An Archaeological and Historical Study of Fort Hampton, Limestone County, Alabama

134 Pages·2014·30.63 MB·English

AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL STUDY OF FORT HAMPTON,

LIMESTONE COUNTY, ALABAMA (1809-1816)

by

Tonya Danielle Johnson Chandler

M. A., The University of Alabama, 2007

A thesis submitted to the Division of Anthropology and Archaeology
College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities
The University of West Florida
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts

2014
© 2014 Tonya Danielle Johnson Chandler
The thesis of Tonya Danielle Johnson Chandler is approved:

_____________________________________________ ______________
John E. Worth, Ph.D., Committee Chair Date

_____________________________________________ ______________
Amy Mitchell-Cook, Ph.D., Committee Member Date

_____________________________________________ ______________
William B. Lees, Ph.D., Committee Member Date

Accepted for the Department/Division:

_____________________________________________ ______________
John R. Bratten, Ph.D., Chair Date

Accepted for the University:

_____________________________________________ ______________
Richard S. Podemski, Ph.D., Dean, Graduate School Date
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to my committee members, Dr. Amy Mitchell-
Cook and Dr. William Lees for their support and their help, as well as a special thanks to my
advisor, Dr. John Worth, for his kind and helpful guidance, for braving the cold, and for the
many hours of phone meetings. I would also like to thank Norma Harris for her comments on the
initial chapters of this thesis, and Dr. Ramie Gougeon for his recommendations in the early
stages of my fieldwork. I could not have completed fieldwork without a wonderful team of
fellow graduate students, Jackie Rodgers, Lauren Walls, and Lindsey Cochran, who traveled
several hours to north Alabama with me to dig in the snow, or without the generosity of Dr.
Elizabeth Benchley and the Archaeology Institute in providing transportation and equipment for
this work. Thanks also to the staff and student volunteers in the UWF Archaeology Lab: Jan
Lloyd, Kelsey McGuire, Alesia Hoyle, Elayne Nixon, and Patty McMahon, who helped me
wash, sort and label the artifacts. Thanks to Colin Bean and John Phillips for assisting me with
the ArcGIS software for the spatial analysis component of this thesis.
I could not have completed this work without the amazing generosity of Jonathan and
Daphne Ellison, the landowners of the site, who allowed me to conduct this research on their
property, photograph their collections, and who patiently answered all of my questions. Thanks
as well to Tommy Boyd and Dale Lone Elk Casteel, who provided valuable background history
that formed the basis of this research. I am appreciative to the staff at the Limestone County
Archives in Athens, Alabama, and to the Huntsville Public Library for going above and beyond
to share what they knew about Fort Hampton with me.
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This thesis was completed with funds provided by the Marcus Fellowship, for which I am
very grateful to the faculty of the UWF Anthropology Department.
And last, but certainly not least, thank you to my amazing family for their unfailing
support and love.
This thesis is dedicated to my husband, my best friend, and my partner, Joe, for
encouraging me to follow a dream through numerous job and city changes, and for making each
step of the way even better than the one before. Thank you for every adventure. Love.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iv
LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... viii
LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... ix
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... x
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1
A. Research Questions ................................................................................ 2
B. Theoretical Background ......................................................................... 5
CHAPTER II HISTORICAL BACKGROUND .............................................................. 10
A. Europeans Make Contact with Southeastern Native Americans ......... 10
B. Disease, War, and Politics Change Territorial Boundaries .................. 13
C. Anglo Settlement in North Alabama .................................................... 20
D. The Regiment of Riflemen at Fort Hampton ....................................... 27
E. History of Land Ownership at Fort Hampton ....................................... 37
F. Detail of Site Location .......................................................................... 39
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................................. 43
A. Historical Methods: Finding Fort Hampton ......................................... 43
B. Archaeological Methods ...................................................................... 45
C. Analytical Methods .............................................................................. 49
1. Artifact Patterning ..................................................................... 49
2. KOCOA Analysis ..................................................................... 51
CHAPTER IV ANALYSES .............................................................................................. 53
A. Materials Recovered ............................................................................ 54
1. Glass .......................................................................................... 54
2. Nails .......................................................................................... 55
3. Ceramics ................................................................................... 58
4. Bones ......................................................................................... 60
5. Gunflints and Ammunition ....................................................... 61
6. Regiment of Riflemen Buttons ................................................. 63
7. Other Buttons and Buckles ....................................................... 65
B. Location of Fort Hampton .................................................................... 66
C. Comparative Analyses .......................................................................... 74
1. Artifact Patterning and Effect of Landowner Collections ........ 74
2. Artifact Group Ratio Comparisons ........................................... 83
D. Comparisons with Contemporaneous Forts ......................................... 86
1. Fort Mitchell ............................................................................. 87
2. Fort Hawkins ............................................................................. 91
E. KOCOA Analysis ................................................................................. 95
1. Key Terrain ............................................................................... 95
2. Observation and Fields of Fire .................................................. 97
3. Cover and Concealment ............................................................ 97
4. Obstacles ................................................................................... 98
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5. Avenues of Approach ............................................................... 99
6. KOCOA Summary .................................................................... 99
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................... 101
A. Spatial Comparisons with Contemporaneous Forts ........................... 106
B. Study Implications and Limitations ................................................... 108
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 112
APPENDIXES ............................................................................................................................ 119
A. Officers of the Regiment of Riflemen ................................................ 120
B. Biographical Notes on Fort Hampton Landowners ............................ 122

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LIST OF TABLES

1. KOCOA Definitions ......................................................................................................... 52
2. Glass Types and Counts .................................................................................................... 54
3. Nail Types and Counts ...................................................................................................... 56
4. Measurements of Cut Nails ............................................................................................... 57
5. Ceramic Types and Counts ............................................................................................... 59
6. Bone Types and Counts .................................................................................................... 61
7. Adjusted Frontier Pattern Mean and Range, with Standard Deviation and Predicted
Range ................................................................................................................................ 75
8. Artifact Classifications ...................................................................................................... 75
9. Comparison 1: Artifact Groups from Shovel Testing and Surface Collection ................. 77
10. Comparison 2: Artifact Groups with Landowner Artifacts Included ............................... 79
11. Comparison 3: Adjusted Artifact Groups from Excavation (Excluding Glassware) ........ 80
12. Comparison 4: Adjusted Artifact Groups with Landowner Artifacts Included ................ 81

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LIST OF FIGURES

1. Territory of the Chickasaw, 16th to 18th centuries, with the 19th-century reservation ... 14
2. Territory of the Cherokee from the 16th to the 19th centuries, with later reservation
and settlement area in the East .......................................................................................... 15
3. Land held by Native Americans c. 1790 ........................................................................... 17
4. Mississippi Territory and Florida 1798-1818 ................................................................... 18
5. Map excerpted from “Alabama (northern portion)” ......................................................... 20
6. United States Army Engineers’ plan of Fort Hampton, 1810 ........................................... 32
7. Map of the country belonging to the Cherokee and Creek Indians .................................. 36
8. Township 3 south, range 6 west: Sections 6 (partial), 7, and 8 ........................................ 38
9. Detail of township 3 south, range 6 west: Sections 6 and 7 ............................................. 38
10. Gray prismatic gunflint, stained red by soil ...................................................................... 62
11. Honey-colored gunflint fragment ..................................................................................... 63
12. “RR” button found by landowners .................................................................................... 65
13. Iron double buckle ............................................................................................................ 66
14. Locations of shovel tests ................................................................................................... 67
15. Locations of all positive shovel tests ................................................................................ 68
16. Locations of “RR” buttons. ............................................................................................... 69
17. Locations of pearlware ...................................................................................................... 70
18. Locations of free blown glass and wine bottles ................................................................ 70
19. Locations of wrought objects (nails, buckles) .................................................................. 71
20. Locations of gunflints ....................................................................................................... 71
21. Locations of bones ............................................................................................................ 72
22. Locations of other buttons ................................................................................................ 72
23. Locations of fort-related artifacts, with likely area of fort marked ................................... 73

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ABSTRACT

AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL STUDY OF FORT HAMPTON,
LIMESTONE COUNTY, ALABAMA (1809-1816)

Tonya Danielle Johnson Chandler

This thesis investigated Fort Hampton, an American military installation established in
1809 near the Elk River, in present-day Limestone County, Alabama. Fort Hampton was
constructed to remove settlers from Chickasaw lands prior to the cession of 1816. This was a
short-lived, but significant era of Anglo and Native American habitation in northern Alabama:
one in which the American government seemingly protected the Native American cause. This
thesis is the first combination of historical sources and archaeological data in the documentation
of Fort Hampton. Fort Hampton’s location was formally identified, and Fort Hampton was
compared with other forts to better understand its place in the history of settlement in the
Southeast. Interpretation of Fort Hampton’s material and spatial data from an interregional
interaction perspective revealed that it had a focused military objective, limited interaction with
the Chickasaw, and was a representation of American power in the frontier where the
government hoped to gain control. Artifact patterning confirmed the fit of Fort Hampton’s
material culture with other frontier sites. Important recommendations were identified for the use
of artifact patterning. Specifically, knowledge of site condition, site formation, and the
identification of previous recoveries are crucial to the proper use of artifact patterns.

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