BuckleBoy
Gold Member
Hello All,
I was recently asked by a Tnet member to share a little bit about how I find Civil War campsites. I sent him a lengthy PM which I saved and have formulated into this post. I won't reveal all my tricks of the trade, but I will share some of them.
Happy reading,
Buckleboy
In terms of finding Civil War campsites, I can't tell you what to do in terms of research, but I'll tell you what I do to find sites.
1. Research a Captain/General/etc. that had troops in your area. Read as many books as you can about him and his campaigns. If there are any books about the Civil War in your area, you should have already read those. Now...how to read them... When I read any book like this, it always takes me twice as long, because I take tons of notes. Now most books like this will not have much information about campsites, but you'll learn information about what they were doing in your area, and what they were there to guard or destroy.
2. Get a copy of the Official Records of the Civil War on CDRom. OR, go to Cornell University's website at the following link. They have a searchable database there:
http://0-cdl.library.cornell.edu.source.unco.edu/moa/browse.monographs/waro.html
Search the name of any and all leaders of troops in your area. (The list will be long!) Then look at the correspondence during the time those troops were in your area. You'll get some leads this way, big time. Make sure you write ALL information down, including the date of the letter, and who it was to. (It can be hard to find the document again in the OR's. They are volumes and volumes long in printed format!) Frequently some description of campsite location will be listed. (These are often vague.) Choose one that you feel that you have good odds of finding based on the description. (You'll have many, many chances to prove your worth with more vague and challenging campsite references in the OR's, so cut yourself a break to start out with. Besides, if someone has "beaten you to the punch" on the campsite you choose, the property owner will generally know. Make sure you ask them when you get permission if it has been detected before--not that that fact should really scare you off at all...)
3. Read any soldiers' diaries in special library collections/private collections/publications from troops in the particular unit you are researching. Only after you have assembled ALL of the information you can get your hands on about a particular campsite should you actually go to vicinity you believe it to be. I can tell you from experience that it takes many hours of research, plus many more hours spent in the field with a detector to find a virgin campsite.
4. When you go out to the field, take all your notes. Read them again before you arrive on the site. When you get there, pay special attention to the features mentioned. Pay attention to whether the roads that are mentioned have been changed/improved/widened. Look for knolls or valleys mentioned in the diaries/OR's. Distinguishing geographic features are usually mentioned in soldiers' accounts. Survey the area by car (or perhaps by foot, if you have permission already), and make a list of the top three fields/valleys/spots where you think the campsite could have been. Pay close attention to creeks! There was always a water source close by--a spring, creek or river. Water was used to fill canteens, wash clothes, soothe aching feet. It was indispensable. Start from the water source and work outward toward the spot you think the camp might have been. Spend at least four solid hours detecting in each spot before you mark it off your list. Also, remember that if you are finding fired bullets, this is not the sign of a camp. You need to be finding dropped ones, not fired ones. If you're finding "pulled" or "wormed out" bullets, you're probably close to the camp (they unloaded their guns before setting up camp). If you're finding .69 caliber ammo and few other items, you've probably found a picket post on the outskirts of the camp. Close, but no cookie. Only when you're finding buttons, dropped .58 cal bullets, campfire lead, and other items are you truly on the campsite.
Here's an important tip: In every crate of ammunition or supplies opened in a Civil War campsite, there were dozens of NAILS. In other words, the nails will outnumber the bullets significantly in a campsite. If you hunt on higher discrimination (not hearing the iron signals), you could walk right through a campsite and not happen on a lead relic, leading you to believe (incorrectly!!!) that the camp wasn't there. MAKE SURE you hunt in all metal mode until you start getting lots of iron readings. Then bump up your discrimination some and work that area relentlessly. This method also works for finding old house sites where there is no trace of the structure left.
What to do if you get skunked in the first three areas where you thought the campsite was? Choose two more. If you get skunked on these two, you should keep your research and the information about where the site ISN'T, and move on to researching another site. Five possibilities on your list, times four hours per site of hardcore detecting equals 20 hours of fieldwork alone. I haven't found every campsite that I've tried to, but I have found a good many of them.
I hope this helps,
Buckleboy
I was recently asked by a Tnet member to share a little bit about how I find Civil War campsites. I sent him a lengthy PM which I saved and have formulated into this post. I won't reveal all my tricks of the trade, but I will share some of them.
Happy reading,
Buckleboy
In terms of finding Civil War campsites, I can't tell you what to do in terms of research, but I'll tell you what I do to find sites.
1. Research a Captain/General/etc. that had troops in your area. Read as many books as you can about him and his campaigns. If there are any books about the Civil War in your area, you should have already read those. Now...how to read them... When I read any book like this, it always takes me twice as long, because I take tons of notes. Now most books like this will not have much information about campsites, but you'll learn information about what they were doing in your area, and what they were there to guard or destroy.
2. Get a copy of the Official Records of the Civil War on CDRom. OR, go to Cornell University's website at the following link. They have a searchable database there:
http://0-cdl.library.cornell.edu.source.unco.edu/moa/browse.monographs/waro.html
Search the name of any and all leaders of troops in your area. (The list will be long!) Then look at the correspondence during the time those troops were in your area. You'll get some leads this way, big time. Make sure you write ALL information down, including the date of the letter, and who it was to. (It can be hard to find the document again in the OR's. They are volumes and volumes long in printed format!) Frequently some description of campsite location will be listed. (These are often vague.) Choose one that you feel that you have good odds of finding based on the description. (You'll have many, many chances to prove your worth with more vague and challenging campsite references in the OR's, so cut yourself a break to start out with. Besides, if someone has "beaten you to the punch" on the campsite you choose, the property owner will generally know. Make sure you ask them when you get permission if it has been detected before--not that that fact should really scare you off at all...)
3. Read any soldiers' diaries in special library collections/private collections/publications from troops in the particular unit you are researching. Only after you have assembled ALL of the information you can get your hands on about a particular campsite should you actually go to vicinity you believe it to be. I can tell you from experience that it takes many hours of research, plus many more hours spent in the field with a detector to find a virgin campsite.
4. When you go out to the field, take all your notes. Read them again before you arrive on the site. When you get there, pay special attention to the features mentioned. Pay attention to whether the roads that are mentioned have been changed/improved/widened. Look for knolls or valleys mentioned in the diaries/OR's. Distinguishing geographic features are usually mentioned in soldiers' accounts. Survey the area by car (or perhaps by foot, if you have permission already), and make a list of the top three fields/valleys/spots where you think the campsite could have been. Pay close attention to creeks! There was always a water source close by--a spring, creek or river. Water was used to fill canteens, wash clothes, soothe aching feet. It was indispensable. Start from the water source and work outward toward the spot you think the camp might have been. Spend at least four solid hours detecting in each spot before you mark it off your list. Also, remember that if you are finding fired bullets, this is not the sign of a camp. You need to be finding dropped ones, not fired ones. If you're finding "pulled" or "wormed out" bullets, you're probably close to the camp (they unloaded their guns before setting up camp). If you're finding .69 caliber ammo and few other items, you've probably found a picket post on the outskirts of the camp. Close, but no cookie. Only when you're finding buttons, dropped .58 cal bullets, campfire lead, and other items are you truly on the campsite.
Here's an important tip: In every crate of ammunition or supplies opened in a Civil War campsite, there were dozens of NAILS. In other words, the nails will outnumber the bullets significantly in a campsite. If you hunt on higher discrimination (not hearing the iron signals), you could walk right through a campsite and not happen on a lead relic, leading you to believe (incorrectly!!!) that the camp wasn't there. MAKE SURE you hunt in all metal mode until you start getting lots of iron readings. Then bump up your discrimination some and work that area relentlessly. This method also works for finding old house sites where there is no trace of the structure left.
What to do if you get skunked in the first three areas where you thought the campsite was? Choose two more. If you get skunked on these two, you should keep your research and the information about where the site ISN'T, and move on to researching another site. Five possibilities on your list, times four hours per site of hardcore detecting equals 20 hours of fieldwork alone. I haven't found every campsite that I've tried to, but I have found a good many of them.
I hope this helps,
Buckleboy
