Army team wraps up search for contraband slave graves

Posted July 1, 2010
By Mark Haviland
Norfolk District Public Affairs

07/01/2010 - FORT MONROE, Va. — A weeklong archaeological dig conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers here June 8-12 yielded no evidence of a contraband slave cemetery that's been a topic of speculation for years.

The archaeologists, led by Dr. Michael Hargrave from the Engineer Research Development Center's Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, focused their attention on several anomalies identified by ground-penetrating radar during a site survey in February.

Hargrave and his team, Dr. Jarrod Burks, director of geophysical survey, and Jeff Dilyard, staff archaeologist, both with Ohio Valley Archaeology, Inc., focused their efforts on determining if graves, human remains and artifacts were present in five trenches that included several anomalies – discolored areas in the ground that the team believed had the highest potential of being graves.

The effort is part of the Army's responsibility under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, said Paul Presenza, a cultural resource specialist with the fort's Department of Public Works. As the Army works to close Fort Monroe, officials must work with consulting parties to evaluate the potential effects of the closure on historic properties and define steps to avoid, reduce or mitigate harmful effects.

Thirty-two consulting parties, including the Contraband Historical Society, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and Preservation Virginia worked with the Army to determine what actions can be taken regarding Fort Monroe's historic properties – such as the geophysical and archaeological search for a possible contraband cemetery.

As the Corps conducted archival research, the focus narrowed to a field adjacent to the post's airfield, now a place where Soldiers and their families practice their golf swing and walk their dogs. The area served as the post cemetery until the late 1890s and, once graves were removed to cemeteries in nearby Hampton, Va., later served as living and operations areas during World War I and II, Presenza said.

Throughout the week, Hargrave, Burks and Presenza watched for signs of artifacts as Addam Weatherly, a deckhand with the Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' navigation support team, excavated the upper layers of the trenches – modern-day dredged sand fill -- inch by inch.

As Weatherly's excavation work neared the World War I habitation layer, a visible dark line about 36 inches below the modern surface, scientists moved in with shovels and trowels and explored the trench floors by removing layers a centimeter at a time until they hit the water table. Then they sifted through bucket after bucket of material at sorting tables erected near the trenches.

"Archaeology is often long periods of boredom punctuated by a few exciting moments … followed by more boredom," Burks often said as the scientists clustered around a potential find only to return to the routine moments later.

One by one, each of the anomalies revealed themselves as something other than graves – mostly pits of discarded building material, such as wood, bricks and the occasional piece of glass. Two spent .45 caliber bullet casings were the only signs that the dig occurred on a historic military installation.

Hargrave will submit a report detailing the geophysical and archaeological findings of the contraband cemetery investigation to officials at Fort Monroe in August.