the Mulberry Grove cemetery just down Chapel Point Rd from Port Tobacco. As you know, Mulberry Grove was the home to our first President John Hanson and some of his family is buried in that cemetery. There are two things I want to point out in terms of the work being done at Mulberry Grove.

First, we are going to take a look at the names of the people buried there and compare it to the census work that Carol has been doing. While these people were buried outside of Port Tobacco proper, were any of these people on the census records of Port Tobacco and thus living in the town itself? Do we need to expand our census probe to include the areas outside of the town? What role did these people play in the development and decline of Port Tobacco? Just a few of the questions we have in mind.

Second thing is the importance of good field work. And this is where I tell all of you that I messed up! That's right, even I make mistakes! While mapping the cemetery (which you can see below), there are things missing. There are duplicate names in the cemetery, which by itself is not surprising. What I didn't do was to write down more than the names of the persons buried to remember which tombstone belonged to whom! There are also a few missing coordinates for some of the tombstones. We have a list of all the people buried there and what the inscriptions say which is very helpful. What needs to be done now is to go back to the cemetery and match up the drawing below with the list we have and the actual tombstones to accurately describe them on our map.

- Peter

PS. We are also having some trouble posting a clear image of the cemetery. We are trying to rectify the problem Thanks for your patience.--Jim

The Rambler

2008-04-22T07:22:00.002-04:00

I think it is nice that Jim can share some of the exciting things he and Peter do when they are not involved with Port Tobacco. My real job isn't so exciting. Guess what I did? I continued writing a paper on Reliability and Maintainability (RAM) for Psychological Operations Communications Platforms based out of Fort Bragg. I know. Ya'll are jealous.

I found the following information and thought it interesting. It gives an outsider's view of PT in the early 20th century. Please enjoy.

THE RAMBLER is the name given to a series of articles on Washington, District of Columbia, and its vicinity, written by John Harry Shannon from 1912-1927 and published by the Washington newspaper called THE EVENING STAR. Some of these articles are available on microfilm at the Fairfax County Public Library in Fairfax, Virginia, although they are very difficult to read.

On 26 December 1915 (vol. 1, no. 231), the Rambler wrote about Port Tobacco, an early settlement on the banks of the Potomac River, on the Maryland side. Port Tobacco was mentioned by Captain John Smith in his book about Virginia, A MAP OF VIRGINIA, WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY....

In its heyday, before settlement spread into the interior, Port Tobacco was the county seat. These are the last 2 paragraphs of this essay:"As you journey over the road and approach Port Tobacco you will notice that the hilltops are crowned with big old houses. There is quite a bit of decay now, but one cannot help getting the impression that this was a region of wealth. About many of these old places is an air of aristocracy. The village itself is nearly a ruin. Two little wings of the old court building are standing. Brawner’s Hotel is no more, but you stand on its debris-strewn site. Old natives will tell of Brawner and a fine horse called Rebel which he owned. A man named Shackleford kept the hotel before Brawner, and it was last run by a man named Birch. That was many years ago. Middleton’s Hotel, which was still operating in 1876 under the name of the Centennial Hotel, is a tenantless shell; where Christ Episcopal Church stood is a tree-grown lot. "All around the town on the ridges above it are the old farms and homes of the Brawners, Neals, Floyds, Jenkins, Hamiltons, Mitchells and Wingates. Some other time the Rambler will write more of the old families of the Port Tobacco region."

"Following is the advertisement of Moore’s Hotel, Leonardtown: ‘$35 per month: children under twelve years of age and nurses half price; steamer Thompson leaves Washington every Wednesday and Saturday and steamer Sue every Sunday. Herbert F. Moore, proprietor.’ Herbert’s brother, Jack, was proprietor of Brawner’s Hotel at Port Tobacco. That was the leading hotel in Port Tobacco at the time of the assassination of Lincoln, when Port Tobacco and its neighborhood were thronged with soldiers and secret service agents, and at that time Booth and Herold were in hiding in a bit of pines on the Cox farm (now Cox’s station on the Popes Creek line). Jones’ home, called Huckleberry, whence Booth and Herold crossed the Potomac to the Quesenberry place at Mathias point, was only a few miles from Port Tobacco."note: John Wilkes Booth was a Confederate sympathizer who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln in 1865, just after the close of the Civil War. He was shot (or perhaps killed himself) a couple of weeks later, in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia. Several people found guilty as co-conspirators were hanged.

Audio/Video Possibilities

2008-04-21T13:23:00.004-04:00

Gearing up for any field session can be a time consuming task. Since we are in the office today because of the rain (hope none of our local readers got hit by the tornadoes yesterday!), we are putting together a list of all things we need to accomplish before June gets here. And June will be here before we know it!

Besides the usual things we would need and like to have, one of the things we would like to see and use is the use of audio video resources for our project. We always have lots of still photography, but I think it's time we added video to our work. April brought this up a while back but I wanted to talk about it again since we are getting so close to June.

If anyone has any experience in this department and would like to volunteer their time and equipment to videotape work being done on site, we would like to hear from you.

Some of the things I would like to see done are video of all aspects of the work: digging, screening, washing, etc. And also maybe some interviews with staff and volunteers. I think it would be nice to hear from the "mouths of the crew" what they think of the project, archaeology itself, or even just an introduction about themselves.

Contact us via email or through the blog here if you are interested in helping with this venture!

- Peter

Other Fields of Inquiry

2008-04-20T20:57:00.004-04:00

Lest our readers think that the PTAP team spends all of its time on Port Tobacco research, I thought I might share one of several projects that Pete and I are currently working on. (Scott and April have their own lengthy lists.) We have been working with the Northern Chesapeake Archeological Society on a one portion of the Maryland Canal, one of the nation's earliest canals, in operation between 1802 and the 1830s. Here is a view of one of the locks after Dan Coates, Jack Davis, and other members of that merry band finished clearing the brush. Dan provided the images.

We are documenting the canal locks, prism, and associated structures and deposits. I expect we will have something on the GAC website (www.gibbarchaeology.org) and the ASM website (www.marylandarcheology.org) as soon as project leader Ann Perrson completes some of the analysis and Pete gets the drafting up to date. Stay tuned.

We'll present other tidbits from our non-Port Tobacco professional lives from time to time. I hope you will find them interesting. Tomorrow, back to the business of Port Tobacco.

Jim

Adding to Our Reading List

2008-04-19T15:38:00.002-04:00

I came across this Ph.D. dissertation that I am adding to my reading list for Port Tobacco:

Title: A punishment for my pride: The Hamiltons of Port Tobacco, Maryland, 1860--1900
Author(s): Arnold-Lourie, Christine M.
Degree: Ph.D.
Year: 2003
Pages: 480
Institution: University of Maryland College Park; 0117
Advisor: Chairs Hasia R. Diner R. Gordon Kelly
Source: DAI, 64, no. 11A (2003): p. 4097
Abstract: This dissertation explores life in rural, agricultural Charles County, Maryland, in the period 1860–1900, through the lives of three generations of the Hamilton family, spanning the era from the Civil War through Reconstruction and into the next century. John Hamilton (1798–1883) had been, in 1860, the second-wealthiest man in Charles County. His son, Francis Patrick (1839–1896), lived and farmed throughout the unsettled period that followed the Civil War. Frank's son, James Neale (1867–1946), witnessed the struggles of his father and their neighbors to farm profitably through two economic depressions and three decades of low commodity prices.

The lives and history of the Hamilton family and of Charles County in the period 1860–1900 encompassed two of the most significant changes in American society: the transition from slave labor to free, and the impact of the growth of an industrial economy upon agricultural society. How did three generations of the Hamilton family act and react in the context of the forces for change and stability that shaped Charles County and the nation? How did the forces which reshaped life in the United States in the late nineteenth century affect the relatively isolated world of southern Maryland? The lives of the Hamiltons and their neighbors, black and white, illuminate the nature of the changes the county experienced, and reveal the patterns of kin and community, labor, religion and social relations which may have served as counterweight to the agents of change.

The dissertation explores the ways in which the county's white and black residents renegotiated their social, economic and political relationships. Although by 1900, the county boasted a rail line and a federal installation, for most residents, little had changed. Emancipation had freed the county's black population, but in 1900, whites continued to control most of the county's farms, dominated local politics, and derived most benefit from the slight increase in commerce the county experienced. Despite debt, economic insecurity and an unstable work force, the Hamiltons of Port Tobacco in 1900, though not as wealthy as they had been in 1860, retained their social position as leading citizens of Charles County.

-April

Port Tobacco in the News

2008-04-18T17:16:00.004-04:00

From the Washington Post
---
The Charles County commissioners and other officials and residents gathered Saturday at the reconstructed Port Tobacco Courthouse to reenact the signing of the document that created the county in 1658.

Dressed in costumes appropriate to the Colonial period, the commissioners affixed signatures to the Order of the Council of State, which led to the founding of Charles County 350 years ago. During Saturday's portrayal, the document was presented to horsemen, just as was done in 1658, for delivery to the Colonial governor in St. Mary's City.

The new county was named for Sir Charles Calvert, the Third Lord Baltimore.

Events commemorating the county's birthday are planned throughout the year.
----
Photos of the event are available at the Washington Post site.

Of course anyone who has been following our blog knows that no such event ever occurred at the Port Tobacco courthouse. But who are we to spoil historical re-enactment fun?

-April

Indiana Jones, National Treasure, Other? You Decide!

2008-04-17T13:27:00.004-04:00

The team has been working on our preparation for the upcoming field session. Along with all of the work we will all be doing, we will also be holding lectures and workshops by both the PTAP team and also guest lecturers. Since we will be using a projector in the courthouse for some of this, we thought it might be fun to have a "movie night" as well. It will be a nice break on some evenings or even on (God forbid) bad weather days.

So, give us some input on what you would like to see! Some ideas we thought of were the Indiana Jones movies or the National Treasure movies.

Let us know what you would want to see and then we will put up a poll on the blog probably starting on May 1st, so get your suggestions in!

- Peter

June 1864 in Port Tobacco, Version B

2008-04-16T17:23:00.004-04:00

A few days ago I posted a summary of events surrounding Walter Bowie's 1864 visit to Port Tobacco. I obtained my information from a single website. Afterwards, I received an email from Jim Dunbar, Publicity Office of the Pvt Wallace Bowling Camp 1400, Sons of Confederate Veterans. Jim provided some corrections to the account.

According to Jim, Bowie was a Lieutenant in the Virgina Calvary known as Mosbys Rangers. He came to Port Tobacco in October, not June, 1864, with 7 of him men. They captured 17 Federal soldiers and 8 horses. Bowie himself was killed during this trip to Maryland, while in Montgomery County.

Hopefully more Civil War historians will provide us with details of events that occurred in Port Tobacco but that are otherwise outside of our research agenda.

As always, feel free to comment or to contact us.

-April

More on Atzerodt

2008-04-15T11:33:00.009-04:00

I feel a little bit sorry for George Atzerodt. Here we have a man of little education caught up in a conspiracy to murder the President. All of his cohorts are educated and articulate. George could barely sign his name. His co-conspirators merely used him because of his back wood knowledge and took advantage of his dim-wittedness. Please don’t misunderstand me, George was guilty and deserved punishment, but he was told he was to assist in a kidnapping – not a murder. In fact, he chickened out and spent the evening of the crime getting drunk. In today’s world, George would have done some hard time and finally released. Oh well. Those were the days.

Let’s take a few moments and discuss what we know about George and his family. Henry and Victoria Atzerodt immigrated to the US in about sometime 1843 and 1844. The family was living in Westmoreland Co., VA in 1850 and according to that census, Henry and Victoria had the following children:

John Atzerodt, 21, blackmsith, b. Germany
George A. Adzerott, 14, b. Germany;
Maina Adzerott, 7 (female), b. Germany
Henry Adzerott, 5, b. MD

They had another daughter Catherine, but we will discuss her later.

John and George find their way to Port Tobacco in 1857 and placed an ad in the Port Tobacco Times and the Charles County Advertiser:

3/12/1857: J. C. Atzerodt and Bro., carriage maker, have located in Port Tobacco and will make to order any description of carriage, wagon or cart....

9/12/1857: George A. Atzerodt advertises "sorrel mare strayed or stolen from Port Tobacco." He purchased mare from John W. Jenkins, Esq.

So now we know they are here and have set up shop. Why don’t they appear in the 1860 census? One reason may be that John left the business and moved out of Port Tobacco and became a detective for the Provost Marshal in Washington DC. George may not have had the capacity to run a business and found smuggling more to his liking.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons he took up with the widow Rose Wheeler. According to the book American Brutus by Michael Kauffman, Rose and George lived as man and wife with her paying the bills. She had three children with her deceased husband and a 2 year old daughter with George. The only reason I can think she is paying his way is because his business no longer existed.

Now for the irony of the whole story. When John left Port Tobacco, he began working as a detective for the Provost Marshal in Washington DC. To further the irony, George’s sister Catherine is married to the Provost Marshal in Washington DC. Now you may be asking yourself, “So? Who is this Provost Marshal fella?” He was John L. Smith, Provost Marshal of D.C., 1861-1865 and the one whose testimony caused George to get the death penalty. His wife Catherine never forgave him. In fact, he read the death order to George and to Mrs. Surratt.

Testimony to support George during his trial introduces some Port Tobacco resident who knew George. Although claiming to know him, the testimonies were less that flattering:

ALEXANDER BRAWNER: I live in Port Tobacco, Md. I have known the prisoner, Atzerodt, six or eight years. He was at Port Tobacco about the last of February or the beginning of March. I think he came from Bryantown; he rode a sorrel horse. I had some business in the country, and he went along with me. I never considered Atzerodt a courageous man, by a long streak. I have seen him in scrapes, and I have seen him get out of them very fast. I have seen him in bar-room scrapes, little scrapes, and where pistols were drawn, and he generally got out of the way, and made pretty fast time. His reputation is that of a notorious coward.

LOUIS B. HARKINS: I have known Atzerodt for probably ten years. He was down at Port Tobacco about the latter part of February or the beginning of March. I think I saw him for a day or two. He is looked upon down there, by folks that know him, as a good-natured kind of a fellow. We never gave him credit down our way for much courage. I call to mind two difficulties in which I saw him—one happened in my shop, and the other in an oyster saloon—in both of which I thought he lacked courage.

WASHINGTON BRISCOE: I have known the prisoner, Atzerodt, six or seven years at Port Tobacco. He has always been considered a man of little courage, and remarkable for his cowardice.

After his conviction and execution, John and Victoria went to President Johnson and requested permission to reinter George's body in 1869. 2/19/1869: "On Monday the body of George Atzerodt was taken up and removed. On opening the box, which had somewhat decayed, the vial containing the name was found, and bones scattered about, upper part of skull on one side of box and lower jaw on other, spine curved. Remains on Wednesday deposited in receiving vault Glenwood Cemetery where they will remain until arrival of family, when they will be finally interred." Later John had the body moved to St. Paul Cemetery in Baltimore where it is buried under the fictious name, Gottlief Taubert.

My special thanks go to April for providing some this information and especially to Linda Davis Reno for providing the genealogical data. She is indeed the Queen!

A Quick Update

2008-04-14T14:46:00.004-04:00

Today the team is in the planning stages for the upcoming ASM field session at Port Tobacco and the following months.

While Jim is working on logistics today, April is plotting out more precise locations for the work we are going to be doing in June.

The Annual ASM Spring Symposium was a great time for all of us and we gained a few more volunteers that want to come and play with us in Port Tobacco.

While no immediate fieldwork is scheduled for Port Tobacco, Jim will be giving a talk at the senior center in LaPlata tomorrow, and April and I will be going down to map out the cemetery at Mulberry Grove.

- Peter