Project Introduction

In Fort Smith, Arkansas--a city on the Arkansas River on the border with Oklahoma--behind the Immaculate Conception Church, at 13th Street and Garrison stands a lonely looking chimney. This stone feature has long stood at this location--first as the chimney belonging to a building that was associated with old Camp Belknap and then, finally, as a part of a decorative "Grotto" on the grounds of St. Anne's Academy and the convent of the Sisters of Mercy.

A plaque placed on the site in 1936 explains that the chimney once belonged to the home of Zachary Taylor--the nineteenth-century president and hero of the Mexican War.

Early in the summer of 2004, Deacon Ray Brust of the Immaculate Conception Church of Fort Smith contacted the Arkansas Archeological Survey. He was inquiring about conducting excavations at the chimney prior to a landscaping project. Deacon Brust and several other community members had made it known that they were keenly interested in recovering proof that this had been, in fact, the home of General Zachary Taylor while he was in command at Fort Smith.

Before we go farther into the archeology of this site small, compact site, however, allow me to take a detour to explain a bit about the site's history and how Zachary Taylor and the Sisters of Mercy came to be associated with this site.

On to Zachary Taylor & Fort Smith

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