Survival of Folk Cultures: Bates County, Missouri

What is Historical Archaeology?

  • Archaeology that focuses on the portion of human history that begins with written records and continues to the present day.
  • In the United States, "Historical Archaeology" generally studies the recent past, including Colonial America and early modern America.
  • Concerned with the past lifeways of undocumented peoples during historical times.

Working Together to Tell the Story

  • Archaeology is not about what you find, but what you find out.
  • Work in Bates County has been ongoing since 2007.
  • It's a coordinated effort between city, county, and state officials, the Bates County Museum, universities, local history organizations, and the public.
  • Archaeology is a non-renewable resource.

Bates County, MO

  • It was at the epicenter of border violence starting in 1854.
  • Devastated by General Order No. 11, enacted August 25, 1863.
  • Bates County was the only county entirely depopulated by the Order.
  • It lies in the heart of the Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area.

George Caleb Bingham on General Order #11

  • Bingham, a staunch Unionist, described the situation created by General Order #11.
  • He noted that men were shot while obeying the order, and their belongings seized.
  • Smoke marked the burning of dwellings, with blackened chimneys as "melancholy monuments of a ruthless military despotism."

Border War Archaeology

  • Field School in Bates County, Missouri, sponsored by the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and the Bates County Historical Museum.

Discoveries in the Field

  • Clues are found on the landscape.
  • Setting up a grid system to explore.
  • Discovery of a foundation.

Everyday Items

  • Everyday items help tell the story of the past.

A Second Site

  • Inclusion of the fitted stone floor of an old “grocery” on the frontier.

Island Mound

  • Battle of Island Mound State Historic Site in Bates County, Missouri.
  • Also Missouri's newest State Historic Site

Battle of Island Mound State Historic Site

  • Site of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry.
  • The battle occurred in October 1862.
  • It was the first engagement of African-American soldiers in the Civil War.
  • Archaeology can help re-establish land use for park interpretation.
  • Excellent opportunities for community outreach.

The Burnt District Monument

  • Reflects conflicted memories.
  • Including William Quantrill, MO Partisan Ranger, CSA (1837-1865)
  • Confederate dead are also honored.

Why Is This Important?

  • The written history is sparse, inconsistent, or nonexistent for this time period and location.
  • Written records rarely deal with the day-to-day effects of Civil War violence on ordinary people.
  • Communities are still dealing with the after-effects of these events.
  • Archaeology, history, and ethnography can contribute to our understanding of the past and help us learn from it and move forward.

Additional Resources

  • The presenter appeared in episodes of "America From the Ground Up", a PBS series using archaeology to explore U.S. history.
  • Season 2, Episode 5: An Uncivil War
  • Season 2, Episode 6: Go West