Archaeologists, guided by discoveries made by local relic collectors, found an extensive Confederate Army encampment in these woods and uncovered the remains of soldiers' huts built during the winter of 1863 and 1864. The camp layout and material evidence reveal daily life as soldiers struggled through harsh winter conditions, and because the camps were almost untouched after being abandoned in May 1864, they preserve valuable information about the Confederate Army in the last years of the American Civil War. A sketch of the 1st South Carolina Rifles camp in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, shows how camp layout mirrored military organization, with each company arranged in a line of huts forming a company street and the company commander at its head, while larger tents housed higher-ranking regimental officers. Excavations of two hut sites exposed undisturbed remains beneath more than a century and a half of topsoil, including rock mounds from chimneys, a red clay hearth scorched by months of fires, and pits dug for clay that were later used to dispose of ash and trash. About 500 soldiers camped here in an orderly plan with company streets extending down the hill, a layout that organized the men by company, strengthened cohesion, and allowed rapid deployment, including assembly for the march to Wilderness with only 30 minutes of preparation. Finds from the huts include a stoneware jug, one of the few food storage items recovered, suggesting a sparse diet and little access to condiments, preserves, liquor, or pickled foods, while the small quantity of animal bones indicates that the troops lived mainly on corn meal, bacon, and hardtack. The soldiers were issued only the bare essentials for building their huts, including their tents and about two dozen nails, and gathered timber, clay, and stone from the surrounding area to build shelters measuring 12 square feet for five to six men.
