June 6, 2023 – Wade Catts, the co-director of a team that excavated the remains of Hessian soldiers killed in a battle against Col. Christopher Greene and the 1st and 2nd Rhode Island Regiments at Fort Mercer in Red Bank, New Jersey (October 1777). provided remarks. Mr. Catts addressed this internationally recognized, award-winning project in a talk sponsored by the Portsmouth Historical Society (PHS) and the Battle of Rhode Island Association (BoRIA) at the PHS Headquarters at 870 East Main Road in Portsmouth. The lecture “The Archaeology of a Mass Burial Space at Fort Mercer, Red Bank Battlefield Park, Gloucester County, New Jersey” summarized the battle’s history, site, and fieldwork, and provide an update on current analyses and future plans. This talk was the first under the banner of “The Col. Burton C. Quist Lecture Series”, in memory of our late founding Director, friend, and mentor who passed away in January of this year.
