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00:01:43,770 --> 00:01:46,206
[shenandoah song playing] In the murky
 waters of the St John's River,

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00:01:46,339 --> 00:01:49,242
just south of Jacksonville, Florida, lies

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00:01:49,242 --> 00:01:53,113
a time capsule to an era
 when our nation was divided.

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00:01:54,114 --> 00:01:56,149
The Maple Leaf, a one time

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00:01:56,149 --> 00:01:59,385
luxury liner called into action
 during the Civil War,

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00:01:59,686 --> 00:02:04,057
has been found entombed in mud,
 believed to be carrying

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00:02:04,057 --> 00:02:08,528
hundreds of tons and personal effects
 and supplies of civil war soldiers.

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00:02:08,962 --> 00:02:12,332
The Maple Leaf is slowly surrendering her
 treasures to us,

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00:02:12,799 --> 00:02:23,042
providing knowledge of a war long ago.

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[music playing]

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00:02:38,057 --> 00:02:46,366
The Civil War,

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00:02:46,366 --> 00:02:51,304
after more than 125 years,
 still deeply affects this country.

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The war represented a time
 when longstanding questions regarding

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personal liberties and the moral direction
 of the nation were disputed.

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00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:05,318
And today and for years to come, people
 from across our nation

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00:03:05,318 --> 00:03:09,789
continue to study and reflect
 upon this important period in our history.

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The scope of the 

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00:03:15,094 --> 00:03:18,031
war, even now, it's hard for us to grasp.

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Families were torn apart
 as brother fought brother.

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2% of the population died
 and disease killed two

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for every one that died in battle,
 farms and towns were destroyed,

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00:03:31,878 --> 00:03:34,681
and many civilians suffered
 great personal tragedy

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00:03:34,681 --> 00:03:36,249
and hardship. 

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Florida, 

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the third state to secede from
 the Union, was deeply committed

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00:03:51,464 --> 00:03:56,336
to the cause of the Confederacy,
 providing both troops and supplies.

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Although poor in wealth and population
 at the time, Florida's role

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in the Confederacy's struggle went well
 beyond supplying soldiers.

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00:04:06,713 --> 00:04:09,249
Before the Confederate Army 

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00:04:09,249 --> 00:04:11,618
from across
 the Mississippi was essentially cut off.

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And where are they going to go for
 four beef supplies?

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It became extremely hard to find meat

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for the armies in Florida,
 with its really fine

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00:04:21,594 --> 00:04:23,696
supply of beef became a major source of

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00:04:24,264 --> 00:04:26,733
of supply for the commissary.

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[music playing] In February of 1864,
 the only major civil war

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battle fought in Florida
 took place at Olustee near Lake City.

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Union forces suffered tremendously.

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Out of 5500 men, more than 1800 were

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00:04:45,084 --> 00:04:47,353
killed, wounded or reported missing.

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00:04:48,221 --> 00:04:50,323
Union wounded were taken to Jacksonville,

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where the city was fortified
 against a Confederate attack.

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Following the defeat at Olustee,
 Union forces

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00:04:57,797 --> 00:05:01,200
in South Carolina were ordered
 to reinforce the troops in Florida.

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00:05:01,968 --> 00:05:06,606
Soldiers that received the order to move
 did so with mixed feelings.

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00:05:07,307 --> 00:05:10,576
A letter written at the time
 expresses their emotions.

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00:05:12,712 --> 00:05:13,746
"We were not expecting 

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00:05:13,746 --> 00:05:18,184
this order as our brigade was so much more
 broken up by details than some others,

49
00:05:19,018 --> 00:05:21,321
and the idea
 of leaving our new comfortable tents

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00:05:21,321 --> 00:05:25,091
with all their nice fixings for a winter
 campaign is not at all exhilarating.

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00:05:25,792 --> 00:05:32,365
But orders have come and time will not
 wait."

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[Music playing]

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Time would not wait,

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00:05:46,579 --> 00:05:49,682
and the troops departed immediately
 for Jacksonville.

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00:05:49,682 --> 00:05:53,486
Behind,
 they left their camp; tents, luggage

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00:05:53,486 --> 00:05:56,622
and personal items
 which would make the journey to Florida by

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00:05:56,622 --> 00:05:59,992
boat aboard
 a steamship named the Maple Leaf.

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00:06:01,127 --> 00:06:04,831
A Canadian built vessel,
 the Maple Leaf, had come a long way

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00:06:04,831 --> 00:06:08,968
since her maiden voyage
 in 1851 as a luxury liner.

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00:06:09,902 --> 00:06:12,905
173 feet long, three decks

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00:06:12,905 --> 00:06:17,443
high and capable of carrying more than 500
 tons of cargo.

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00:06:17,910 --> 00:06:21,714
She boasted elegant state rooms
 with stained glass windows.

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00:06:23,049 --> 00:06:25,385
In 1862, two years

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00:06:25,385 --> 00:06:29,255
before her journey to Jacksonville,
 the ship was leased to the U.S.

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00:06:29,255 --> 00:06:29,956
government. 

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00:06:29,956 --> 00:06:34,060
In keeping with her new duties
 of transporting troops and cargo,

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00:06:34,060 --> 00:06:39,499
the ship participated in the 1863
 Siege of Charleston.

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00:06:39,499 --> 00:06:44,704
Now with Jacksonville as her destination
 and loaded with the equipment of three

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regiments and brigade
 headquarters, the Maple Leaf left

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00:06:48,508 --> 00:06:51,411
South Carolina
 several weeks behind the troops

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00:06:51,611 --> 00:06:54,747
and steamed toward Florida
 to deliver the needed supplies.

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[Music playing]
 Late in the afternoon of March 30th, 1864,

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the Maple Leaf stopped briefly
 in Jacksonville before being ordered

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on to Palatka, a town 30 miles
 to the south, to unload fresh troops.

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Still carrying her original cargo,
 the Maple Leaf exchanged the fresh troops

76
00:07:14,901 --> 00:07:19,338
for some new passengers, Northern
 sympathizers fleeing for their safety.

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00:07:20,006 --> 00:07:22,842
She departed Palatka at 11:15

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00:07:22,842 --> 00:07:26,913
the night of March 31st
 on her return trip to Jacksonville.

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00:07:27,914 --> 00:07:28,281
It was 

80
00:07:28,281 --> 00:07:31,884
during this trip on the
 St John's River that the Maple Leaf

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00:07:32,151 --> 00:07:36,389
met her date with destiny
 and at approximately 4:00 a.m.

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00:07:36,389 --> 00:07:39,659
April first, 1864, was struck

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00:07:39,659 --> 00:07:42,595
by a crude mine known as a torpedo.

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The effect was devastating and immediate.

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00:07:47,133 --> 00:07:49,569
The Maple Leaf
 sink to the bottom of the river.

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00:07:50,102 --> 00:07:54,106
Four crew members were killed
 and her cargo was lost.

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00:08:03,049 --> 00:08:04,684
With the top of the Maple Leaf 

88
00:08:04,684 --> 00:08:09,555
removed as a danger to navigation
 in the 1880's, the bulk of the ship

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00:08:09,555 --> 00:08:14,160
remained hidden in the dark waters of the
 St Johns River for more than a century.

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00:08:15,127 --> 00:08:18,264
Spearheaded by a Jacksonville dentist,
 [motor sounds] a group

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00:08:18,264 --> 00:08:22,235
formed in the early 1980s
 determined to learn the truth

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00:08:22,235 --> 00:08:25,838
about the ship reported to be resting
 on the bottom of the river.

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00:08:26,806 --> 00:08:27,340
The real 

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00:08:27,340 --> 00:08:31,711
motivating force that made us stick
 with the Maple Leaf was the fact

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00:08:31,711 --> 00:08:36,983
that we knew years before we actually got
 inside of the boat that it was containing

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00:08:36,983 --> 00:08:42,822
400 tons of the baggage
 and camp equipment of over 2000 soldiers.

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00:08:43,322 --> 00:08:45,324
I mean, that is unheard of. 

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00:08:45,324 --> 00:08:48,327
We have looked
 at other archeological sites

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00:08:48,594 --> 00:08:51,764
that have been accomplished to date,
 and we've looked at other sites

100
00:08:52,031 --> 00:08:53,065
that we know about. 

101
00:08:53,065 --> 00:08:54,467
One of them is the Monitor. 

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00:08:54,467 --> 00:08:58,771
What they are lacking
 that the Maple Leaf had and still has

103
00:08:59,472 --> 00:09:03,209
is 800,000 pounds of material.

104
00:09:03,743 --> 00:09:06,612
Well, knowing that
 and knowing that it was buried

105
00:09:06,612 --> 00:09:10,650
seven feet of mud was a challenge
 that we couldn't let go of.

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00:09:12,118 --> 00:09:16,923
Maps and charts from the past aided
 modern technology, such as satellite

107
00:09:16,923 --> 00:09:21,260
photography and metal detecting equipment
 in locating the Maple Leaf.

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00:09:21,260 --> 00:09:25,364
[Radio sounds] Finding
 the lost ship was not only a challenge,

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00:09:25,898 --> 00:09:30,570
it was the beginning of an adventure
 that would continue for years to come.

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00:09:31,470 --> 00:09:35,007
When we first went to touch the Maple Leaf
 and actually dive on it,

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I did not realize how complex
 it would become.

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It wasn't until we actually dropped down
 into the St John's and touched the bottom

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00:09:43,950 --> 00:09:48,721
and recognized that the ship was buried
 under seven feet of mud

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00:09:49,121 --> 00:09:53,693
that I just then began to have a hint
 of the fact that it was going to take

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00:09:53,693 --> 00:10:00,800
an awesome amount of effort to recover
 even one item off the boat.

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00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:05,905
[Motor sounds]

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00:10:05,905 --> 00:10:09,342
Preparing to excavate

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00:10:09,342 --> 00:10:12,478
large amounts of fragile material
 from the murky depths,

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00:10:13,079 --> 00:10:15,548
the group anticipated a difficult job,

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00:10:16,415 --> 00:10:19,585
but the added dimensions
 of preservation, record

121
00:10:19,585 --> 00:10:22,822
keeping and researching
 the historical significance

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00:10:22,822 --> 00:10:26,659
of the findings, the scope of the
 project continued to grow.

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00:10:27,693 --> 00:10:30,029
When I started this project, 

124
00:10:30,029 --> 00:10:33,165
my main knowledge here
 was was from a diving aspect.

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00:10:33,165 --> 00:10:33,766
[scuba and radio sounds] 

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00:10:33,766 --> 00:10:37,269
That's the reason that I was brought
 into the project that was my expertise.

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00:10:37,870 --> 00:10:42,742
What I've had to do in the past
 five years is branch out.

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00:10:42,742 --> 00:10:45,711
Diving is a very small part
 of what we're doing.

129
00:10:46,312 --> 00:10:49,181
It encompasses probably just 1%.

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00:10:49,215 --> 00:10:54,587
I've had to go into the area
 of learning about archeological digs.

131
00:10:54,587 --> 00:10:58,591
I've had to go in and learn
 about conservation of artifacts.

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00:10:58,658 --> 00:11:02,795
I've had to learn the history of subjects
 that I probably was not real strong

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00:11:02,795 --> 00:11:04,664
on as a child. 

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00:11:04,730 --> 00:11:09,268
To just to bring these things up
 and not realize what they came from

135
00:11:09,268 --> 00:11:13,506
and how it affected us
 leaves a blank spot there for me.

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00:11:14,573 --> 00:11:18,277
125 years after the Maple Leaf
 went down, [scuba

137
00:11:18,277 --> 00:11:22,148
breathing sounds] she once again
 experienced the presence of human life.

138
00:11:22,948 --> 00:11:26,619
This time, men entered her
 hull in total darkness

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00:11:26,952 --> 00:11:30,222
and under several feet of mud, 

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00:11:30,222 --> 00:11:33,259
and so began
 the slow work of removing the cargo

141
00:11:33,259 --> 00:11:36,062
that was long overdue to arrive in
 Jacksonville.

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00:11:37,363 --> 00:11:42,768
[Music playing] In total darkness
 and you reach into this thick, viscous mud

143
00:11:43,469 --> 00:11:47,106
and you feel a flute or a violin.

144
00:11:48,107 --> 00:11:51,744
There are cold chills
 that run down as you recognize,

145
00:11:51,744 --> 00:12:01,887
as your brain has recognizes
 that this was a flute.

146
00:12:01,887 --> 00:12:06,592
In the Maple Leaf's case,

147
00:12:07,026 --> 00:12:09,662
it is a sealed time capsule.

148
00:12:10,329 --> 00:12:12,264
The decks are intact. 

149
00:12:12,264 --> 00:12:14,800
The ship has been filled with an anaerobic

150
00:12:15,801 --> 00:12:20,840
mud, which has kept
 most of the artifacts completely intact.

151
00:12:21,307 --> 00:12:25,010
So the artifacts that I've seen coming
 out of the Maple Leaf were probably

152
00:12:25,010 --> 00:12:29,482
in the best shape of any Civil
 War artifacts that I've seen come from a

153
00:12:31,383 --> 00:12:33,652
watery environment. 

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00:12:33,753 --> 00:12:36,889
[Radio sounds] During a series of dives,
 more than eleven hundred

155
00:12:37,256 --> 00:12:40,025
pounds of artifacts were recovered
 from the Maple Leaf,

156
00:12:40,326 --> 00:12:43,529
still representing
 less than 1% of her cargo.

157
00:12:44,764 --> 00:12:46,832
The feelings you get when you're

158
00:12:46,832 --> 00:12:49,769
diving and bringing up artifacts

159
00:12:50,336 --> 00:12:53,873
is somewhat of a spine chilling thing.

160
00:12:54,273 --> 00:12:58,010
You go down and excavate
 an item like a sword,

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00:12:58,010 --> 00:13:01,180
[music playing] something that I've always
 wanted to bring up.

162
00:13:01,714 --> 00:13:05,384
And then when you find out
 who that sword belonged to

163
00:13:05,384 --> 00:13:09,421
and find out about his family,
 about his life, what happened to him

164
00:13:09,955 --> 00:13:13,392
throughout the Civil War
 and what's happened to his ancestors, it's

165
00:13:13,926 --> 00:13:15,194
it's a bit mind boggling. 

166
00:13:16,462 --> 00:13:19,832
Here we have several swords
 that belonged to Lieutenant William H.

167
00:13:19,832 --> 00:13:20,733
Potter. 

168
00:13:21,033 --> 00:13:25,704
He was enrolled as a private and later
 became a first sergeant

169
00:13:25,704 --> 00:13:27,873
and then went on to
 become a second lieutenant.

170
00:13:28,841 --> 00:13:30,309
If you look at the 

171
00:13:30,309 --> 00:13:32,845
record associated,
 the archeological record

172
00:13:32,845 --> 00:13:35,648
associated with the ship,
 one of the things that makes an important

173
00:13:35,981 --> 00:13:38,717
is is not that it was a vessel carrying

174
00:13:38,717 --> 00:13:43,789
stacks of arms or ammunition
 or bayonets or cannons and carriages

175
00:13:43,789 --> 00:13:45,591
because we have a tremendous 

176
00:13:45,591 --> 00:13:48,961
amount of that material that survives
 from the Civil War period today.

177
00:13:49,361 --> 00:13:54,133
The thing that makes it important
 are the that on that wreck, the

178
00:13:54,133 --> 00:13:57,970
the small tokens of people's
 daily lives like

179
00:13:57,970 --> 00:13:59,972
toothbrushes and pencils and

180
00:14:01,173 --> 00:14:04,577
objects,
 gaming pieces that they may have carved

181
00:14:04,577 --> 00:14:08,681
and made themselves survive
 and give us a lot of insight

182
00:14:08,681 --> 00:14:12,218
into the personal aspects of the
 of the American Civil War

183
00:14:12,218 --> 00:14:15,821
that that for all practical purposes
 with otherwise have been lost.

184
00:14:16,822 --> 00:14:21,527
What we have here are checkers
 that one of the soldiers had actually made

185
00:14:21,527 --> 00:14:25,097
out of clay so they could play checkers
 in their spare time.

186
00:14:25,865 --> 00:14:30,769
They had to improvise because there were
 not a lot of things that they could buy

187
00:14:31,103 --> 00:14:33,539
during these periods of time
 when they were out in the field.

188
00:14:34,073 --> 00:14:37,943
Another pastime
 that the man had was carving.

189
00:14:37,943 --> 00:14:40,446
They all enjoyed doing a lot of carving.

190
00:14:40,446 --> 00:14:42,781
[Music playing]
 They had much time to sit around

191
00:14:43,616 --> 00:14:46,685
this one
 little piece here in a small wooden Bible

192
00:14:46,986 --> 00:14:49,989
that has a cross
 engraved in the front of it.

193
00:14:50,990 --> 00:14:52,124
Most people think that the 

194
00:14:52,124 --> 00:14:55,494
soldiers spend a tremendous amount of time
 in actual fighting.

195
00:14:55,494 --> 00:14:58,564
But in truth,
 they had very little fighting time.

196
00:14:59,665 --> 00:15:03,102
One thing they could use to mark
 their time was this short

197
00:15:03,135 --> 00:15:07,172
timer's clock, which the soldier actually
 whittled out of little pieces

198
00:15:07,172 --> 00:15:14,513
and interlocked the pieces to count down
 the days he had left to fight.

199
00:15:14,513 --> 00:15:18,250
Even in the smallest of items,
 we could find

200
00:15:18,450 --> 00:15:22,021
the intricate carvings that soldiers did.

201
00:15:22,154 --> 00:15:26,191
Possibly this one was to remind them
 of a loved one left back home.

202
00:15:27,026 --> 00:15:30,162
Although we knew that soldiers
 had instruments with them,

203
00:15:30,162 --> 00:15:33,565
we were very surprised
 to find these in excellent condition.

204
00:15:35,034 --> 00:15:36,635
[Music--Battle Cry of Freedom playing]
 Among some of the instruments 

205
00:15:36,635 --> 00:15:39,972
that we found
 were this seven piece clarinet.

206
00:15:39,972 --> 00:15:44,009
This three piece flute.

207
00:15:45,878 --> 00:15:46,445
And this 

208
00:15:46,445 --> 00:15:48,781
fife, which still has a beautiful tone.

209
00:15:49,648 --> 00:15:52,751
Yeah, I was to say the least,
 very surprised at the,

210
00:15:52,751 --> 00:15:56,055
the condition of the artifacts
 that have been

211
00:15:56,055 --> 00:15:58,390
brought up from the Maple Leaf site,

212
00:15:59,425 --> 00:16:01,660
they are in extraordinarily
 good condition.

213
00:16:01,660 --> 00:16:08,000
I was particularly impressed with the,
 the musical instruments, the boxes

214
00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:12,171
that were on board that were carrying
 personal possessions of the soldiers.

215
00:16:12,338 --> 00:16:16,342
You could even read the names,
 the regiments, which is extremely unusual.

216
00:16:16,342 --> 00:16:17,509
I think it would. 

217
00:16:17,509 --> 00:16:20,112
I think one could say that
 that I've never seen anything

218
00:16:20,112 --> 00:16:22,681
quite like that as far as a Civil War
 shipwreck is concerned.

219
00:16:23,549 --> 00:16:25,951
Here we have items that belong to Surgeon

220
00:16:26,185 --> 00:16:29,788
Washburne of the 112
 New York State Volunteers.

221
00:16:30,689 --> 00:16:33,225
We can tell from his service record

222
00:16:33,225 --> 00:16:37,029
and the things that we found that
 he was a very religious person.

223
00:16:37,029 --> 00:16:40,632
We found the binding to a small Bible.

224
00:16:40,666 --> 00:16:44,336
We know that he died of typhoid
 by treating prisoners

225
00:16:44,603 --> 00:16:46,805
shortly before the end of the war.

226
00:16:46,805 --> 00:16:52,077
One of the first intact boxes
 that we brought up

227
00:16:52,077 --> 00:16:56,348
was the box from Surgeon Snow, the 1st
 New York Engineer Volunteers.

228
00:16:56,882 --> 00:17:01,887
This presented quite a few different
 excitement points for us.

229
00:17:02,087 --> 00:17:07,192
First being the first intact box
 that allowed us to see exactly

230
00:17:07,192 --> 00:17:10,195
how things were packed in a box
 and give us some

231
00:17:11,063 --> 00:17:13,732
relationship
 to how things were packed in the box.

232
00:17:13,766 --> 00:17:17,503
The other thing
 that was very interesting to us

233
00:17:17,503 --> 00:17:21,306
is that this was surgeon Snow's,
 of the 1st New York Engineer Volunteers,

234
00:17:21,774 --> 00:17:25,210
which was not one of the reported
 regiments on the boat,

235
00:17:25,210 --> 00:17:30,149
so it gave us a fourth regiment
 that had equipment on this boat.

236
00:17:31,116 --> 00:17:33,819
One of the first items that stands out

237
00:17:34,753 --> 00:17:38,157
more than the others
 is the brass oil lantern in the top right

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hand corner of the box, you'll notice
 that it has already been cleaned and gone

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through the conservation measures
 required of it.

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As you look down a little bit further,

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you will see Surgeon Snow's shoes that

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apparently were shoes
 that he'd intended on having resoled.The

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bottoms of them are completely worn out,
 but he was carrying with them, still.

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We were real surprised to find intricate
 China pieces in the boat.

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We knew that we would find the military
 every day ware from that period of time.

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But when we started
 bringing up pieces of China

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and all that had beautiful pictures
 on them, very colorful,

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we realized that these were not only
 the things that officers were carrying,

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but probably also a lot of things
 that were taken on their trip down

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the coast from contraband that soldiers
 had picked up from ransacking houses.

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This one oriental 

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design is earmarked from Korea.

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It was certainly not one of the basic
 things that every enlisted man had to eat

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on. One of the type of plates that we did

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expect to find in the boat
 is this feathered blue plate.

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It was the type of plate used during
 the Civil War by many of the soldiers.

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Smoking of pipes 

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and cigars
 was a very big pastime in the Civil War.

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It was not surprising to us
 to find a lot of pipes on the boat.

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What did surprise us was
 some of the beautiful, intricate designs

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that were on a lot of the pipes
 that we found.

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[Music

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playing]

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The exciting part about this

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excavation is what we might learn

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from a social point of view
 about the American Civil War.

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We have studied and studied and studied

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the military aspect,
 the strategic aspect, the

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the machinery that we created,
 the Monitor, the new advances in warfare.

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What we do not have and that we are sadly
 lacking, is an opportunity to study

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the people who fueled that machine
 and what they did

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in this terrible time of their lives,
 how they traveled, what games they played,

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what things they did for recreation,
 what material they picked up along the way

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and confiscated as they traveled
 three years through this terrible time.

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First of all, the Maple
 Leaf at the present time

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is probably the most exciting shipwreck
 site of the United States.

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Even more exciting than the Monitor. 

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And the Monitor, of course, is the most
 famous of all American warships.

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But the fact is that Monitors
 is in a very difficult environment,

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so much of what was on
 board has been destroyed.

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This ship went down 

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so rapidly, was covered with the sediment
 so quickly that virtually

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everything is intact on board
 and it is an extraordinary shipwreck.

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And hopefully in the years to come 

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that it would be carefully,
 cautiously investigated

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and the possessions on board the ship
 itself, of course, will be treated

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as what it is a very, very important
 cultural resource for the American people.

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One of the real values of archeology,

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and I think this particular site is
 is a tremendous example.

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You know,
 if we look solely at the historical record

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that that survives in the
 in the archives of the United States,

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00:21:31,290 --> 00:21:34,826
then we get a sort of sanitized version
 of the American Civil War

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and we lose the majority of the people
 who were involved in the Civil War.

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But through archeology
 and looking at the material

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that's preserved on a ship
 like the Maple Leaf, we can come back

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and reconstruct the lives of people that
 otherwise would have been totally lost.

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The main benefit the Maple Leaf gives us,

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is a site that can last for generations

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00:21:59,318 --> 00:22:04,489
and excite students of all ages
 about studying their past.

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By using the disciplines of their
 present. [Music playing]