Union camps????

[SwampHunter]

I found out where a large Union camp is located. I haven't been to it physically as of yet. I plan on going within the week. The thing is they only camped here for a day. The force that came through was a whole army. From the reports I have the higher ups stayed in the houses and had a party out in the yard. It doesn't say what the rest of the troops did. I am guessing the whole army didn't pitch tents in the order of encampment since they weren't going to be here that long. I would suspect that the troops just filed off to the side of the road and bivouacked.

Anyone have any insight for looking for a day camp used by a large force?

[BuckleBoy]

Work outward from the road--if the road they traveled on is still there, or if you know where it is.

Pay special attention to water sources. With large forces, you can get in the ballpark and still score some nice relics.


-Buckleboy

[BamaBill]

This information is actually more valuable than you think. If you can find a period map or one that's within about 20 years of the war, you can then trace their movements and expect to find another camp 10 to 15 miles on (helps to know where they were going from here and why). When you do research on this group try and find out what their average marching distance was and use this to start your search out from this known day camp. Usually some of the hardest work in looking for camps is establishing where a couple of known camps were. Once you've done this you can start plotting the line of march and start looking for specific accounts of the unit(s) you're chasing. I know some guys that have given up on looking for camps and are looking for period homesites instead, because in a lot of cases looking for a camp is like hunting a needle in a haystack. Good Luck !

[MonkeyBoy]

I found out where a large Union camp is located. I haven't been to it physically as of yet. I plan on going within the week. The thing is they only camped here for a day. The force that came through was a whole army. From the reports I have the higher ups stayed in the houses and had a party out in the yard. It doesn't say what the rest of the troops did. I am guessing the whole army didn't pitch tents in the order of encampment since they weren't going to be here that long. I would suspect that the troops just filed off to the side of the road and bivouacked.

Anyone have any insight for looking for a day camp used by a large force?

..and once you find it.. survey the area and hunt the highest points around.. they would have posted pickets too.. 2 of the Eagle Plates I dug last year were from picket posts. I also found a bunch of pulled three ringers and some drops too.. all in a small area at the top of one hill over looking the road leading into the camp.

MonkeyBoy

[BuckleBoy]

I found out where a large Union camp is located. I haven't been to it physically as of yet. I plan on going within the week. The thing is they only camped here for a day. The force that came through was a whole army. From the reports I have the higher ups stayed in the houses and had a party out in the yard. It doesn't say what the rest of the troops did. I am guessing the whole army didn't pitch tents in the order of encampment since they weren't going to be here that long. I would suspect that the troops just filed off to the side of the road and bivouacked.

Anyone have any insight for looking for a day camp used by a large force?

..and once you find it.. survey the area and hunt the highest points around.. they would have posted pickets too.. 2 of the Eagle Plates I dug last year were from picket posts. I also found a bunch of pulled three ringers and some drops too.. all in a small area at the top of one hill over looking the road leading into the camp.

MonkeyBoy

I second the motion on picket posts! They were usually on high ground, or at least ground with a good view of the road or roads leading into the camp. You'll know them from the .69 cal ammo there, as well as the amount of pulled bullets. I have had a TON of luck with picket posts--of course in your case, the troops weren't there long. The best picket posts were spots that were in use during a winter camp. I have usually found that troops that were there for some sort of defensive purpose took the high ground for a camp or fortification, while those that were passing through usually camped on lower ground closer to a water source so as not to be that visible.

-Buckleboy

[SwampHunter]

I went up to the site today but didn't take the detector since I didn't have time to search it. I did get to survey the area though. During the time period the road ran north and south. At the house places there is a road the leads to the west and across a creek 1/2 mile from the houses. Most of the land is still natural except for a section south of the road next to the creek. This has been leveled. There were no high ridges along the road to the north and south. There is a high ridge on the east side of the creek on the north side. On the other side of the creek it drops off into bottomland.
The houses are a large plantation house with four smaller outbuildings out back. The smaller outbuildings appear to be the old slave houses. I know the command stayed in the main house. The troops very well could have camped along the creek or the might have just put down along side of the road. No telling since it was such a large force.