Zebulon Pike, who was torn apart by a bombproof exploding in Toronto during
the seige of Toronto in the War of 1812, was returned to Sackett's Harbor,
NY in a barrel, perhaps as some in port wine or other material. There was
some question of where he was buried there in Sackett's Harbor. The Berger
Culture Group had done the original survey that located some human remains,
not to unusual if you think 30,000 plus troops from all over the young
republic of America were there and we were testing near the small fort
manned by the veteran volunteers from the Revolutionary War.

We encountered one small box near the surface, which had the archetypal
outline of a regular coffin, though smaller than most, near the surface. We
had to stop the construction of a condo being built by Job Corp, Inc. with
Federal loans, in the former military assigned to Madison Barracks, like Lt.
Ulysses S. Grant and others. It was never known what happened to Zebulon
Pike. About thirty men were executed for charges as minor as falling asleep
on guard duty, a practice that subsequently stopped in the U.S. military
service.

The small box was just uncovered enough to see its outline and document its
placement there on the parade ground near Fort Volunteer. Perhaps someone
could verify it being Pike with DNA. The British burned Washington, D.C. in
retribution for burning Toronto, Ontario.

George Myers
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ned Heite" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 3 April 2004 Saturday 6:51 AM
Subject: Re: Cracker barrels


> Ship's bread was a major industry in Delaware during the federal
> period.  Our grain crops were ground and baked into hard biscuits of
> some sort and shipped, among other places, to the West Indies sugar
> plantations.  I've always thought in terms of the OTC (Original
> Trenton Cracker) available in stores today as the model of such
> breads.  Here in Delaware we have a "beaten biscuit" that is inedible
> cold but wonderful warmed.  And then of course there is the "oyster
> cracker" that looks like OTC, but fluffy and much smaller.  Such
> round biscuits would travel well in a barrel, whereas a thin biscuit
> might flake.
>
> Congratulations to Anita for preserving her eyesight to the point
> where she can still read the compact OED.
>
> In the Delaware wheat-products industry, cooperage was as important
> as the milling itself. Every barrel of wheat flour or bread was also
> a barrel that needed to be made and delivered to the mill. So, while
> the mills are obvious on the landscape even today, historians and
> archaeologists have tended to ignore the immense quantity of barrels.
>
> So why use a cracker barrel as a piece of furniture?  They were
> everywhere, once the crackers were gone.  We should be looking for
> archaeological evidence of re-used cooperage. Not just flour and
> biscuits, but fish, wine, beer, tobacco, and sometimes dead admirals,
> were shipped in barrels.
>
>
> At 7:23 PM -0800 4/2/04, Anita Cohen-Williams wrote:
> >Carl,
> >
> >According to the Oxford English Dictionary (Compact Edition), the term
> >"cracker" first shows up as a thin, hard biscuit in naval chronicles in
> >1830. I assume that it is hardtack. The reference says "...20 barrels
> >crackers..."
>
>
> --
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