Archeologists Dig Up 200-Year-Old History In Patterson Park, WJZ News Sun, April 21, 2014.

They’re searching for history on what used to be Hampstead Hill. Using high-tech radar and shovels, Baltimore Heritage has launched an archeological dig in Patterson Park.

“We started out here with our remote sensing. We have ground penetrating radar. This is a way to cover a lot of ground quickly without disturbing the soil. We try to dig as little as possible on a really historic site because we don’t want to damage the site,” said archeologist John Bedell, of Louis Berger Group. Bedell says it’s a great Baltimore story, where 15,000 proud city residents and dozens of cannons formed a line of defense against the British in 1814.

Patterson Park dig uncovering traces of War of 1812 militia camp, defenses, Scott Dance, Baltimore Sun, April 20, 2014.

When Samuel Smith, major general of the Maryland militia, needed a headquarters to plot Baltimore’s defense from British invaders in the summer of 1814, archaeologists believe he called on the owner of a shop that gives Butcher’s Hill its name. Jacob Laudenslager leased much of what is Patterson Park today from landowner William Patterson, including a butcher’s shop steps from where the park’s iconic observatory sits today.

Archaeologists have uncovered a wall of that structure as they embark on a dig for a better understanding of what happened when thousands of militiamen camped along the hills of southeast Baltimore during the War of 1812. An excavation that began Wednesday has uncovered artifacts including bricks, mortar, glass, nails, shards of pottery and a gunflint — used to ignite gunpowder inside 19th century firearms.