The Search for a 200 Year Old Military Base in Southern Illinois

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More than 200 years ago, the United States stood on the threshold of war with France. The threat was so serious that former President George Washington came out of retirement to lead the army and recruited Alexander Hamilton as his second in command.

Fifteen hundred U.S. troops - nearly half of the entire military - moved to a campsite on the Ohio River in present-day Pulaski County, Illinois, in deep Southern Illinois. For eighteen months, the soldiers drilled and prepared for war against France while also experiencing disease and a fatal tornado. Eventually, the threat of war cleared, and the troops returned to other posts.

Today, the site of the former military base known as Cantonment Wilkinson is a well-plowed farm field. Generations of residents learned of the story, but aside from a few articles, more was needed to study the site.

In 2005, archaeologists with Southern Illinois University Carbondale launched an investigation. At first, the effort yielded only brick fragments and tiny glass and ceramic pieces. Videographer Richard Kuenneke captured when archaeologist Mark Wagner located the first artifact confirming the site’s military history. The single event “caught on tape” was the needed proof that led to a state-funded excavation of Cantonment Wilkinson.

This video originally appeared as a four-part series aired on public television in southern Illinois.

Archaeologist Mark Wagner, Associate Professor and Director of SIU’s Center for Archaeological Investigations, published an article in the Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology. Access is restricted, sorry to say, but maybe you know someone who could download the article for you.

ADDITIONAL READING ABOUT MILITARY SITE ARCHAEOLOGY:

Interesting titles, but plan to “dig deep” into your wallet.

The Historical Archaeology of Military Sites: Method and Topic
By Clarence Raymond Geier, Lawrence E. Babits, Douglas Dowell Scott, and David G. Orr

Multivocal Archaeologies of the Pacific War, 1941-45: Collaboration, Reconciliation, and Renewal
By Ben Raffield, Yu Hirasawa, and Neil Price

BOOKS ABOUT THE QUASI-WAR:

The First War of the United States: The Quasi-War with France 1798-1801
By William J. Phalen 2018

The Quasi-War. The Politics and Diplomacy of the Undeclared War with France, 1797-1801
By Alexander DeConde 1966

Richard Kuenneke is a media producer living in southern Illinois.

[TallulahB]

Some of my Bollinger ancestors crossed into Missouri on New Year's Day 1800 at Ste. Genevieve and settled in the Whitewater area of what is now Bollinger County. The Mississippi River was frozen over and they cautiously crossed over the ice at Ste. Genevieve, Mo.

[-Brass]

Here in the Mid West. We have a hard time seeing ourselves as the American Frontier and that for a time, America only went as far as the Mississippi. Most of it was still inhabited by the many Indian Tribes. A very interesting video. Thanks!

[Suncast]

I'm a Paducah native and began detecting in 1973. On the Ky side of the river I found a 2 Real silver coin with the bust of Ferdinand VII. It was damaged in a fire and is bubbled badly. Then where fill from the Ohio River was used to create the park where the Hotel was built I found an Ancient bronze coin.

[clydea.murphy]

Rusted iron makes the biggest target, the rust leaches into the ground, making the relic appear larger than it is.

[ellensstory]

My Mom, a Fort Massac DAR member told me about this camp. I believe Fort Massac DAR placed the placque.

[kwqd]

Both sides of my family were in this area beginning with my Virginia paternal ancestor who was in the Illinois Campaign with George Rogers Clark who had been his schoolmate at Donald Robertson's School in King and Queen Co., VA. My mother's family from Kentucky received Spanish land grants in the 1790s in what is now St. Charles County, MO. A creek is still named for them. They felled and hollowed out a large sycamore tree to make a canoe that held four families. They had to swear fealty to Spain.

My father's family from Kentucky settled on Indian land south of what is now Marion, Williamson County, IL, then in the Northwest Territory, later Randolph County, Indiana Territory, etc.... They signed the Squatter's petition in 1807 to get title to that land. Of course the French and Spanish settlers were there long before them. There was a surprising amount of traffic between these two regions and I find mentions of families on both sides of the Mississippi River in records. There was a fair amount of conflict with the Indians and several members of both sides of my family were killed. My ancestor with the Illinois Campaign was killed and scalped by Indians in Kentucky in 1784.

[davidkurvach]

Thank you very much for producing this. Wilkinsonville has fascinated me ever since I read about the archaeological dig in the Evansville newspaper in the mid 2000s. How close was the encampment in proximity to Colonel Strong's marker on Tick Ridge Road?

[fokkerdred]

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing

[billwilson-esyn]

They usually don't find much where early military camps were built. The buildings would either be taken over by squatters or dismantled by local residents for building materials. They would go thru the trash heaps to remove recyclable material (metal, glass, buttons, buckles).

[richardferguson]

Missed the covert operation by a worthy LT from Ft Knox on the Wabash..the military established this secret operation to explore the French territory..1780s..Post on the Wabash..letters from Major Hamtramk

[ernestclements]

It's funny that they would make anything for Wilkinson, because as history has proven that even though he was in command of the U.S. Army he was also Spanish Agent 13 who was in cahoots with Spain in their efforts to keep the United States from expanding West of the Mississippi, he was also complicit in Aaron Burrs plans to split the area West of the Alleghenys into a separate country in one of his more perfidous acts, he sold out the Lewis and Clark expedition to the Spanish, who dispatched troops, to capture and kill them, as invaders, but said troops failed being unable to find them.

[clydea.murphy]

If only had he used a metal detector, he would have found that iron relic sooner than later. Marking all the metal targets with flags, will give him a map to where are the best places to dig.

[cem]

I live near need more places to detect

[bendummitt]

There were considerations that this area would be perfect for the nation's capital. There is an old map suggesting it. Luckily, for us, it didn't happen.

[davedodds]

That claim that bayonets were ordered to be welded to the muskets needs provenance; I have been involved with antique US firearms for years and have never encountered even a suggestion of this frankly bizarre modification. I find this extremely difficult to accept but look forward to be proven incorrect.

[reddrockingeezer]

I wonder why they didn't use a drone with LIDAR to identify the outlines of buildings and other shapes?

[TheEudaemonicPlague]

I don't have a clue what would lead six idiots to give this a thumbs down, but they do have to be idiots. This is fascinating. I want to learn more about this cantonment. Finding this video reminded me of the early 70s, when there were at least two years they had at the Mississippi Palisades State Park something called General Grant's Civil War Cantonment. I went to one of them, I think it was the second time they did it...and I can't find any evidence it continued after the second one. They had some fun competitions for children...and I won the egg in spoon race. During the same general time period, we also visited Cave in Rock and a bunch of other parts of Illinois...which brings me to ask--how close is it to Cave in Rock?

[rtoguidver]

One man's trash is another man's treasure.!

[TheCombatartist]

All of those hyper-educated people and they’re wearing shorts in known tic infested land…really?

[dodeeledbetter]

None of this it what they are making it out as.