Transcripts For CSPAN3 Relics 20240703

Ive been subconsciously preparing this lecture for 33 years. The subject im about to delve into is so near and dear that the thought of turning it into a talk wouldnt have occurred to me without a prompt. So id like to begin with some extraordinarily sincere thank yous to matt sick and a better phil mead and Scott Stephenson here at the museum of the American Revolution for approaching me with a request for a lecture on this subject for this particular audience. I think i may owe you all appear. I was honored by your invitation, and im very, very excited to be here. So how about a quick round of applause for the entire staff of moar, including their hospital staff . Our wonderful hosts for putting this all together. And. Scott, im going to go on the record and say that your scones are tastier than ron hursts. So ill take is there anyone amongst us who has not heard of the legendary duo of calver and bolton to our particular sect of nerd them . Theyre superheroes. They are, to us what batman and robin are to comic book geeks of all ages. Though no less ridiculous to our 21st century sensibilities rather than leotards in a cape. Our gents did their best work clad in starched collars, neckties and thick wool. William Louis Calvert grew up along the hudson river, near west point, and had been interested in history since youth. His profession was that of a railway machinist and he worked for what would become the new york city subway system until his retirement in 1930. By the mid 1880s, calvert was spending his free time roaming northern manhattan in search of objects left behind by native americans. And by the late 1880s, the revolutionary war soldiers who lived there. During his lifetime, hed achieved some fame as an authority on and collector of military buttons. At the time, such a hobby was considered a gentlemanly pursuit akin to coin collecting. British born Reginald Pelham Bolton came to the United States when he was 23 and finally settled in new york in 1894. By profession, bolton was an engineer and consulted with new york Citys Department of water supply. Grand central terminal, and even macys. He was also an early preservationist, having led an Unsuccessful Campaign to save the home of naturalist John James Audubon in 1931. Bolton did help save a few others, though, and his legacy is still evident today. With interests almost identical to calibers. Its no surprise they became besties and partners in pursuit of early manhattan relics, though bolton was much more of a prolific author. Here are two of his long, outofprint titles, which are must haves for todays revolutionary antiquarian. I highly recommend picking up a copy of each and i know for a fact that digital copies of relics of the revolution can be downloaded for free. Our twosome is indelibly linked to a 1950 New York Historical Society Publication with a long title. History written with pick and shovel militaire. Three buttons, belt plates, badges and other relics excavated from colonial revolutionary and war of 1812 campsites, yada, yada, yada, yada. But thats now commonly referred to as simply calver and bolton. But this indispensable book appeared years after its namesakes had passed away. The tome is a compendium of select articles published over the course of decades and brought together under one set of covers with a gem of an introduction and an especially useful index. Though it may be tempting to think so, Calvin Bolton, the book represents the tip of the informational iceberg left behind by the team. There is much more waiting to be studied and shared in the form of photographs, maps, records, and the recovered relics themselves. Now, one caveat my goal for the today is not to regurgitate what can be found within their publications, but to provide an updated perspective on some of their work in hope that our solid reexamination of their corpus may be considered and perhaps brought to fruition in time. This topic is way too big for a lecture, so ill be covering one of the more important strategic areas explored by our stars at the extreme northern tip of manhattan. As the crow flies, the sights im going to discuss are 11 or 12 miles from what was then considered new york city at the southern tip of manhattan, wrested from the rebels in late 1776. Now, i prepared this slide specifically, drew, a little bit for you, brian anderson, but a lot for todd breasted, who had the audacity not to show up. So but it is true, i am a mets fan, so. Nothing illustrates the considerable distance in 18th century terms between these sites and the city better than the outrageously scaled headquarters map of 1782 during the revolution. It would have taken hours either by land or water, to get from one to the other. One has to ask, why the heck was all this going on . Where the heck up there. Zooming in on the headquarters map, we see this place was essentially a well fortified complex. Its key geographic feature is spite diable or spitting devil creek, which connects the hudson and harlem rivers and is hemmed in on its north and east banks by heights and cliffs. Youll also see there are in close proximity for crossing points. One ferry and three bridges. One of these constructions well known to us rough war types, gave the area its period name kingsbridge, and it was the defense of king kingsbridge, which provided the rich martial quarry for our dynamic duo. New york city was the ultimate war prized by the british and washington in the continental congress. Salivated at the thought of taking it back. But could they actually do so . Even after french frances entry into the war following the victories of saratoga, britain was not going to gamble. Losing her wartime seat of operations. New york harbor could be could be defended by the royal navy and its shoreline defenses. But what about a land attack that would have to come from the north emanating from rebel positions at west point and the hudson highlands, perhaps combined with russia and bos forces based in rhode island. For this to work, its never even. Im on the right slide. I always have paranoia about that. For this to work, washington would have to get his army onto Manhattan Island and an amphibious crossing of either the hudson or the east river would have been suicidal. That left the four crossings at kingsbridge as the only viable avenues from which to besiege new york city. Defending them was all important to the crown. The kingsbridge military zone successfully kept the land attack on the british held city at an arms length from november 17, 17 six, until they left for home in late 1783. So today were going to look at just four of these sites, not necessarily chosen for their strategic importance, but by the nature of the good east discovered there by our guys, we wont have time for feature number five on the screen. Fort washington, though, yielded a treasure trove of material like 500 plus buttons, but it wasnt really part of the kingsbridge crossing defenses. And theres too much traffic in the area anyway. We dont want to go there. Im going to assume this watercolor is familiar to many folks here today. If not, dont worry, it will be executed by captain Thomas Davies of the royal artillery. It is often presented at face value as a view of the british attack on Fort Washington in november of 1776. Were going to use it differently as a unique snapshot at the site of the upcoming fortification fortifications in cantonments of kingsbridge. Taken from what is now fordham heights in the bronx. If youre reckless enough to dodge traffic on the major deegan, you can go to the same spot. Davies made his watercolor from. The vista is noticeably, noticeably built up, but much of the topography is recognizable under its thick urban veneer. Thrown into our mix will be a few remarkable maps created by boulton between 1905 and 1920. With the exception of one at New York Historical, the others reside in relative obscurity in the papers of the American Geographical Society at the university of wisconsin, milwaukee. Bolton spiced his maps up with tantalizing notations using a swashbuckling cartographers x to mark the spot where they found things like part of a howitzer halberg. And a button of the first pennsylvania discovered near a knife. If youre interested, check out uw arms website where you can download High Resolution copies of four of boltons treasure maps for free. Our first site is the misnamed place which yielded the greatest haul of historic materials and data of all the sites. Calver and bolton explored. The socalled hut camp of the 17th regiment, calvert found boltons buttons have said unit there as early as 1890, and bolton dedicated two chapters to it in relics of the revolution. Three chapters discussing the camp headed up history written with pic and shovel to which must be added a pile of photographs of the dig taken by calver. Another map by bolton and two Oil Paintings by john ward dunsmore. Over time, their name for this site varied. It started out during the world war one years as the hut camp on the dykeman farm morphed into the 17th regiment hut camp, and finally the green hill camp. By the early 1920s. While the first and last are technically correct in describing the location as it was variously referred to during the revolution, it wasnt exclusive to the 17th regiment by any means, but im willing to keep using it for convenience today, so i hope everybody will forgive me now. The list of units which were quartered there and how long they said they stayed has yet to be fully sussed out. If the buttons are any indication, we could be looking at a dozen or so regiments spanning seven years of wartime. Until the northern tentacles of the new york city subway and elevated train system reached the once kingsbridge and now inwood area. It was rural and sparsely populated. The yellow x marks the same general place in all three photographs, by the way. This is where our heroes wandered, unknowing in search of each other, with eyes glued to the dirt and any eroded slope they could access. Shortly after world war one, it was all graded away or semi permanently obscured. The heart of the hut camp was ably depicted as it appeared during the revolution by john ward dunsmore, an artist and illustrator who also labored at the site under the direction of Calvin Bolton. You may recognize this as the colored frontispiece from relics of the revolution, but you probably have not seen its companion canvas executed at the same time. But showing the vista as it was in 1915. Central to both is alone. Central to both is a lone tree, perhaps representing the same one intended by dunsmore to suggest the passage of 135 years narrowed in unhealthy. This ancient apple is prominent in many of the photographs taken during the excavation of the camp. It is a survivor of what was once an orchard on the prerevolution three deichmann tract and is a key reference for anyone studying Calvin Boltons visual and documentary materials. And were going to see it again later. As dunsmore created his polychrome views. Bolton was hard at work drafting a series of maps of the camp superimposed at the lower right is a detail of a redraft of a wartime drawing done by lieutenant von kraft of regiment von bosa in 1779. It shows the hill site with a smattering of huts labeled camp of the 17th english regiment, which had been taken prisoners in reference to the unfortunate event at stony point. But it also reveals the reason why Calvin Boltons slight misnomer for the cantonment gotten to our vernacular. So much has changed over the last 104 years that its very difficult to understand the location and layout of the camp when standing on site or looking at it on google, then empty spaces are now completely built over forested. The ground has been regraded, structures have been demolished, streets have been removed and new ones cut in with the help of some contemporary survey maps and canvas photographs. I decided to update boltons plan partly from my own grins and giggles, and partly to enable modern enthusiasts to wrap their brains around the the topographical details of this now vanished camp. The streets at the bottom of the map are largely unchanged, while the main uphill lane in the camp has been altered from prescott avenue to pace, pace and avenue and has acquired a sharp bend towards the middle of the map since four houses are frequently visible in the dig photos. I plotted them to scale on the updated version. Please note the blue dash at the top. A rock outcropping visible in so many of the old views. This humungous formation of manhattan schist is the only as it was feature of the campground accessible today. If you want to see it, youll have to hop the wall running along. Payson avenue and bushwhack a few yards in to try and hill park. Though its completely treed over now. You cannot miss it. All right. I got a little carried away with this slide since Calvin Bolton really revs my engines and powerpoint soothes my ocd. I couldnt resist slapping thumbnails of some of the houses and camp landmarks on this map. Just this a side note. If anybody wants a copy of this digitally, i am happy to send it to you. If youre a similarly afflicted, im willing to share so. But this slightly dysfunctional panorama is a photoshop composite of three of carvers images. It is rare in that it was taken from the foot of the rock outcropping along prescott avenue with the photographers location marked by a red x on thumbnail. At left is the patient residence called the mans on boltons map. And we see hut number 51 in the process of being dug out in the foreground. These shots well illustrate the sloping ground. The british bird, their camp into. It was a perfect spot with good water. Situated on the leeward side of a ridge which offered some protection from the winds and winter weather, most often coming from the west. Here we see a banner day for our sweaty and tick bitten adventurers, bolton tells us why the rows of huts lay in three lines, about three feet or, say, half a chain apart. And the central line on which so far nine huts had been located was very nearly parallel to the roadway of prescott avenue, as constructed. This indicated that both had followed the natural topography of the ground and that the present rough lane may even have been the success of a camp pathway. The distance between those huts, which lay nearest to each other along that line seemed to have been 30 to 33 feet. A presumable third row was staked out, starting from the most recent find under the Mulberry Tree and having marked with large cards on stakes, all the hut sites. A large photograph was taken of the entire area on sunday, september 6th, 1914. Now you have to look really hard, but you can see the little white rectangles denoting hut side sort of slithering their way up the hill. Built with a stone fireplace. One prescott avenue hut at the juncture of one of the paths traversing the slope is numbered one or a on the map history written with pick and shovel tells us of an interesting find there. Once one has, which held my imagination for decades. 12 private soldiers buttons which had been strung upon a cord and fallen beside the hearth, were found in a dugout hut in the british camp at prescott avenue. The iron shanks of the buttons, as aligned by the cord, had rusted together. The buttons pertained to the 52nd regiment of foot. More information is to be gleaned from boltons note still attached to the back of the frame housing a photograph of the dig and 11 of the 52nd regiment buttons. They were found on may 24th, 1914, along with buttons of the 14th and 17th regiments. But the best 52nd regiment button was later removed for an exhibition of a complete numbered set of british buttons found by the pair. No, they didnt sell it on ebay. While the bulk of calver and boltons contributions to the study of red war material culture came in the area of buttons and belt plates, they did make a unique find a pair of identical infantry hanger guards wrought of iron their distinctive and mimic some of the popular semi basket hilts of the last half of the 1770s with a digger, guard and two outboard branches. But these are plain differentiating them from more expensive pierce patterns made for senior ncos and officers. How many of you recognize this Photo Caption mementos of conflict on the hill at right. I stated it for years before i noticed the proverbial copper light in the punchbowl. Can anybody spot that . Come on, theres got to be a sword gate here. No, really. You see this thing at. Thats a baker rifle sword bayonet from the 1810 period. Now, last i checked, thats not rib war. So im just going to assume that when boulton was writing this caption, he couldnt lay his hands on his copy of them and, you know. Okay. Back to our relic hilts. We know that british privates and corporals stopped carrying hangers a few years before the war, but grenadiers and sergeants continued to do so. If regimental brass thought it proper. Having to suggests both guards belong to the same unit. Often ascribed nowadays to the 17th foot based on and boltons misleading name for the camp. The hangers could have belonged to any of the many infantry regiments which were cantone there until late 1783. Im dying to view these artifacts in person. They look to be fairly well preserved, and i want to see if theyve got a punched rack number as observed on a few of the surviving intact swords. Wouldnt it be neat if both the calver and bolton relics and the complete hangars share a Common Company and weapon numbering system . The intact example onscreen is number 30 and company i and Colonial Williamsburg for example, is number eight and company h. We do need to look for a few more to begin theorizing exactly what these swords represent. There are some things about them which suggest to me using just my spidey senses that these may have been made in ireland, which could potentially narrow down the ownership pool to the regiments, which came to america from the emerald isle. And yes, the 17th regiment is one of them. So as the war to end old wars wound down, so did Calvin Boltons excavation at the hut camp of the 17th regiment, aka the hut camp on the dykeman farm, aka the hut camp on green hill. By 1918, the team had identified and excavated. 64 huts with countless others going undiscovered or destroyed before their arrival on site. Lets move to the banks of the harlem river and the house built by john nagl, the younger in 1736, as attested to by its date stone. Now in the collection of the dykeman Farmhouse Museum, by the time the spot was explored following the turn of the century, it was a burned out shell. Sadly, the house had been derelict for years and an attempt to save it by moving it elsewhere had failed. Davies gives us a focused view of the nagle complex at lower right. Typical for dutch homes built in what was once new netherlands. It had a number of projections and outbuildings associated with the main house with a full length porch, a sunny Southern Exposure and set behind beside a beautiful breeze, cloaked river. It was an attractive spot in the 1770s, just the sort of place british officers of importance and their associated guard adopted as home while stationed at kingsbridge. Bolton deemed the nagle site significant enough to give it its own chapter and relics of the revolution, dedicating six pages and one illustration to record this posterity of their discoveries. Id like to draw your attention to a little structure circled on davies view. The stone and Brick Foundation of this tiny building was revealed by our diggers between 1905 and 1907. And bolton tells us quite a harvest of old objects lay within the space. A quantity of old barrel whoops, which had held together barrels of liquor, powder and flour, lay around and among them, two bayonets and the hammers of several flintlock muskets in the fireplace laid to £16 navy bars shot which had evidently been used as fire dogs with the charcoal of the last fire kindled about them below the sandy floor lay a speaking reminder of the revolution. A large part of an exploded shell which had burst through the building and buried itself deep below. I dont know if i buy that, but well go with it. Other goodies were uncovered within the subterranean traces of the outbuilding. Bolton further elaborates some british penny pieces of george the second and sundry bullets told of the presence of british troops. But the most undisputed evidence is there one time presence where the numbered pewter buttons of the tory regiment of the royal provincials end by the steps buttons of the 23rd welsh fusileers. Bearing the three feathers of the principality and others of the 38th and 57 foot regiments. Now, here is one of those very 23rd fusileers buttons. Not only was its fine story published, but accompanying photographs of bolton actually digging out the steps of the nagel out building were taken. How this battered buttons survive affixed with red sealing wax to the inscribed card, calver mounted a two 116 years ago is beyond me. Perhaps its condition wasnt good enough to be popped free and improved by later owner now. This button is one of my personal possessions and its one of my absolute favorite things and has been for more than 30 years for a number of reasons. Yes, it is a tangible link to one of britains best regiments and the revolutionary war in occupied new york city, and certainly to Calvin Bolton. But its not really because of those reasons. Its because of the trade i did, which brought me in the 19th eighties to drive to connecticut. And i got to meet don troiani in person. I was kind of starstruck. I was in my twenties. Don is now my my oldest friend in the river collecting community, and hes one of my closest friends. On top of all, its history. This button reminds me of one of the most important and influential relationships of my adult life. And by the way, its right here. Its going to be in my pocket later, if you want to see it is where drinking. Ive got it sealed with tape. So scotch will not seep in and and destroy the ink. Now, if this talk inspires you to walk the streets, hills and open spaces of inwood, dont bother trying to find the side of the nagle house. And youll get arrested for trespassing. Yeah, the whole area was bulldozed in the 1920s and the spot is now under the railyards of carvers employer, the new york city subway system. Moving south and ascending 200 feet from the valley floor. We come to the side of fort george also recorded by davies in 1776, long referred to as laurel hill. It was then home to a pair of rebel redoubts who we see firing futilely on the british light infantry as they row in. Once these battalions were ashore, the pennsylvanians on the hillside abandoned their posts and the lights advanced. Their positions would remain in british hands for the rest of the war and would be drastically expanded into an integral part of the areas defenses. As you can see, these heights commanded the valley and river below. For reference, the yellow star marks the site of the nagle house and the red one, the ferry landing. Well talk about in a few minutes. By 1900, a pony track occupied the side of the lower redoubt to the north of fort george. Once referred to as fort clinton, which is not to be confused with the rebel fort of the same name. Further up the river, fort georges namesake stuck with the neighborhood which was to become home of this abomination of amusement. Shortly after calver and bolton explored the site, once it disappeared during world war one, the current George Washington high school was built on the site, returning some dignity to the hallowed ground. Within the front gate of the School Remains a portion of the boulder played at in boltons 1922 history of washington heights, where he laments it as the last trace of fort george. To house the garrison atop laurel hill. A great camp was erected right outside of the forts ramparts to the west. The ground was to become a very interesting vegetable garden where one could harvest ripe regimental buttons and belt plates with surprisingly little cultivation sounding much more enticing than lettuce or celery. Calvin boltons bounty reaped in may and june of 1916, included pocket knives, poorly preserved canteens, british buttons of the fourth, 14th, 28, 38, 40th, 44, 57, 63rd, 65th and 76th regiments. Previous to that spring, the only known belt plate of the on spark beiruts regiments artillery company. Now in the collection of new york historic historical society, was found by the gardner, a mr. Hoffman. By the early 1780s, the complex at fort george was the £8,000 gorilla guarding the valley and its vital crossings from the south. While those to the north were bridges, the crossing right under its bristling nose was a landing dock ascribed by von krafft in 1779 to someone named holland. Just a wooded spit of land jutting into the harlem river. In 1776. We see there was nothing of any consequence occupying the point. Then on boltons map of 1905. The place was labeled as the camp of the 10th and 37th regiments. Finds indicative of an extensive military presence. There included u. S. A. Buttons, soldiers buttons of the third guards, the fourth, fifth, 10th, 79th, 23rd, 62nd and 64th regiments. In addition to those are the royal provincials and officer buttons of the 26th, 33rd, 37th. And oddly enough, the second and third dragoons. Bolton then discovers the headquarters map because his 1906 plan, to the point, shows the dock and the date. 1782. He says, as much and relics of the revolution demonstrate his compulsion to get things right. Bolton also included outlines of the four huts, which are inked in red on the original headquarters map and the road leading to the landing. He labeled military road to hollins very clearly. This was much more than a picturesque bivouac for a pair of yellow faced british regiments. As the southernmost crossing in the zone, it was a key Strategic Point attested to by the complete build over the british gate, the spot and the diversity of materials. Calvin bolton found there. Hollins was a rope drawn ferry and an essential part of the line of retreat for those soldiers based across the river along the heights of fordham. The extreme front line facing rebel held territory to the north. Furthermore, any supplies shipped of river upriver from new york could be landed at hollins dock and distributed to the garrisons on both sides of the waterway, making this spot an essential part of kingsbridge supply line. Weve taken a peek at a measly four sites of dozens explored by Calvin Bolton. But this is symposium isnt about topography or old photography. Its about acquiring materials related to the revolutionary war and the objects gathered into a collection. For some reason, it the educational benefit of others or just personal satisfaction. So lets now pivot and talk about the artifacts recovered by calvert bolton and friends. True, the duo gets all the credit, but anyone who has seen the photographs of their digs know they didnt do it alone. As i call it, bill and reggies most excellent adventure started out small and slow. They were acting on their own behalf, accumulating treasures and fostering recognition over the years. While attracting a team of dedicated helpers. Im sure youre wondering what quantities of goodies were found by Calvin Bolton. And where are they all now . If youve not read both relics of the revolution and history written with pick and pick and shovel, you may be frustrated to learn that they seldom give specific quantities of anything they find like regimental buttons. My impression is that they found a few thousand. Yes, thousand between 1890. In the early 1920s. Many of which were probably too far gone to be preserved. Well never know exactly, but the number recovered is simply staggering, especially when compared to the way colonial iceberg archeologists find them in just ones interviews. One must consider the way such relics were viewed a century ago, being more of a curiosity than a commodity, and with little or no cash value. In most cases, the team recovered multiple specimens and had a depth of redundancy. What was found became the personal property of the finders who freely gave, sold and traded the materials to other interested parties. Up until 1918. That is when the New York Historical society brought the pair into the official fold by creating the field Exploration Committee with calvert chairman and bolton as secretary. Their Committee Also included historical artist john wards, john ward dunsmore and oscar t bark, who will hear a little bit more about later. From that point forward, all recovered materials became the property of New York Historical society. Calver and bolton recovered materials found homes on both sides of the atlantic, buttons of the 17th regiment, along with calvert illustrated right up of the hut camp, were given to the museum of the leicestershire regiment. The descendant regiment of the 17 foot wall. One of the coldstream guard built plates. Not this particular specimen was donated to the guards museum in london. Lewis fedele, loza amelio. A now forgotten hero served as captain in the 54th massachusetts volunteer infantry. The second allblack regiment raised by the union during the civil war. He emerged from the attack on fort wagner in command of the regiment. Since every other officer was killed or wounded. Now, do you remember Matthew Broderick as colonel Robert Gould Shaw in glory . Yeah, i think that thats the event were talking about. He was there. Amelia was a rabid button collector and was long in contact with calvert. In 1911, hed donated his collection of 1569 military buttons spanning three centuries to the Essex Institute in salem, mass. Todays peabody, essex museum. As for the terms of the gift, the essex issued a partly illustrated catalog of the collection. It was to become the standard reference work on revolution three war buttons until history written pick and shovel was released in 1950. Published under the title the emilio collection of military buttons. The authors introduction gives detailed insight into the mind of a highly sophisticated, late 19th century collector who is also a military man of the revolutionary. Buttons emilio collected forces. Dix came from camps in new york city, including those marked on screen with a little star. He says this about the kingsbridge area, the region was the most fruitful field of british army buttons in this or probably any other country for no other known place to the writer or so many corn camped, quartered in temporary structures for so long a time during hostilities, the various british provincial and german regiments were frequently changed. They were practically in the field and the debris of the camps discarded utensils, broken crockery, glass, rum bottles, clay pipes, hoop, iron, metal, parts of muskets, swords, equipments and rubbish of every kind was gathered into refuge heaps or buried to clear the ground. These localities and in company with such objects, the buttons generally were found. The cloth of the uniforms having disappeared. They were turned out of the ground while cultivating the soil and excavate for foundations and in opening streets at this time and subsequently several localities in this region were visited and relations established with their hoovers, which resulted in the purchase of many buttons. Others were secured through exchanges and a small but valuable lot of about 25 was purchased, including the beautifully designed button of the second dragoons, the fine 16th light dragoons, and the remarkably preserved one of the 23rd foot w. L. Calver, who had explored this region, was most helpful with donations, exchanges and information. Three of the four dragoon buttons. Amelia obtained were from hollands ferry landing. Those three are all officers buttons, and two of them are from heavy cavalry units, which never served in america. The second and third dragoons. Theres a solid lead here. Has anyone looked for the from those two units who either transferred to or volunteered to serve at the 16th or 17th light dragoons . I havent. I imagine the list of button losing candidates wouldnt be too big. Chris bryant just picked up his phone by the time i finished this lecture. Hell have the name. Yeah, i guarantee it. You know, chris is on it. No doubt well take the dangled that carrot. You know. A subject of boltons generosity was the still thriving dykeman Farmhouse Museum of about 1785, which stands as inwards only structure of the revolutionary era. Now, i want to your attention to the mansion, to the left of the dykeman house in the 1890s. You which is actually built right smack in the middle of the socalled 17th regiment hut camp. Taking that into consideration, anybody want to guess whose house that was . Not somebody. No. Im not making this stuff up. Really . Yes, actually, this is this is a young don with his with his pet octopus. Thats my only gag slide. This is very unusual for me, though. Bolton was instrumental in the acquisition and preservation of the diamond house and its subsequent restoration and furnishing. When it opened to the public in 1916, visitors treated to the relic room featuring an old timey display of many of boltons best objects, which he donated to the museum and where they remain. When i first visited in the late 1980s, the relic room was still intact. But sadly, its gone now. Last june, i had the opportunity to go through the bolton artifacts at the diamond where they reside in the care of a very passionate and able staff. One or two of the original relic panels remained, but the real showstopper was exquisitely mounted. Photo album created by bolton to accompany the collection. I especially love this image of the apple tree at the center of the hut camp. Look how big a mural that is in 1916. Must have been hundreds of years old then. And almost certainly from the 17th century. No doubt the soldiers who were stationed there during the revolution enjoyed its fruit and shade. In the garden behind the farmhouse as the soldiers hut reconstruct in air quotes by Calvin Bolton. Now true, its its a little cheesy by modern museum standards, but i really adore this. Almost all the stone and iron used in its construction were salvaged from huts in the 17th camp and the wooden framing came from 18th century buildings elsewhere. Now the relics installed as part of the huts furnishings. In 1916 have since been removed for safekeeping. But if you go there, you can go inside this reconstructed hut. South of in what is the more the morris gimble mansion of 1765. The only standing prerevolutionary house in the island of manhattan. Because George Washington used it as his headquarters in october, november of 1776. It had become known as such by the early 20th century, as with the dykeman, bolton donated an installation of artifacts for display in what was then called garden room. These bolton relics, with the exception of some cannonballs and bar shot, were all transferred to the New York Historical society in 1914 seven. And their folks is where you find the lions share of the best and most interesting objects recovered by Calvin Bolton, including things found both before and after the formation of the field Exploration Committee in 1918. At the moment, many are partially cataloged and accessible online, but with last then optimal low resolution images of the frame groupings that were assembled by bolton over a century ago in the societys library resides the photographic archive of the committee packed into 17 boxes taking up for point three linear feet of shelf and chock full of glass plate negatives and film negatives. And theyve also got some of calvins papers, too, as that sound interesting. I think so. Now i know im biased and perhaps preaching to the choir, but i strongly feel these archeological materials and their supporting documents and photographs are screaming for a modern reexamination. Id like to see them surveyed, cataloged, conserved, where required, and properly photographed with a full on 21st century reboot of Calvin Bolton. Be well received in useful. What do you guys think now . I agree. I agree. So im going to wrap up with our pal calver. And what is a tip for the acquisitive professional or private connoisseur . When he died in the spring of 1940, a paragraph in his official New York Historical society obit began with the sentence. Mr. Calver was a collector of military buttons. Carvers entire button then went on to oscar t bark fellow digger button collector, Founding Member of the field Exploration Committee and author of one of the few books about british occupied new york city. And when bach died in 1953, all of his and calvert buttons went to dewey. Albert, author of record of american uniform and historical buttons. A bison tennille era reference which still holds its own today after alberts death in 1983, the collection was partially dispersed with a large chunk of it hitting the marketplace for a split second. In the late 1980s, when the collection of thomas owens was sold to a prominent numismatist. Calver kept many of his buttons with the cards, recording their provenance. In some cases, the two were married with red sealing wax. Today, few survive with their original cards. It seems either albert or bach added new shanks to many of calverts buttons or crimp them into metal bezel so they could be mounted to bigger replacement cards inscribed with more information. Its interesting to note that two of the buttons on screen, the 43rd in the first american, a. K. A. The queens rangers. Excuse me. Yeah, they are the queens rangers were found at the same on the same day. Yet theyre on cards inscribed by two different hands. Perhaps one is carvers and one is barks further. Investigation is certainly needed. Within the last two years. One of the most important assemblages of early american coins and metals ever put together the Donald Partridge collection was sold at auction after the numismatic stuff went in. His collection of revolutionary war across the block and included dozens of new york city found specimens from the calvert barque, albert and owen collections. They were hammered down in big lots, attached to large midtwentieth century boards or cards, recording unit histories in their fine sites. Some carry statements like excavated 1891 17th regiment campsite prescott avenue nyc, providing a solid to calders early button housing days, though his original cream colored card is now lost. So keep your eyes peeled and you may get lucky by reeling in of these great little relics of the revolution, one which is also an evocative souvenir of william l. Calver and reginald p bolton. Two of the pioneers of american historical and military archeology. Thank you. Thank you so very much, eric, for that. That was wonderful. I think ive got a im going to share one question here with you, which selfishly comes from some of us here. And i think youve managed to convince a lot of us that a reboot of this catalog would be very valuable and exciting. So when does that come out . If i was anywhere near new york city, you bet id be on it. Assuming nycha would cooperate. But there are other places too. All right, well see what strings we can pull. Thank you so very much. Have a conversation soon. Starts so perfect. All right. Well, hello and welcome, everybody. Thats good seeing you here today at the American Civil War museum in appomattox f