1 night campsites. Many things to be found?

CC68

CC68

Established Users
I was curious as to the number of relics that might be found at campsites that were used for only a few hours at the most. Are these area worth hunting?

I am thinking about camps that portion of a corps/division may have overnighted on a long march. The few places that Ive searched that fit this description have yet to yield any finds for me. Of course i may have missed the spot completely. On the particular march I'm thinking of, i know there were no tents carried. The men slept only under their gum blankets. But, we are talking about a large number of men.
 
Campsites

I think that it would absolutely be a good place, anytime they stopped on the old roads or just stopped to camp even just a one night camp they would drop things. Think about it this way, I'm using Boy Scouts for example, when we used to go camping its no telling how many coins I dropped, or how much stuff we threw into the campfire. I even lost a pocket knife or two on occasion. So think about 1500 plus men doing the same thing even if for one night. There will be relics there to find esp. if the ground has not been disturbed much. Another thing to consider if the soldiers knew that they were going on a long march they would lighten there pockets expelling bullets, shedding coats in the summertime and etc... I have found some good stuff on road beds where a whole regiment just stopped to rest for a few minutes and they emptied there pockets. I guess the fun part with relic hunting for me is just trying to put together the puzzle. But, to answer your question I would definitely hunt any suspected campsites and hunt them slow.
 
Thanks. Will do. I think my lack of success has deterred me from doing this more. The few places Ive tried, the land owner in each case said others had looked before to no avail. I'll give it another go. Maybe one day i will hit an undisturbed hot spot.
 
1 Night Campsites

That sounds just like my story here lately. It seems every spot I try has either been hunted or I come out empty handed. I guess you have got to just try again and again until finally one day you stumble upon that "secret spot" that yields some great relics. Good Luck!

P.S. I just wanted you to know that you aren't the only one that gets disgusted.
 
I look at it this way. If a spot was good for a one night camp, it will be good for a lot of one night camps over the four year period the war was waged.

Keep on diggin'

jimmyk in Missouri
 
Believe me there will be stuff there. I don't care how many times it has been searched in the past some things are still underground. To find the campsite turn your discrimination OFF. After identifying the site if you want to cherry pick the brass and lead turn the discrim back on. I have never seen anyplace that either of the armies visited that was not loaded with nails, tacks, and miscellaneous pieces of iron. As someone else told you......HUNT SLOWLY and then come back and post photos of what you found. Good luck.
Ron
 
Ok, to continue the subject. One area in particular. Is, near a Creek X. Driving by the location, i said, voila, that's the perfect location for a camp. Nice rise of ground adjacent to the creek. The owner asked me where i thought the camp was. I pointed to the area. He told me no one has been able to find any signs of a camp. I looked and found nothing of the period.

Is it possible they were further back off the creek? The other option is that they were on the other side of the road, which i have not searched. The terrain is a bit flatter than the other side. I haven't received permission to search yet, but I'm going to try. They have cattle in that field, so it may be a problem.

The OR's say in one instance, that they camped on both sides of the creek. I have searched the other side somewhat. It is now heavily forested and is fairly low lying and wet.

Are there any general rules for which area to search 1st, with priority? Like, 50 yards distance from creek and 100yards off the road.
 
sometimes reference maps and historical markers are off by as much as a mile. I would go over the area with my detector with all of the discrimination off to see if I came across a iron. If you encounter old square headed nails and tacks you are probably in the site! What time of year was it when they were there? Maybe the low lying area was dry when the troops were there. Check both sides of the road. I think you said 1400 men camped there. They probably covered as much as 10 to 15 acres, maybe even more.
What kind of detector are you using? Have you used it for relics before?

Ron
 
Its actually probably closer to 14,000 than 1400. The march was in winter. I understand maps can be off, but i know where the actual creek is. So Ive got that reference, and the road according to the someone who's family has been there over 100 years, is in its same track. But, i do need to expand my search.
Ron said:
sometimes reference maps and historical markers are off by as much as a mile. I would go over the area with my detector with all of the discrimination off to see if I came across a iron. If you encounter old square headed nails and tacks you are probably in the site! What time of year was it when they were there? Maybe the low lying area was dry when the troops were there. Check both sides of the road. I think you said 1400 men camped there. They probably covered as much as 10 to 15 acres, maybe even more.
What kind of detector are you using? Have you used it for relics before?

Ron
Click to expand...
 
Night campsites

On the subject of one night campsites;I think it depends on what was happening.
Example;when the Confederates pulled back to consolidate their lines they made a night march,in pouring rain,from Lost Mountain,Ga. toward the newer Mud Creek line,on the Powder Springs Road.
Numerous accounts by Confederate soldiers mention the utter misery of this particular march,though no so much a long march in distance.What made it memorable to them was that the single road was alost knee deep in red Georgia clay and even horses died trying to pull guns through the bottomless red mud.
Several units went ahead and had a hasty night bivouac bordering Powder Springs Road since movement was stop & go all night.
They pulled out and continued on before daylight.
At this place so many bayonets have been found(dozens & dozens)it is pretty obvious all those bayonetts got left(in the dark)when hasty shelters of groundsheets & blankets were taken down and movement continued in the darkness.
this is one example I know of where an abundance of stuff(mostly bayonets)got left by troops moving in darkness and pouring rain...
 
This sounds like a similar scenario. This particular march was part of Shermans march from Vicksburg to Meridian and back again. It was winter and no tents were taken. They slept on blankets under the stars.

I still haven't been back to this particular spot (or anywhere lately), but i cant for the life of me figure out why nothing has been found. Guess i need to hot the opposite side of the road or, further back from the creek.
 
CC68 said:
This sounds like a similar scenario. This particular march was part of Shermans march from Vicksburg to Meridian and back again. It was winter and no tents were taken. They slept on blankets under the stars.

I still haven't been back to this particular spot (or anywhere lately), but i cant for the life of me figure out why nothing has been found. Guess i need to hot the opposite side of the road or, further back from the creek.
Click to expand...

Hunting the "opposite side"might be a good idea.
I recall some Middle Tennessee diggers that were looking for a Confederate camp.
They just could'nt find it but knew they were in the right area.
I suggested they look on the NORTH side of stone walled fields that were bordering the search area.They had been hunting the South side area and were finding nothing.
What they had'nt realized was that prevailing winter wind came from the SW and those Confederate infantry were pitched up to the Northward.(they had assumed the cold came from the Northward)
After that-they found ALOT of relics.
Pay attention to what weather was doing at the time and where you're at...
 
Curios. Why did they concentrate on one particular side???
J.A.Morrow said:
CC68 said:
This sounds like a similar scenario. This particular march was part of Shermans march from Vicksburg to Meridian and back again. It was winter and no tents were taken. They slept on blankets under the stars.

I still haven't been back to this particular spot (or anywhere lately), but i cant for the life of me figure out why nothing has been found. Guess i need to hot the opposite side of the road or, further back from the creek.
Click to expand...

Hunting the "opposite side"might be a good idea.
I recall some Middle Tennessee diggers that were looking for a Confederate camp.
They just could'nt find it but knew they were in the right area.
I suggested they look on the NORTH side of stone walled fields that were bordering the search area.They had been hunting the South side area and were finding nothing.
What they had'nt realized was that prevailing winter wind came from the SW and those Confederate infantry were pitched up to the Northward.(they had assumed the cold came from the Northward)
After that-they found ALOT of relics.
Pay attention to what weather was doing at the time and where you're at...
Click to expand...
 
hunting the wrong area

Well,they had been hunting the wrong area because it had'nt occured to them which side was windward...
They hunted "southward"of stone walls lining the area but that was an area "into" the prevailing weather(from the S.W.)
The troops were actually pitched up to the Northward of the walls(to escape most of the wind & weather)
They had originally thought the troop areas were in the "sunny south side" area...
 
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