Existing comment:
"O'er the ramparts we watched..."
Archeologists have found the original ramparts of 1814, dated by the discovery of period military uniform buttons and texture of the soil. As the fort was modernized over time, soil was added making the ramparts higher than they were in 1814. The diagram below shows that the ramparts still remain intact under a foot of earth.
A Desperate Defense:
In 1988 archeologists discovered a previously undocumented tenaille, or defensive trench, along the northwest wall of the fort. Likely dug by the 600 infantrymen on the eve of the battle, the tenaille offered limited protection. In this trench, archeologists unearthed an 1814 British bomb fragment and a soldier's 1814 uniform button. |