Archaeological Mitigation at 9ME81 Fort Benning, Muscogee County, Georgia

In 2007, the Department of the Army at Fort Benning Military Reservation requested a technical proposal for the archaeological mitigation (Phase III) of Site 9ME81 in Muscogee County, Georgia. Proposed construction in support of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAG) will destroy the majority of the site. PCI performed the archival research, data recovery fieldwork, and laboratory processes related to the Phase III mitigation of 9ME81 on July 9, 2007 and between April and July 2008. All work was conducted in compliance with Sections 106 and 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, with regulations implementing this legislation (36 CRF Part 800: Protection of Historic Properties), specific National Register Bulletin guidelines (e.g., Guidelines for Evaluating and Registering Cemeteries and Burial Places), the Secretary of Interior's Guidelines for Evaluation and Documentation, and with standards set by the Georgia Historical Commission (GHC). Previous investigations related to this project included Phase I survey work by Southeastern [Wildlife] Archaeological Services (Braley 1982) and Southern Research (Elliott et al. 2001) and Phase II testing by Brockington and Associates, Inc. (Gardner et al. 2008). Results from previous archaeological testing suggested that the site represents the remains of a small early-nineteenth to early twentieth-century homestead, which may date to 1827 when the property was acquired by the orphans of Augustine Fears as a result of the Georgia Land Lottery (Ancestry.com 2008a). Based on the results of the Phase III investigations, however, the site likely represents the early twentieth-century residence of an African-American farmer, Fred Benning.