American Revolution - Commemorating the Fallen of the Battle of Camden, 1780
Digging up History
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37m
History Hit has been up close to a remarkable story from the American War of Independence, exploring the history and attending the commemorations for the dead of the bloody battle of Camden, 1780.
Travelling to South Carolina for this special film, Dan Snow investigates some exceptional historic and archaeological discoveries that reveal the course of the battle, meeting key historians, archaeologists and forensics experts.
The excavations have uncovered 14 of the fallen - men buried in shallow graves where they died on the battlefield. They have been carefully exhumed, ready for formal memorial. Dan attends the moving services for these men and boys from both sides of the conflict - many of the dead were just teenagers when they died. We witness them being given military honours on the battlefield where they fell.
Dan also finds out about the southern sector of the Revolutionary War, a decisive but often forgotten theatre of that conflict, out of which emerged the United States.
In making this film, we were very pleased to film interviews with experts from the South Carolina Battleground Trust, the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina and the Richland County Coroner’s office.
If you would like to find out more, useful information can be accessed through the South Carolina Battleground Trust website:
https://www.scbattlegroundtrust.org/archeologists-historians-unearth-remarkable-discovery-at-camden-battlefield
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