| Hoes were used by the armies on both sides. They were used, to a certain extent, for the agricultural purposes for which they were invented, but they were also used in the construction of a breastwork and ditches around it. Unlike a shovel, which would have been used for actual digging, a hoe might be used to dislodge rocks or in the filling of gabions that made up the structure of a breastwork. This item was found near the site of the Battle of White Plains, in New York. It was located at the site of what is believed to have been a Patriot encampment. |
