Officer Country: Clothing and Personal Items From Cantonment Wilkinson (11PU282) in Southern Illinois

Abstract

AbstractCantonment Wilkinson (11PU282) was a large but temporary U.S. Army post located on the banks of the Ohio River in present-day Pulaski County. Occupied by over 1,000 soldiers and their dependents for 18 months in 1801–1802, the post was abandoned in late 1802, with the post buildings subsequently occupied by Cherokee Indians and Euro-American squatters. Excavation of seven features at this site by SIUC archaeologists in 2003–2005 recovered a large artifact assemblage associated with the U.S. frontier army. This assemblage is particularly important in that it provides information on the poorlydocumented clothing and other items of the U.S. Army in the transitional period between the American Revolution and the War of 1812. The presence of officer-related silver, silver-plated, and gilded buttons within the clothing assemblage suggests that the features excavated by SIUC were primarily filled with refuse associated with the officers of the post rather than the enlisted men. The recovery of two unique...