As director of the Benjamin Harrison Society in partnership with the Washington, D.C. War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission Archaeological Project in Washington, D.C. Dr. Noel Broadbent, of the Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of National History, Anthropology Department, is currently leading an excavation at the War of 1812/Civil War Heritage site in Washington, D.C. The project’s mission is to investigate the prehistory of the region, and the Battle of Bladensburg where historical maps indicates that Commodore Joshua Barney stood on a hill in Washington, D.C. with his militia where the men faught a brave fight to prevent the British from Burning Washington. The battle site has until now been untouched by modern archaeology.
The team’s progress is being documented by a daily blog written and posted by the Acqunetta Anderson, Project Manager, Chairman of the Washington, D.C. War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission. Her posts, which began on August 2007 when students from the District of Columbia conducted studies of the battlefield terrain, will continue through the end of the excavation project. The blog has so far chronicled the discovery of what appears to be a farming area, as well as evidence of a gate.
The archaeological team is focusing on the battlefield, once used as a grape orchard and farm during the 18th and 19th Centuries . General George Washington also traveled along Bladensburg Road, the old Route 1 during the American Revolutionary War after visiting Dr. Magrudger at the Magrudger House in Bladensburg, Md when returning to Virginia.
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