A pocket knife dating back to the 1870s, a part of a bayonet from the early 1900s, and a wagon's metal wheel tire from the late 1800s were just some of the findings dug up by Soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 85th Mountain Infantry Regiment, Warrior Transition Battalion, at the encampment site of Camp Hughes, the birthplace of what is now Fort Drum.
In September 1907, nearly 2,500 New York National Guardsmen trained on 800 acres of land and established an encampment known as Camp Hughes across the Black River from Felts Mills.
Nearly 108 years later, a group of Soldiers from the 3-85 WTB unit were invited on May 7 by Dr. Duane Quates, a federal archaeologist with Fort Drum Cultural Resources Branch, to participate in an archaeological metal-detecting dig at the original Camp Hughes encampment.
Armed with metal detectors, each Soldier was assigned a square grid divided by masking tape and plotted out on a 7- by 4-foot rectangular-shaped area.
The 3-85 WTB Soldiers who were accustomed to using metal detectors -- for area sweeps in order to find explosive ordnance during deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan -- had a different mission during the archaeological hike. They used the metal detectors to find a concentration of artifacts at the site.
"It is very important to mark the spots where each of the artifacts was found," Quates explained. "This will help us to get a full picture of what the life on this site was back in 1907."
For the Soldiers, the most exciting part was when a metal detector made a loud beeping sound, indicating that some sort of metal artifact was buried at this particular spot.
As soon as a loud beep was heard, a Soldier would place a skewer at the exact location on the ground, marking the spot for further excavation. As soon as all the grids were explored and skewers placed out on the grounds, the most exciting part began − hands on the ground digging of the marked spots.
The artifacts, which had been buried underground and had not seen daylight for quite some time, started coming out. The first object dug out from the ground was the rusted pocket knife dating back to 1870s, followed by the corroded bayonet from the 1800s.
The excitement of each dig was fueled by the desire to find something unknown, something not seen for decades.
Old beer cans, timeworn tableware and dishware were unearthed and placed in plastic bags, their locations marked for further investigation.
When the dig was over, a majority of the Soldiers wanted to stay and continue digging.
"It was very interesting coming out today to this archaeological site," one 3-85 WTB Soldier commented. "There is a lot of interesting history behind it."
With the archaeological hike at an end, the Soldiers and staff of the 3-85 WTB await the next dig and an opportunity to learn more about the history of the Camp Hughes that gave birth to what's known today as Fort Drum.
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