Red Cross Relic Area NC

[Frankn]

Well I have never posted in the relic area, but I ran across this bit of info. that might help someone else. General Johnstons Confederate Army was camped at a small town in Randolph Co. called Red Cross when they heard that Johnston had surrendered to Sherman.
Under the terms of the surrender, the Confederate soldiers were to leave all of their equipment and arms at the campground and return to their homes.
The campground can be reached by going 12 miles southeast of Greensboro, on highway 49A. The campground lies due west of the highway at Red Cross.
Good luck and hope it is not gov. land by now. Frank

 

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[Dwight S]

It would be interesting to know if this site has been located, mostly it has. There is a small town in Randolph County, called Level Cross, its the home town of Richard Petty of NASCAR fame. Its location in relation to Greensboro is close to what you mention, but its not along NC-49. (Nor can I find a NC-49A)

Its sometimes difficult to locate sites lost so long ago. Roads change, names change or disappear.

Johnston & his Confederate army did move west beyond Hillsborough and camped around Greensboro and areas south of town. Their plans were to desolve into the woodlands and start a Gurillia war to prolong the cause. But knowing that Sherman was on his heels, Lee had surrendered, Grant was planning to move his army south and that Stoneman was in the western part of the state, better sense prevailed.

There is a small community of Red Cross, but it is about 50 or so miles further south in Stanly County, east of Charlotte.

 

[Frankn]

Dwight, I ran across it on the net . Never been there. On a lot of these old stories, you have to look up the old route numbers as you said routes do change. Sometimes the counties change ! from the story: a small town in Randolph County named Red Cross, 12mi. southeast of Greensboro, Thousands of Southern soldiers camped here in an area little more than 3 mi. wide, They were at Red Cross only a short time, General Johnston surrendered at the farm house of James Bennet located near present day city of Durham. It's not dated so I don't know what present day is in time. If you could find this, you would be sitting on a relic gold mine. I am in Maryland. If fuel wasn't so high I would run down there and look. I expected to get a lot of it's been hunted outs, but it appears to be a new hot spot waiting to be found. Good luck , Frank

 

[Frankn]

I did a little more checking. It is 12 miles SE of Greensboro. It appears that only one major road goes SE, that is US29. doesn't look like there is much developement there. No parks or such. You might pick up a clue at the Greensboro History Museum in the center of town.
Here is something I picked up from Terry's listings: In 1865, Gen. Johnston buried a large quanity of gold coins near his campsite at Red Cross before his surrender to keep the Yankees from getting it. Looks like some more icing on the cake. It has never been recovered. I will do some more checking to try to nail the location. Any one down there that can do some boots on ground checking ? This appears to be an untouched by detector site. Frank

 

[Frankn]

Ok you guys, looks like we are working together and got it done. On the other posting for Red Cross, Capt. Karl nailed down the location of the camp site.
They camped at Bethel Methodist Church located on New Salem Rd and Bethel Church Rd. That's off Rt. 22. GPS- 35-52-40.7N 79-42-18.7W
This was the camp location from Apr. 16 to Apr. 26
The muster out was at Bush Hill (now Archdale) on May 1-2
Anyone finds something, let us know please. Frank

Remember , there were thousands of soldiers camped over an app. 3 mile wide area!!

 

[NaturalJWL]

Frank that sounds like the Pleasant Garden area, but I am not familiar with it.

I think some of the guys in the NC section might know more.

 

[nickledime]

Hello, I live very close to this location,,anyone want to take a stab at it, let me know.................theres a lot of what looks like farm land around the church, so it will ride on getting permission.

 

[jorge del norte]

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=35.882409&lon=-79.695631&z=17.5&r=0&src=msl

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=new bern map&hl=en&prmd=ivnsm&biw=1236&bih=877&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=il

I use to hunt the Civitan Club north east corner of intersection, southwest corner is a old house/store, lots of gravel by the ruins, I never knew of the Gen. Johnston connection, nice find on the info. I don't live in the area anymore, but the southwest corn field always looked real good to me, I never got permission, so I moved on.

Good luck with the Bethel location, some rough types down in that area.

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=35.882409&lon=-79.695631&z=17.5&r=0&src=msl

 

[qkslvr]

I found a Red Cross, NC on Google Earth, it's 75 miles SW of Greensboro. Just west of Red Cross, there is a Bethel Church Rd. Wonder if that is the same place?

 

[Frankn]

Qkslvr, Yes. Frank

 

[Placer1]

I'm pretty sure from my days near Greensboro, that this area is on private property. But NC farmers are pretty nice about giving permission!

 

[lineman2190]

I always wanted to go out there and look around.I pass the area everyday.Im building a house about 2 miles from the area.Does any body know where a good location to start looking at,church or the field across from the church.I have a old randolph county book with pics of cannon balls from 1979.

 

[Frankn]

It was a very large encampment. No battles were fought here. They were there for quite a while before the surrender. They just left all there equippment and went home. There's got to be plenty just below the surface. Frank

 

[WC68]

Qkslvr, Yes. Frank

Hi y'all,

If its the first location you mention, it can't be the Red Cross 75 miles south. That definitely wouldn't have been considered close to Greensboro. But it is ironic there is a bethel church rd there.

Frankn, I'm interested where you found those initial locations, because I'd looked for the location description of JEJ's camp before and never found any detail.

Waiting to get my detector back after a 6 yr hiatus. Been doing a lot of research on north and south carolina, which is new to me (in relic hunting ). I used to hunt in MS.

 

[Frankn]

I hate to say this but I was looking for a cache location and just happened upon this info a while back. It was on the net and had nothing to do with Civil War info. It was mixed in with the cache info. The cache info didn't pan out so I dumped it, Sorry. I hit so many sources that I have no idea where it came from. I just posted it so it might help someone. Actually I was looking for the confederate pay chest that was buried there. They didn't want the feds to get it. Good luck. Frank

 

[Eric Wilson]

Red Cross site

Hi ya'll, the Red Cross location is near Greensboro but I can remember people talking of hunting it back in late 70's. unfortunately not all got permission. Also rampant rumors of people finding 20$ gold pieces made people reluctant to give permission. May not be so difficult now but in early 80's I was told "forget about it",

 

[PJ882]

Hey guys I was born and raised in Randolph County NC and am back here now, so if anyone is interested in going to check it out hit me up at my email, [email protected]. I live near the area and the area that I live in has a rich history as well.

 

[Larry336]

The location is in fact at the bethel church on new salem rd. I was able to speak to the land owner. He confirmed all the stories. He's also agreed to let me hunt this area this fall.

 

[HI-McDunnogh]

Hey guys I was born and raised in Randolph County NC and am back here now, so if anyone is interested in going to check it out hit me up at my email, [email protected]. I live near the area and the area that I live in has a rich history as well.

Be sure and let us know what you turn up...interested to hear.

 

[A2coins]

Good info