K?<J8E>8DF =IFEK@<I h i s t o r y & a r c h a e o l o g y i n t h e s h a d o w o f l i n c o l n r o b e r t m a z r i m THE SANGAMO FRONTIER THE SANGAMO FRONTIER History and Archaeology in the Shadow of Lincoln robert mazrim the university of chicago press Chicago and London Robert Mazrim is director of the Sangamo Archaeological Center in Elkhart, Illinois, and also serves as the historical resources specialist for the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2007 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 2007 Printed in the United States of America 16151413121110090807 12345 isbn-13: 978-0-226-51424-6 (cloth) isbn-10: 0-226-51424-2 (cloth) isbn-13: 978-0-226-51425-3 (paper) isbn-10: 0-226-51425-0 (paper) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mazrim, Robert. The Sangamo frontier : history and archaeology in the shadow of Lincoln / Robert Mazrim. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-226-51424-2 (cloth : alk. paper) — isbn 0-226-51425-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Springfield Region (Ill.)—Antiquities. 2. Historic sites—Illinois—Springfield Region. 3. Excavations (Archaeology)—Illinois—Springfield Region. 4. Archaeology and history—Illinois—Springfield Region. 5. Lincoln, Abraham, 1809–1865—Homes and haunts—Illinois—Springfield Region. 6. Frontier and pioneer life—Illinois—Springfield Region. 7. Springfield Region (Ill.)—History— 19th century. 8. Springfield Region (Ill.)—History, Local. 9. Sangamon River Valley (Ill.)—History, Local. I. Title. f549.s7m39 2007 977.3Ј56—dc22 2006018787 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1992. ϱ ᭺ for Frank Robert Mazrim 1908–1985 Acknowledgments * ix Introduction: Journey to Sangamo * 1 PART ONE Americans, Frontiers, and Archaeology 1. The Making of an American Frontier * 13 2. The Arrival of Archaeology and the Shadow of Lincoln * 29 PART TWO Illinois in History 3. Before the Americans * 47 4. The Americans * 62 PART THREE Archaeology of the Frontier 5. At Home, 1800–1840 * 75 6. Under the House, Behind the House * 87 7. Goods in the Forests * 95 PART FOUR The Origins of Sangamo 8. The Hole in the Map * 123 9. A New Frontier * 137 Contents PART FIVE The Archaeology of Sangamo 10. Overlooking Wilderness: Excavations at Elkhart Hill * 153 11. Earthenware at Cotton Hill: The Ebey-Brunk Kiln Site * 183 12. The Origins of a State Capital: The Iles Store Site * 206 13. Moses’s Sangamo: Relocating a Lost Town * 227 14. Exploring Moses’s Sangamo: Excavations at Sangamo Town * 247 15. Lincoln’s New Salem: History and Archaeology * 275 16. Behind Lincoln’s New Salem: Archaeology and Revisionism * 301 17. The End of the Trail * 320 Notes * 331 Index * 347 One of the more interesting aspects of the discipline of archaeology is its ability to bring together people from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives. The studies and excavations described in this book were conducted over a fifteen-year period, and relied on the efforts and sup- port of a number of individuals. In the late 1970s, John Walthall, chief archaeologist at the Illinois De- partment of Transportation, introduced historic resources to the mas- sive transportation-based archaeological surveys. Nearly thirty years later, that program continues to provide a constant stream of infor- mation regarding the frontier period in Illinois, much of which is pres- ent in the overviews found in this book. John has also provided me with a number of resources over the last fifteen years, and my perspectives on early nineteenth-century material culture owe much to our frequent collaborations. As director of the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program, Thomas Emerson was responsible for our work at the Old Village locale at Peoria in 2001, but perhaps more important, he has also managed to build a research-based environment in the difficult world of cultural resource management. That environment has both directly and indirectly fostered much of my work regarding frontier Illinois, and Tom’s program at the University of Illinois will no doubt inspire new authors and studies in the future. ix Acknowledgments [...]... cooking stoves Even the concept of time would change shortly after the close of the frontier in Illinois, with the coming of the railroads and the need to synchronize our clocks In other words, there has been a certain level of extinction since 1840, and there exists a significant gulf between then and now That gulf, and those extinctions, are what drives much of archaeology, and makes the excavation of. .. environment in which they built their log houses Many facets of the cultural identity of the inhabitants of the western frontiers—where and how they set up housekeeping, what they ate, what they wore, or even the songs they sang after dark— echoed the traditions of their forefathers in southern England, Ireland, Germany, or Norway The term frontier was not an invention of historians—it was used by the very... however, Illinoisans of Euro8 jour ney to sangamo pean descent became interested in the archaeological record of their own ancestors Residents of central Illinois especially wished to better understand and portray the frontier lives of Abraham Lincoln and his neighbors The modern process of archaeology often begins with a wide-angle view of both the archival history of a region and an overview of what... Topographically, the landscape is like a hand print in the sand: the palm is the floodplain and the fingers are the various rivers and creeks that flow toward the Mississippi at the wrist Beyond the tips of the fingers are the uplands A few miles northeast, the remnants of the industrial landscape gradually give way to marshes that surround floodplain creeks that were long ago straightened, moved, or just filled in Near... All but the tiniest, darkest corners have been long since illuminated Like most places, the landscape has been tamed, and it is increasingly difficult to see the many previous lives of this place Now and then, however, something punctures this veneer, reminding us of the antiquity of some things, and the extinction of others Some bits and pieces—their garbage and our artifacts—become ambassadors The descendants... their point of view Perhaps just as important was the fact that for the upland southerner living in Illinois, the new frontier did not really warrant describing The settling of unknown lands had been practiced for several generations, and detailed accounts of log cabin construction and hog butchering practices would have hardly been entertaining to the sisters or grandmothers left in Tennessee Moving... settlement in southeastern Illinois in the late 1810s), often remarked in their writings about the transient nature of the initial settlers of the Illinois frontier, and how brand new improvements (new cabins, herd of cattle, and freshly cleared and plowed fields) were readily offered for sale to new arrivals The deed records of such transactions, at least in central Illinois, suggest that selling out... Abraham Lincoln found when he moved to the region in the summer of 1831 In fact, he visited several of them His presence, or the shadow that he later cast, often preserved their memory, ensured their survival, and prompted the visits of archaeologists nearly two centuries later 9 PART ONE Americans, Frontiers, and Archaeology chapter one The Making of an American Frontier They say it began with the ringing... Thomas Schwartz of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library has initiated new projects that promise to further synthesize the archaeological information concerning Lincoln s central Illinois home with that of the written record Terrance Martin of the Illinois State Museum conducted the faunal analysis for several of the studies described below Thomas Wood of the University of Illinois, Springfield, patiently... approaching an archaeological site in Illinois It is a journey that often starts in a library, leads to a hole in the ground, and ends in a laboratory In part 1, we begin with an introduction to the arrival of the Americans in Illinois, an arrival that was announced by the sounding of a bell along the Mississippi River in the summer of 1778 That bell also signaled the start of the American frontier . m THE SANGAMO FRONTIER THE SANGAMO FRONTIER History and Archaeology in the Shadow of Lincoln robert mazrim the university of chicago press Chicago and London Robert Mazrim is director of the Sangamo. Americans, Frontiers, and Archaeology 1. The Making of an American Frontier * 13 2. The Arrival of Archaeology and the Shadow of Lincoln * 29 PART TWO Illinois in History 3. Before the Americans * 47 4 Urbana-Champaign. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2007 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 2007 Printed in the United