Released December 2006
Producer, Richard A. Kuenneke

The Search for Cantonment Wilkinsonville follows a team of archaeologists as they uncover artifacts and features from an 1801 military post on the lower Ohio River valley. Led by Mark Wagner, an archaeologist with the Southern Illinois University Carbondale Center for Archaeological Investigations, the crew uncovered thousands of artifacts and illuminated one of the strangest chapters in American military history. The purpose behind the post was to collect the troops necessary to counter the threat of a potential war with France. If such a war erupted, the troops stationed at the Cantonment would travel down the Mississippi River and capture New Orleans and take control of the river.

As Wagner explains, the threat of war dissolved, yet the post continued to operate. One theory suggests General James Wilkinson was planning to use the troops for some other purpose – a purpose not endorsed by the highest levels of government.

Wagner discovered during his archival research on the site that at least six future members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition served at the post.

Writer-Producer Richard Kuenneke first visited the site in May 2004 after Wagner extended an invitation. During the videotaping, Wagner found one of the most significant artifacts to that point – a broken 200 year old bayonet. It was the first time a military artifact had been found at the site below the top layer of soil known as the plow zone. The find gave Wagner the proof he needed to continue the excavation with a grant from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. The Search for Cantonment Wilkinsonville tells that story.