Publications in the field of conflict archaeology are increasingly concerned not so much with the description of individual military actions, but go beyond to issues relating to the appropriate methodologies to be employed. This book, focusing on archaeological investigations of the American Civil War (1861–1865) represents this emerging trend very well. It should find a place on the shelf of every dedicated student of conflict whether their interest concerns nineteenth-century conflict in North America or extends more broadly.
Two main themes dominate discussion: the use of appropriate tools—especially the metal detector—to investigate sites of military activity and the application of modern military manuals to assist in the interpretation of such sites and to act as guides to sites of armed action. The range of aspects under scrutiny—from specific battlefields and military encampments to fortresses and gun emplacements, as well as the histories of individual weapons—is impressive, and the implications for understanding how these relate to other aspects of war is both instructive and interesting. I was particularly struck by the example of a military bivouac at a farm as evidence for changing civilian-military relations as the Civil War resolved into a Confederate defeat: this included the occupation of enslaved quarters by troops, raising the question of where the former inhabitants went during the occupation; and the local deforestation consequent upon military occupation, requiring those rebuilding their homes after the Civil War to have earned enough beforehand to be able to afford the necessary timber from elsewhere.
To achieve its objectives, the book is structured via three main sections. The first, of seven chapters, offers examinations of actual battle sites, covering most areas where the Civil War was fought, including some of the ‘Bleeding Kansas’ period that preceded and presaged the war itself, and military action against Native Americans who allied for their own purposes with one side or the other in the larger conflict. The second section, of four chapters, investigates aspects of support and logistical arrangements including encampments and the management of transport animals. The third section, of five chapters, is titled ‘Miscellaneous’, and covers studies of forts and gun emplacements, the biography of an individual gun and survey work disproving myths of sites ‘worked out’ by collectors. An appendix introduces the US military's MET-T and KOCOA frameworks as interpretative tools.
The majority of the chapters show concern to establish the metal detector as both an effective and appropriate tool for the survey of military sites, as well as emphasising the limitations of more conventional tools such as surface survey and trial-trenching. The contribution of metal-detector survey to the expansion of knowledge about conflict sites through confirmation of the presence of battlefield and encampment residue is affirmed by a number of chapters that are clearly aimed at other archaeologists who remain hostile to their use and dubious about battlefield archaeology as an area of study. In contrast, the opening group of four chapters in section one forms a coherent set, examining less well-known but historically significant battle sites in the west of the USA; these too are concerned with establishing the value of metal detectoring but also seek to confirm the usefulness of particular interpretative tools provided by the US military: MET-T and KOCOA.
The set of military principles enshrined in these acronyms are contained and explained within the appendix to the volume as a whole, emphasising their centrality to the overall arguments of the book. MET-T refers to mission, enemy, terrain, troops available and time/weather, and is intended to assist a commander's decisions in advance of action, while KOCOA is meant for guidance at the immediate tactical level and covers key terrain, obstacles, cover, observation and avenues of approach. It is contended that—together with an understanding of guiding ‘principles of war’ derived from key military writers (Sun Tzu, de Jomini, Clausewitz and others)—these doctrines can act as valuable indicators to archaeologists of the kinds of behaviours they should expect to find reflected in the evidence found at nineteenth-century military sites. In advance of survey they can be used to indicate where action is most likely to have taken place and therefore where to look for evidence and, after the material has been retrieved and analysed, to provide a tool for its interpretation. In general, the usefulness of the MET-T and KOCOA frameworks are asserted rather than demonstrated in detail. Nor is there any discussion of potential circularity whereby the frameworks are used to predict the location of action and hence battlefield residue, and then to interpret that residue so as to elucidate the military behaviour it represents; no contributor takes a more sceptical view of these sources for interpretation.
On the other hand, the value of archaeology as a counterpoint and confirmation of sometimes contradictory and dubious historical records is well attested and demonstrated throughout the book. As a branch of historical archaeology, the conflict archaeology of nineteenth-century America depends upon historical sources to identify events and places for investigation, but those sources themselves can be subject to interpretation and revision. Archaeology is offered here as an independent test of those sources, be they military records, first-hand testimony (although sometimes from a considerable time after the events they describe) or newspaper accounts.
The main weakness of the book lies in its presentation of visual material. While many images are included, none are offered in colour, even though originals may well have been tinted. Photographs are grainy and of low resolution, as are many of the maps that are also too small for significant features to be visible. It is clear from image attributions that some are adapted from plates in other publications that can be assumed to be more legible, but these originals will not be readily available to many readers of this book. Images aside, this is a very valuable contribution to the developing field of conflict archaeology.
