Nebraskaland

76 Nebraskaland • April 2021 t. Gabriel Field died of an accidental knife wound in 1823 and was buried near Fort Atkinson, Nebraska. He was never photographed (it wasn't invented yet), and no known artwork captured his likeness. Yet here he is. How do we know what he looked like? The story begins in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when the Missouri River was a highway for the international fur trade. Seeking to exclude British traders, the United States built Fort Atkinson in 1820. Home to 1,000 people at its peak, the fort was the army's westernmost outpost until it was abandoned in 1827. The crumbling fort stood between present-day Omaha and Blair. In 1855 a town was founded nearby and mistakenly named Fort Calhoun (after the Secretary of War who authorized the fort's construction). In 1954, a local farmer plowed up a fragment of a headstone inscribed "Gabriel Field, 1st Lieut. 6th Regt. Born Jeff erson Cou …". Archeologists knew the site was just north of where the fort had once stood. Over the next few years they found graves, including a coffi n containing a skeleton missing one leg. The leg was buried separately in a wooden box. Based on army records, archeologists deduced that this must be Gabriel Field. Field's injury was minor — or would have been, had doctors known how to prevent infection. Instead, Field's gangrenous leg was amputated in hopes of saving his life. He died four days later. Life was hard at Fort Atkinson. Studying army records, personal correspondence and evidence from excavations of the fort, archeologists and historians learned that many of the men showed signs of poor nutrition, had poor dental health and suff ered from diseases, such as scurvy. Few men died in combat. Death came mostly by illness, accidents, suicide or fi ghting with each other. Gabriel Field was a well-regarded offi cer, and his death at age 28 or 29 cut short a promising future. His remains were reburied, but History Nebraska commissioned forensic artist Betty Pat Gatliff to create a facial reconstruction based on Field's cranial structure. Gatliff (1930-2020) was a pioneer in her fi eld, perhaps best known for collaborating on a facial reconstruction of the Pharaoh Tutankamun. As for Field, Gatliff 's work literally put a human face on life at Nebraska's fi rst army post. N The Face of a Fort Atkinson Soldier By David L. Bristow, History Nebraska L Betty Pat Gatliff with her facial reconstruction of Tutankhamen, which she created in 1983 at the request of an orthopedic surgeon curious about the pharaoh. FLORIDA GULF COAST UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Lt. Gabriel Field died at Fort Atkinson in 1823. Nebraska State Historical Society archeologists identifi ed his remains and commissioned a facial reconstruction based on cranial structure. HISTORY NEBRASKA

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