Encampment Question

[WeaponsUSMC]

Doing alittle research about where im located at here in NC. Ive found out that a union army artilery unit from Road Island landed on the coast less than 1 mile from my house. Its on Government property (military base) where im stationed and I can use my MD there. My question is, how far from where they made there landing do you think they set camp? and for all of you that have looked for encampemets before, what are some of the signs that im looking for? The place will be heavily wooded right now and can get into it easy. thanks for all your help.

 

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[gldhntr]

due to the frequent hurricane activity and also the blowing sands it is going to be a search until you find it ,unless you can find it in the O.R. , or unless you can find a diary that tells exactly what they did...unc at chapel hill has very many, and you can veiw contents online, and order copies pretty cheap......i will go through my records in the next day or so to see what i may have if you will give me the unit or near date of the landing, and the area....you can send it pm if you want.......i can tell you that they most likely would have regrouped right at or very near to the landing spot as they were weird about being in formation for the most part, although they may not have camped until within striking distance of their target as they most often tried to attack at or before daylight.......................gldhntr

 

[TOWcritter]

Hey Jarhead, Semper Fi. Are you stationed at LeJuene? I was there for 3 years. Lots of old stuff in those woods. Go to the Library in Jacksonville on a Saturday. Research and check out the honeys. I'll check my stuff, I might have something I can throw your way. BTW, You can get really good maps of the area from the library of congress. The web site is www.loc.gov. Another good site is David Ramsey's Historical Map Collection. All yours free for the taking. Good Luck.

 

[WeaponsUSMC]

Semper Fi. and thanks for the info. Im stationed at Cherrypoint right now. I've went through most of the playgrounds here in base housing, now trying to find the older stuff on the base. hopefully all this pans out and the yanks left stuff for me to find. I know alot of times they left there belongings behind before a battle. And they knew they were going into battle at New bern nc. I think they could have found a better place to land but we have alot more access to better maps and stuff now.

 

[TOWcritter]

I saw a civil war map of the encampments at New Bern at the loc.gov site last night after I posted. It was a very detailed map too. I'll try to find it again and post a link for you. And 5 minutes later I'm back with this. Hope you like it. In the middle on the bottom is the 4th Rhode Island and 5th Rhode island arty regiment locations. Match this up with a good topo map and hunt away. Wish I could be there to help. Post those pictures when you can. There is a great map program that is free called "terra client". Google it and it's a quick download and install. Put in the city , state and it pops up an ariel photo that you can zoom in and also overlay a topo on. That's how I find ALOT of old foundations etc. Try it. Its great.

 

[TOWcritter]

Man, are you out in the field this week?

 

[WeaponsUSMC]

lol Nope, actually havnt been to work in 4 months, I have to go to Bethesda on the 8th of Sept. for my med eval board. I have a severe spinal desiese (possibly gulf war related) and im waiting to get medicaly retired. The place where they came ashore on base is heavily patrolled and was told I would spend time in levenworth (sp) If they seen me with my MD there, so now I have done some more searching for pvt property and found where a Yankee camp was located right outside of Newbern, thankfully the place is owned by a friend of mine. (he was using a post hole digger putting in a bird house pole and found an old campfire way down in the dirt) Were going out there today helping a friend move into one of the houses on the property and hopefully will get permission to hunt alittle. I'll keep you informed.

 

[WeaponsUSMC]

Just got back from my friends house. It looks promising, but I only had my trusty K-Bar....Next time im taking my E-Tool OMG that ground is way too hard. But I did learn alot more history on the place and here's the scoop. The place he owns was a supply camp for the Federals with a train track that ran all beside it (train track is still there). The camp wasnt an overy large one, but pretty good size. Also on the ajoining property there were many skirmishes fought and the emvampments are still there (is envampments the right word?) but the place where the skirmishes were fought is beside a river and looks like swamp. I have permission to hunt both of these properties. just a hundred years up....starting about 30 years ago there has been some people MD on the property of the encampment atleast one cashe has been found with 2 $20 gold coins in it along with other relics, CSA buckles USA buckles bayonettes and cannonballs (explosive or shot). Now down where the skirmishes were fought were 27 graves (2 unmarked) and they had moved 25 to a cemetary and atleast one complete rifle has been recovered (this place has NOT been gone through with a MD), the rifle was found bayonette in the ground and was overlooked for 120 years. Last year the grandson found a half of a CSA buckle in the driveway partialy burried. What I would like to know is, I use a Whites Prism II. To hunt this site should I turn off all disc? What would the musket balls show up as? lead like a nail? Any suggestion are welcome and if anyone is near Havelock, Moorehead, NewBern NC and want to join me on this adventure let me know, I only have a few months left here and after I leave im sure I can arrange for someone else to keep hunting there. and sorry about the post, I know my writing skills stink badly.... I wasnt very good in English in school as you can tell.......Bill

 

[TOWcritter]

I know what back problems are all about. I had a spinal fusion last November. L-5/S-1. 4 bolts and 2 plates holding my upper body to my lower. 4 1/2 hour surgery. And don't forget the metal cage in between with some bone they got from somewhere in my body. Been out of work for over 18 months now. Just got a job at a new Lowes store 5 minutes from my house. I can't be a carpenter any more. Oh well, he's paying me more than what I was making before so its not that bad.

Any Way! What you want to look for are areas that you think that were camp sites. Then look between the trees for shallow depressions. They used to dig foxholes too. But they were nicer than ours because they lived in them for a while. Walls and roofs and all. This is where guys turn up the good stuff. ALOT of digging but well worth it. Bring a digging partner cause your back will be sore.

P.S. Did the map of the battle site work out for you? It looked very promising. Sounds like the railroad tracks in the map match what you found. Post some pictures of the site. Good Hunting and I wish I could come down and help.

 

[TOWcritter]

Hi again. Man, you HAVE to download."TERRA CLIENT"!!! I pulled up the aerial photos of New Bern and compared the old map to the topo and aerial pics. I found the battlefield! You can even see where some of the emplacements and were. Both major hills overlooking the area are there too. Awesome. And the railroad tracks run right through the middle of the whole thing. It looks like there is a big farm right in the middle of where the battlefield would have been. Wow. Check it out definitely. It will make your hunt easier and more productive. The 2nd picture is a closer look at what I think is an encampment in the lower right part of the first picture. What do YOU think?!

 

[WeaponsUSMC]

Yep map is still mostly correct. ?But the federal encampment is now clear. its a pasture and corral so no trees for markers. but no tree's = easier hunting. The skirmish area on the other hand is going to be tuff, let me add one thing before I get any further.....I hate snakes. ?After I checked out the skirmish area while standing on the tracks I went back to the guys house to try alittle more swinging of the MD, I had about 10 minutes of light left and was about 8-10' from the tree line. ?(my back problems are a disiese called recurrant transverse myolitis(sp) it causes sever sleep depravation, memory loss and sever numbness amung many other symptoms) So at this point im about 8 hours past my normal afternoon nap time and extreamly tired, feeling alittle drunkish and I hear three quick rattles. It didnt even occur to me to look for what was making the sound. ?Well thank goodness that timber rattler didnt feel overly threatened or I would have had a visit to the emergancy room. ?As I heard leaves moving a few feet away from me I finaly looked up to see the rattler moving off into the bushes a couple feet from me. ?BUT where the skirmishes took place, that place has to be littered with water moccasins. GRRRRrrr the battle in my mind to hit the skirmish line and forget about the snakes OR to just stay in the relitivly safety of the pastures and the encampments. ?As soon as the rain hits from this aftermath of the hurricane and softens up the ground im heading back out there. ?I'm thinking of making a deal with my MD dealer to invite him to hunt this site with me IF he lets me use one of his higher end Whites.

 

[WeaponsUSMC]

The farm is my friends land but there were many battles for New Bern. One major one for the firt siege when the feds took over. Then many small ones when the Confederates kept comming back from Kingston area to try to retake it. When I get back out there ill take my digital camera and take pictures of the encampment and the skirmish sites I have access too. I did dig a large piece of led that MIGHT have been used to melt down, not sure but it might be. And my friend was digging fense post holes and did find acouple of the camp fires the feds used on his land, They were spread out in a straight line every 75 feet I think he said, still has the ashes lol not bad for being 150 year old ashes lol.

 

[TOWcritter]

Are these pics close to your friends farm?
Looks like a promising area. There are alot of copperheads down there too. So be careful.

 

[Vrent]

snakes equal BOOTS even leather chaps might be nice I think your detector wil do you good hunt in all metal mode and dig everything and I mean everything. I would not leave a solid signal in the ground and as you dig up the shallower signals you will find deeper ones popping up

and above all becareful of the snakes and have fun a small pick may do you some good if the ground is as hard as you describe or detecting after a decent rain storm would help pr even later in the fall early winter the snakes will have caled down the ground should be a bit damper from rain

I am sure some folks from the board would love to help you detect the site, I know I would only about 160 miles south in myrtle beach


HH Vrent

 

[WeaponsUSMC]

After looking at those photo's more closely, it doesnt look quit right, There should be two train tracks joining into one, I pulled up NASA World Wind to try to find it. I'll post what I find.

 

[WeaponsUSMC]

This looks more like the skirmish area. or atleast the closest i could find by topo. I was standing on a train tressle looking over the skirmish area and was west of the city of New Bern.

 

[TOWcritter]

So how goes the hunt? Have you turned up anything interesting yet? Keep us in the loop.

 

[WeaponsUSMC]

Well to be perfectly honest I havnt been able to get back out there, gas at almost 4 bucks a gallon I cant afford to drive the 40 miles there and back. 35 bucks to fill my trucks tank up half way and it would take a quarter of a tank to get there and back lol. On the bright side, hunting the little playgrounds here in base housing turned up my third silver ring yesterday!!! I hope gas prices come down alot before retirement here soon, and it wouldnt really be that bad if I wasnt saving for a down payment on a house we are buying lol.

 

[TOWcritter]

I hear you. Well at least the weather is starting to cool off a little. That makes it nicer to hunt. Good luck.

 

[WeaponsUSMC]

Just for you TOW. Here is alittle update on this place. Me and another Jarhead I had met on another forum (read a chance meeting in everything else) went out to this great site yesterday (Oct 1st). We arrived at 1PM and hunted untill 3:30PM due to the fact we had to come back to base to get his son. There is so much open land here to hunt we didnt know where to start, two open pastures for grazing of the horses 7.5 acres apiece a corral that is 2 acres , a circular work out pit that is very small and a training corral 1/8 acre.
We started in one of the 7.5 acre lots and didnt find much, each ended up with 11 cents and he found a CW time period shoe buckle (appears to be anyways). Next we moved to the 2 acre corral, in this lot after about an hour hunt we dug two three ring bullets pluss a piece to another (1 full one each) and I dug a pistol ball, all CW finds. Keep looking in todays finds today and as soon as my wife wakes up I will post pictures of our finds. The day was a great one, couldnt stop smiling all day long as it was my first CW digs.
Some more information about the place I found out last night afterwards is, the skirmish line is on the outside of the swamp area. This alone made me estatic due to the fact it will be ALOT easier to MD. I only have a few weeks after my Oct 20th Med board date left on this base and then its back to Ohio so needless to say I will be hitting this place hard to get as much as possible before I leave.
On a side note, After we came back to base and picked up his son, we stayed in the base area and went to one of the three base housing complexes where they are tearing down the house's to rebuild new ones. There are only about 20 house's left out of the original 100's that sat here before they started to tear them down. These yards are amazing to dig. The avg coins comming out of them are early 60's and dating all the way back to the 30's (found my oldest coin yesterday 39' Wheaty) and he found 63 dime and 39 quarter.
Now for some help from ya'll hopefully, on my whites machine the bullets conned as pulltab, but on his BH they came up as zincs. What are the belt plates made out of? and there is alot of trash in the encampment area, wire, unidentified rusty metal ect. Are they any CW relics that would come up as nails? or is it ok to disc out nails? Thanks for looking HH.....Bill