Locating Civil War campsites

BureFreak

BureFreak

Established Users
I have been hunting for Civil War relics for just the last couple of years. One new challenge I have placed upon myself is locating the campsites of the soldiers. I collect books written during and right after the war. Some of them contain much information about campsites that the soldiers were at during certain points in the war. One similarity I have found, though, is these books tend to mention campsites by certain names that I assume they soldiers just named while they were located there. I try to use Google and whatever other resources I can find to help find more specifically where these locations are. Does anyone have a step that I am missing that I may consider using to help bring to life where some of these more unknown campsites that I read about may be? Any information would be much appreciated.
 
BureFreak,

I'm running into a similar problem. Except, I don't have the books like you are talking about. I'm using primarily the OR's to try and find new camps, or even camps that were found and hunted back in the '80's, etc. I'm not having a great deal of luck either. When I find references to a camp, I find that there's not quite enough information for the location.... without hunting over a 2-3 mile distance, for instance.

Dave Poche wrote a couple of magazine-sized handbooks that can help you locate possible campsites, but still there's gonna have to be legwork involved.... getting into the area....and asking any locals pointed questions, Hunting Lease owners.... if they've noticed old deep cut road beds, etc.

Even if I can't locate a "virgin" campsite, I'd love to find where others had got into one or two back in the '80's. I know the detector technology has improved enough that a few goodies should surely be found. Yet, I guess the ones that found and hunted these places have the same idea about getting back into them. Because even when asked about them, information is hard to come by. And, honestly, I can't say that I blame them..... they did thier homework in the first instance to locate them.... and are due the rewards.

I'm interested in what others may allow in regards to this post of yours..... I hope to learn from them on how maybe to find one of these places. Good luck and Happy Hunting!

Kim
 
cw campsites

This is from a relic hunter who has never found a "virgin site". I think I began this hobby a few years too late. I admire the persons who spent countless hours researching and locating these sites. I was fortunate to get some old road maps of this area and spend most of my time looking for the sites on these maps. A lot of personal diaries are at the local library and reading through these has helped to narrow the site. The OR is bookmarked on my computer and if you can find older persons who might recall bits of history this may help. Hope you have success in finding that site. I look forward to seeing what you dig up.
 
I think the books from the time make for good resources. Most of them contain first-hand accounts from the soldiers who fought. They get very detailed on where they were in many instances. I have had one area that I have had luck thus far with the books from the war, which was down around Wilson's Creek. I hit a small area that I had read about using context clues from three different books. I turned up several items including bullets, a buckle and a button. I'd like to try a little further north, now that I don't live in Springfield anymore. I'm hoping to find the exact locations of a few campsites I have read about in nearby areas.
 
There are multiple sources of information that can be used to identify possible camp sites. The Official Records are a very valuable resource, but many other resources are available on line, including Regimental histories, soldiers diaries, letters, maps and period newspapers.

I am researching all of the military traffic that passed through Gibson County located in West Tennessee. The junction of the Mobile & Ohio and Memphis & Ohio railroads occurred at Humboldt, a small town in the southern end of the county. The Mobile & Ohio was an important railroad for many of the major military campaigns. The railroads in Gibson County were the focus of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's two raids in West Tennessee. Forrest's damage to the railroads and the disruption it caused to the flow of Union men and materials to the south, were one factor in Gen. Sherman's decision to "live off the land" on his march to the sea through Georgia.

Here is an example of some of the information I have gleaned from various sources. The withdrawal of Gen. Polk's Confederate forces from Columbus, KY in the spring of 1862 followed the line of the Mobile & Ohio south to Corinth, Mississippi. Union forces then advanced along the same railroad, repairing it as they moved south. One of the advance guard units was the 7th KS Cavalry (Jennison's Jayhawker's) whose jayhawking activities first used during the Kansas-Missouri border wars, became accepted Union army behavior. Col. Daniel Anthony, brother of the famous Susan B. Anthony, was in command of the regiment as it advanced south from KY into TN. This regiment was attached to Gen. Robert Mitchel's brigade tasked with repairing the railroad damaged by the Confederates as they retreated south from Columbus, KY.

On June 10, 1862, Anthony wrote a letter from Camp Etheridge, TN. He detailed his regiments movements from Leavenworth, KS through Columbus, KY into TN. On June 20th, he wrote another letter from Camp Etheridge describing it as near Dresden, TN. The official records note that Gen. Mitchell's brigade camped on a near Union, TN on a farm belonging to the mother of Hon. Emerson Etheridge.

Emerson Etheridge was a lawyer from Dresden, TN, who had been a two term Congressman from TN and was a staunch Unionist. In April of 1861, Etheridge made a speech at Trenton described by Robert Johnson, son of Andrew Johnson, Lincoln's later Vice-President, that he described as "the most bitter speech ever heard to fall from the lips of man". When Etheridge attempted to speak later at Paris, TN, it caused a riot. At the time of that Gen. Mitchell's forces were camping on his mother's farm, Etheridge was the Clerk of the House of Representatives in Washington, DC.

There is no doubt that Camp Etheridge was located on or near the farm of Etheridge's mother. An April 10, 1862 issue of the Davenport, Iowa "Davenport Daily Dispatch" noted that Etheridge's residence was located 35 miles southwest of Hickman, KY. Federal Population census records document that Etheridge's father and mother resided in the Civil District located at the southwestern corner of Weakley Co., TN. Etheridge is buried in a cemetery located along the road which connects Dresden to Kenton, TN, which was one of the stations along the Mobile & Ohio Railroad. The camp on this farm would have had easy access to the railroad. The Etheridge farm lay somewhere along this road. Further research into County deed records could better approximate the location of this farm. Due to the number of troops that camped there, it might be a site worth investigating.
 
C'lab,

Good stuff, fella. You are doing one heck of a job researching that area. I bet it will lead to some very nice recoveries. Have you narrowed it down far enough to get into the area and ask the old-timers and locals about any info. they may have?

Good luck,

Kim
 
To my great regret, I have been able to act on my research. From Florida, my access to Weakley Co., records is limited and I do not get back to Tennessee very often. My family comes from Gibson County, so I am very interested in any activity that occurred in this area. My "avatar" is an image of an ancestor, Nathaniel Montgomery Hale, Sgt., Co. "H", 12th TN Infantry raised in Gibson Co. His brother, Green Lewis Franklin Hale, was a private in the same company and was killed at the Battle of Belmont, MO on November 7, 1861, while attached to the forces of Gen. Leonidas K. Polk surrounding Columbus, KY.

My research has also identified another area that might be worth checking out. In Gibson County, the line of the Mobile & Ohio moved south from the town of Humboldt to Jackson in Madison Co. References to skirmishes at the "burnt bridge" in the Official Records are references to a bridge crossing the North Fork of the Forked Deer River south of the town of Humboldt. The course of this small river has not changed much since the Civil War. I believe the current Illinois Central Railroad line follows the old line of the M & O railroad south of the town toward Jackson. There were several skirmishes with Union troops and the forces of Nathan Bedford Forrest associated with this bridge. Somebody really should be checking this site. I would love to do so, but don't have the time to get there in the near future.
 
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