How did a 1780 Spanish coin end up at Ft. Amanda?

Wayne's Legion Research Group

On Nov. 4, 2023, a volunteer group called "Wayne's Legion Research Group", led by Greg Shipley, uncovered a 1780 Spanish silver 1 Reale coin, in the farmed field west of the Fort Amanda monument. It is the first fort period coin found at the Fort Amanda site. This raised 2 very important questions. First of all, why there be an old Spanish coin found at Fort Amanda and secondly, what would that coin have been worth in 1812?

 

  The coin is a 1 reale and in 1780 was worth one half a quarter or 12.5 cents.  8 reals equaled 1 us dollar.    

Another Way for a soldier to lose pay while on duty; die!

    Privte Charles Murry, a soldier stationed at FortAmanda died on June 1, 1813, His pay record (below) shows that his last pay was for service from April 5, 1813 to June 4, 1813 was to be $16.00 but because he died 3 days before the end of the pay period, his pay was docked 77 cents.  

During the war it was customary for soldiers to send some of their pay home to their families. In fact, in May 1813, Schillinger's journal entry tells us that he was going home on leave and that Pvt. James Bailey gave him $10 to deliver to his (Bailey's) wife and Sgt. Bradbury gave him $15 to leave at his house and his (Bradbury's) wife would stop by and pick it up.   

If someone dropped it, why couldn't they find it?

    Consider this, most of the trees surrounding Fort Amanda would have been cut down to build the stockade walls and structures within the fort. Tall grasses, bushes and shrubs that could conceal an enemy would also have also been removed giving sentries in the blockhouses a clear view of anyone approaching the fort. With most of the obstructions removed one would think it would have been easy to spot a coin on the surface.  Maybe it's my frugal nature but, if I had lost half a days pay I'd probably still be looking for it.

Wait! What if the coin wasn't lost by a Ft. Amanda soldier?

    Good point. We know hundreds of soldiers and contractors passed through the area during the war, however they did not camp at the fort.  Soldiers going north camped on the northside of Deep Cut Road in an areas Ensign Schillinger referred to as the "commons."    

What if the coin wasn't lost in 1812, but was lost years earlier?

    While yes, it's possible a soldier stationed at Fort Amanda during the war could have lost the coin and yes, it's possible one of a number of soldiers and contrctors who passed by the fort during war could have lost it, but what if the coin wasn't lost during the war at all. What if someone carrying the coin passed through the area years prior to 1812 and for whatever reason lost the coin?

Possible Scenarios

Scenario 1: A soldier stationed at Fort Amanda dropped the coin.  

Scenario 2: A soldier passing through the area dropped the coin and simply wasn't aware of it.  

Scenario 3: What if the coin was lost by a civilian or an Indian passing through the area years before or even an IndianFort Amanda was built? 

An Intriguing Possibility

What if the coin wasn' lost after all. What if the coin was in the possession of a man who was killed on the spot years before Fort Amanda was built?

 In my next blog I will present details of an actual event that took place in 1794 that very well could support the above scenario.  

    

 

 

 

Fort Amanda - Below the Ground (Blog #2)

"Wayne's Legion Research Group"

 Artifacts recovered at the Amanda site including a very interesting and mysterious discovery

 

       A Cartridge

   

         We know from Ensign Schillinger's journal that the men at Fort Amanda spent much of their time making cartridges (bullets of the day).   Cartridges were basically a rolledup paper tube with a lead ball in one end and the other end of the tube filled with gunpowder (see pic above).  When ready for use, the end with the powder was either torn off or chewed off and the gunpowder dumped down the barrel of a musket.  The lead ball was then inserted in the barrel and pushed down with a ramrod with the paper serving as wadding).  Schillinger's journal tells us that if a man had no teeth or very few teeth, he could be excluded from military servive.  

        The lead or musket balls were made by pouring molten lead into a mold.  The mold would then be opened and the "sprue" waste, cut off.  

  

                 Ball Mold                                        Cartridge Box

     The finished cartridges were placed in a cartridge box worn on the soldiers belt.   

 A few days ago I asked Greg why there would be so many musket balls and shot in such a small area.   His answer was: 

Likely periodic and singular drops, Dave. Also, all of those deformed buckshots (with offset halves) were most likely "dumped" right after being seen. I used to be surprised by how many perfectly good lead balls were being left behind, but it is like that in every military and Indian site I've ever hunted, so folks were just incredibly wasteful when it came to lead.

Artifacts Found To Date

 

                                                     Greg Shipleys notes

        Here are the recoveries made during our two day Phase1 investigation, on Nov 3rd & 4th (2023). I'm still working on preserving the iron artifacts, which are mainly harness buckles and hand-forged nails, but all of the lead, brass, pewter, and non metallic artifacts have been cleaned and cataloged, now. I wanted to begin excavations on this new site in an area that David Johnson's research and published information indicated was in close proximity to where the US military fort had stood, so that was the reasoning for our initial 40'x40' farm field grid units being established where they were.

        Four of the eight total Phase1 units were opened and completed, with five fire pit/trash midden features being located, excavated, and GPS position tagged. Being just outside of the Ft Amanda stockade area, we encountered a steady scatter of discarded and/or lost fort period materials, as shown in these photos. As this Auglaize County outpost was constructed by KY militia and, later on, manned by Ohio militia, the 30 button recoveries are civilian clothing types: flat brass w/ soldered on eyelets, molded and lathe turned tombacs w/ brass eyelets, and a couple of partial cast pewter types. Also, 2 brass cuff-link buttons were recovered, with one example bearing an "A" or "H" monogram. Also, 3 gunflints (2 prismoidal & 1 spall), 3 brass tacks, 5 small pieces of Indian trade silver, several sheet brass scraps, and fragments of English china and bottle glass (from the pit features) + the complete forged-iron "make do" table fork, all being representative examples of what the militia soldiers manning Ft Amanda had with them, while stationed at this Ohio frontier outpost. 

        Along with masses of burnt and marrowed animal bones, from daily garrison meals, which we recovered from the 5 sub plow-zone features, the most prolific period artifact type recovered during our investigation was "lead". 578 total lead artifacts were recovered and cataloged during our two day dig project: lead musket and rifle balls (.62 caliber down to .36 caliber) = 83, buckshots (many with offset mold cavity alignment deforms) = 224, and lead scraps (including cut mold sprues, slag, molten drips, etc) = 271. 

        Note: the 1780 Spanish silver 1Reale coin and an 1843 Large Cent (from three decades after the fort period) recoveries are not pictured in this relics composite, as they were found outside of grid units 1, 3, 4, & 5. A few lead recoveries were detected north the outside of our excavated area, during a detecting recon for future excavations planning purposes, and these items are cataloged as " N" (for north of our grid units).     

        Obviously, this much material being recovered from plowed ground and on a site that has seen much surface hunting and some metal detecting activities done, is an indication that there is tremendous opportunity to locate more War of 1812 era materials and to locate important deep features related to the Ft Amanda structure and outlying buildings. This initial activity was a success and, thanks to the property owner, Mr David Kriegel, and historian/author, Mr David Johnson, I'm excited with this new opportunity to investigate another Ohio frontier era site, which has been neglected for far too long.

The Fort's Footprint ?

NOTE:  If you're wondering why the outline of the fort looks like it extends into the adjacent field, read my blog at: https://fortamanda1812.blogspot.com/search?q=footprint.  It presents my proposal that the northwest wall of the fort was actually 132 feet into the adjacent field and included  5th blockhouse.     

How Did a Spanish Coin End Up at Fort Amanda?

Greg Shipley's Notes

After Doug Penhorwood had finished dozing our Fort Amanda site excavation area back in and our group members had handworked everything, nice and level, we did some field surface metal detecting in areas I'll want to excavate, next year. One very good detector signal ended up being this 1780 Spanish silver 1Reale coin, which I dug from only six inches of depth in the disturbed plow-zone layer of this farm field. Both sides of this 243 year old coin exhibit scars from being churned around by agricultural tillage activities but it is always a thrill to find a coin, from Spain's colonial period, on an Ohio historical site. This is the first fort period coin to be recovered during our Wayne's Legion Research Group activities on this War of 1812 site but, hopefully, more will come to light, during future excavations, here

 

The Big Question

 

How did a 1780 Spanish coin endup at an 1812 military fort ?  I have a theory, one  if proven correct could add a whole new chapter to the Fort Amanda story.  Stay tuned for Blog #3

  

Fort Amanda - Below Ground Level (Blog #1)

 The first archaeological work, of any kind, ever done at the Fort Amanda site was performed in 2013 by a team from Ohio Valley Archaeology  Inc. (Columbus, Ohio) led by Dr. Jarrod Burks. While the scans did not specifically identify any major features, i.e., buildings, it did identify areas to concentrate on for any future work.  Thinking that any "future work" would probably never happen in my lifetime, little did I know at the time that, 5 years later, I would meet Greg Shipley, an amateur archaeologist from Logan County who, along with his team, may help answer many of the questions surrounding Fort Amanda that have been left unanswered for more than 211 years.  

                                                

  The "V" shaped figure remains a mystery.  It's not field tile because they are actually indentations in the ground.  Any thoughts send them to me at djohnson43@att.net

Fort Amanda Archaeology Begins

          I first met Greg Shipley, in 2018.  He along with his team "Wayne's Legion Research Group" happened to be doing archaeology work at Fort Loramie. We talked about his work there and I told him about mine at Fort Amanda.  I sent him all my field notes along with pictures of what I'd found at the site over the years.  

        In 2023, Greg contacted me and said he was interested in doing some premliminary test digs in the field adjacent to the monument area at Fort Amanda.  He approached the owner of the field, David Kreigel and asked for permission to scrape the dirt away to below below the plow zone in a specified area in his field .  David, who I might add, has the same passions for history and Fort Amanda as many of us, not only gave permission he provided the team with a bulldozer to scrape away the soil.   Greg and his team started work on Nov. 3 and found more artifacts in two days than I had in years.  

Blogging the Progress 

        I will be posting pictures of the teams findings along with Greg's notes on the team's finds.  If you're on Facebook and would like to see the level of professionalism demonstrated by Greg and his team at Fort Loramie, go to his FB Page  Greg Shipley and check it out. 

"Wayne's Legion Research Group"

 Members are Dan Rhodes, Daniel Bartleett, Doug Penhorwood, Brian Selfring, Greg Shipley, Ian McAtee, Mark Schulze, Dr. David Cox, Carl Stuard, 

Members not snown:  Chad Francis, Ken Sowards, W. B. Baughman, James Bartlett, Dan Kramer, Jim Fox and Tony Luthman, and Mark Schulze.

The Plan

Nov. 3 & 4, 2023

Shipley's notes

        Last Friday and Saturday, Nov 3rd & 4th,  Wayne's Legion Research Group conducted test excavations activity in the field west of the monument in a privately owned farm field property. After obtaining permission and support from the landowner (David Kreigel) and having studied research info and geophysical data supplied to me by David Johnson, the author of two published books about this War of 1812 Ohio fort site, we laid out an area where our group's Phase1 plans are to investigate eight connected 40'x40' grid units in the farm field that adjoins the western side of the state owned Fort Amanda park - which has never had any archaeological excavations conducted on the state's property, whatsoever. 

        As with how we conduct investigations in agriculturally disturbed farm fields, we metal detected and mapped in recovered materials: first, from the surface, then, in between each 3" horizontal layer of, already disturbed, farm field plow-zone that is dozed off. Each new surface was searched and metallic + visible non-metallic artifacts were recovered and mapped in on my data tracking. After the initial surface residue's back drag and three full shave processes, each 40'x40' unit's depths were to the bottom of old tillage layer and we began to, either, see nothing but natural soil strata or... the outlines of deeper disturbed features of the fort period. While much of the sub plow-zone strata was completely natural in appearance, we located five fire pit / trash pit features, which contained charred wood, ash, splintered animal bones (discarded remains of soldier's meals), and many fort related artifacts: musketballs, buck shots, gunflints, puddled lead and brass, forged iron nails, various button types (flat brass, tombac, and pewter), a hand made iron fork, harness buckles, etc. 

Thanks to David Kreigel for providing the bulldozer for the work.  It saved a lot of time, enery and blisters.

November 4, 2023

   

 Shipley's Notes

          A 1780 Spanish silver 1Reale coin was recovered, along with a trade silver bob ornament and cut pieces of Indian trade silver. Our GPS data, for each feature and our excavation units, allowed me to find those coordinates on Google Earth satellite imaging and apply the thumbtack points for the located fire pits (trash pits) on this post's images. Also, I photographed the artist's image of the expected layout of Ft Amanda (from Dave Johnson's book cover) and overlaid it on my Google Earth image to show proximity of the fort's location, to where we conducted our first four grid unit excavations. We'll complete the last four units of this Phase1 investigation, with our next site activity. We plan to gradually investigate the entire field area along the two sides that adjoins the park's perimeter. 

          All recovered materials are separated by unit and by the individual features they were recovered in. As I complete the cleaning, preservation, & cataloging processes, I'll be posting photos of the several hundred items that we've recovered, already. 

My thanks go out to Mr David Kriegel (property owner) for his full support and to Mr David Johnson (Ft Amanda researcher and author) for all of his shared research information. Both of these gentlemen were present and enjoyed getting to see the exposed fort period features, firsthand. Last of all, I have to thank all of my WLRG teammates and friends, who gave their time, labor, and travel expenses, freely, so that new information about another largely ignored Ohio historical site could be made public. Huzzah!

  

NOTE:  If you're wondering why the layout of the fort (dotted white lines) looks like it extends into the field northwest of the fort see my blog of July 2023 at Fort Amanda - 1812: July 2023 (fortamanda1812.blogspot.com)  

 

An Unexpected Treasure

Shipley's Notes

After Doug Penhorwood had finished dozing our Fort Amanda site excavation area back in and our group members had handworked everything, nice and level, we did some field surface metal detecting in areas I'll want to excavate, next year. One very good detector signal ended up being this 1780 Spanish silver 1Reale coin, which I dug from only six inches of depth in the disturbed plow-zone layer of this farm field. Both sides of this 243 year old coin exhibit scars from being churned around by agricultural tillage activities but it is always a thrill to find a coin, from Spain's colonial period, on an Ohio historical site. This is the first fort period coin to be recovered during our Wayne's Legion Research Group activities on this War of 1812 site but, hopefully, more will come to light, during future excavations, here.

 

         

   Shipley's  Notes

For me, this wonderful hand forged 2-tine fork is the most important artifact recovery made, during our two day test dig at the Fort Amanda site (War of 1812 era), last week. This eating utensil was found in one of the undisturbed (sub plow-zone) fire pit/ trash midden features that we located and excavated in the Kriegel farm field property that borders the Ft Amanda park. 

        I've completed the cleaning and preservation processes on this blacksmith made item, along with the acorns that I discovered were in the masses of ash and charred wood that I've been carefully going through and cleaning. The meat of one acorn is still in the half shell, even. A few English soft-paste china tea cup fragments and olive glass bottle shards were mixed into splintered animal bones, along with brass and tombac buttons, a cuff-link, a gunflint, musket and rifle balls, a buck shots, cut mold sprue caps, melted lead blobs, corroded iron nails, etc. Most fascinating discoveries related to the 1812~1814 occupation of the Ohio fort site, in Auglaize County, Ohio

Findings from Nov. 3 & 4

       The story continues