CULTURAL RESOURCES INVESTIGATIONS AT THE DOLET HILLS LIGNITE MINE, DESOTO PARISH, LOUISIANA

摘要

During May 1996, archaeologists from Espey, Huston & Associates, Inc. conducted National Register of Historic Places testing at four archaeological sites within the Dolet Hills Lignite Mine, 1998-2002 Environmental/Operations Narrative Area, in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of the investigations at one of these sites, 16DS228, which represents the Third Phase of the Civil War battle known as the Battle of Mansfield, fought on April 8, 1864. The Battle of Mansfield represented the culmination of the Federal Red River Campaign, which was designed to destroy the Confederate Army west of the Mississippi, and to enter and occupy Texas. The Federal strategy was based on a two-pronged attack by the land-naval force under General Nathaniel Banks and Admiral David Porter. The battle was fought in three phases. Initially, the advance segments of the Federal Army encountered Confederate forces commanded by General Richard Taylor, a few miles south of Mansfield. The Confederates overwhelmed the northerners in two successive engagements, forcing them back several miles to the farm of Joshua Chapman, where they made a final stand. During the fighting at Chapman's farm, now known as the Third Phase of the battle, the U.S. Nineteenth Corps succeeded in stopping the Confederate advance, and allowed the badly mauled Federal Army to retreat southward to Pleasant Hill, where they again fought Taylor's Confederates on the following afternoon. The archaeological investigations at the Third Phase battlefield examined an area of approximately 40 acres. Numerous historic maps and records from both northern and southern sources suggested that the investigated area included positions of two brigades of the U.S. Nineteenth Corps. Utilizing metal detectors, the acreage was carefully examined, mostly resulting in the recovery of numerous small arms ammunition. No evidence for human burials was found. Two discrete areas believed to represent Federal Army positions during the Confederate assault were identified.