Saturday, March 29 @ 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm EDT
Join the Ridgefield Historical Society on Saturday, March 29, 2025, for a special meetup at the Friends of the Office of State Archaeology (FOSA) Annual Meeting, where leading researchers will present on Burial Sites from the American Revolution. The event will take place at the Farmington High School Auditorium, 10 Monteith Drive, Farmington, CT. Admission is $10 per person, and online registration is requested here.
The presentations will highlight recent archaeological discoveries related to Revolutionary War burials. Connecticut State Archaeologist Sarah Sportman will discuss the 2019 discovery of adult male burials in Ridgefield, believed to be casualties of the Battle of Ridgefield. Wade P. Catts and Jennifer Janofsky will explore the Red Bank Battlefield Archaeology Project, where a mass burial site of Hessian soldiers from the 1777 attack on Fort Mercer was uncovered. Lisa Anderson from the New York State Museum will examine the impact of smallpox on Revolutionary War soldiers, focusing on unmarked graves discovered in 2019 at Fort George in Lake George, NY. A Q&A session will follow the presentations.
Attendees should plan to drive to Farmington High School independently and meet Ridgefield Historical Society staff in the school lobby at 2:15 p.m. to check in and secure seating. Please allow approximately one hour and fifteen minutes for travel from Ridgefield, depending on traffic. The presentations begin promptly at 2:45 p.m.
Following the presentation everyone is invited to join Ridgefield Historical Society Executive Director Stephen Bartkus and members of the Battle of Ridgefield Archaeology Project Advisory Committee for continuing conversation in the bar at Wood-n-Tap Grill, 1593 Farmington Ave., located across the street from Farmington High School. View the menu and read more about Wood-n-Tap Grill here.
For additional information, contact the Ridgefield Historical Society at [email protected] or 203-438-5821, or visit ridgefieldhistoricalsociety.org.
Speaker Schedule
2:45-3:00pm
OSA UPDATE ON POSSIBLE BATTLEFIELD BURIALS FROM RIDGEFIELD, CT
Sarah Sportman, Connecticut State Archaeologist
2019 construction activities uncovered burials under the cellar of a private residence in Ridgefield, CT. Excavations by the State Archaeologist yielded remains of adult males, four of whom were hastily buried together in a common shallow grave within the Battle of Ridgefield (April 27, 1777) battlefield. Recovered buttons dated the remains to the last quarter of the 18th-century. The working hypothesis is that these men were victims of the battle. This presentation provides a brief overview of the discovery, and an update on the analysis of the burial site skeletal remains and material culture.
Please note: The study of the Ridgefield skeletal remains is still in progress, and no new findings will be shared during this presentation.
3:00-3:30pm
“NAKED AND TORN BY THE GRAPESHOT”: THE RED BANK BATTLEFIELD ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECT
Wade P. Catts, President, South River Heritage Consulting and Jennifer Janofsky Prof. of Public History, Rowan University
During the summer of 2022, a mass burial space was discovered at Red Bank Battlefield Park in Gloucester County, New Jersey. The burial is believed to contain remains of Hessian soldiers who died during the October 22, 1777 attack on Fort Mercer. This presentation summarizes the histories of the battle and of Battlefield Park, as well as the archaeological fieldwork and forensic research. The multi-disciplinary project team’s work is continuing, and we will highlight some of the team’s analyses.
3:30-4:00pm
“SMALLPOX IN OUR NORTHERN ARMY CARRIES WITH IT MUCH GREATER DREAD THAN OUR ENEMIES”: THE QUEBEC CAMPAIGN & COURTLAND STREET BURYING GROUND
Lisa Anderson, Curator of Bioarchaeology, New York State Museum
In 1776, Governor Jonathan Trumbull wrote about smallpox plaguing troops returning from a failed campaign to invade Quebec. The army established a general hospital at Fort George to isolate the sick. In 2019, unmarked graves believed to be associated with the general hospital were disturbed by construction in the Village of Lake George, NY. A major salvage effort recovered the fragmentary and scattered remains of over 40 individuals. Subsequent work has focused on reconstructing and interpreting the lives of soldiers and plans to honor them in 2026.
4:00-4:30pm Q&A
