Possiable Battlefield access

[core028]

Hello all. I have located the main site of a small battle that took place in my town during the civil war. There was alot of artillery rounds fired during this battle and to my knowledge no one has hunted this area in the past. The battle site is on property owned by a large corporation and I will know Monday if I have permission to hunt. My question is I want to find and catalog relics from the battle. I have plans to donate most of my finds to the local historic center. Does anyone have any advise, or experience on donating finds to a museum. Thanks for the help.

[relicreb]

Good Luck, I hope you do get the chance to hunt this site. There are very few undiscovered or unhunted sites left in Tenn. If you are planning on donating you items to a museum, take a lot of pictures of your items, make sure each item is clearly marked with your name and the date donated to the museum. Also keep a small notebook with the location, date, and a brief description of each item found. Have a written agreement with the museum that if the museum closes the items would be returned to you. Also set a future date that the items will be returned to you. If not you might see your items show up at a surplus artifact auction and you will never see them again or the money from the sale of these items. Good luck and keep us posted.
Relicreb

[core028]

Thanks for the advise. I think I have a really good chance at getting permission to hunt this site. I know its hard to find good civil war sites these days that are not protected or haven't been hunted clean. For some reason this battle has not been given much attention and there is not much info readily available. I guess the lack of attention is a good thing in regards to relic hunting.
I do plan to document as throughly as possible all my finds for historical purposes. I have some archaeological background, I took several archeology classes in collage, so that should come in handy. Anyway I will keep everyone up to date and will post plenty of pics, if I have any success. Thanks again

core028

[Cammy]

Also, you may want to "GRID" the site just for technical purposes. It's not hard at all. You can do this very easily with measuring, sticks and a string. Cheers !

[Comanchero]

Hello all. I have located the main site of a small battle that took place in my town during the civil war. There was alot of artillery rounds fired during this battle and to my knowledge no one has hunted this area in the past. The battle site is on property owned by a large corporation and I will know Monday if I have permission to hunt. My question is I want to find and catalog relics from the battle. I have plans to donate most of my finds to the local historic center. Does anyone have any advise, or experience on donating finds to a museum. Thanks for the help.

Core, I wouldn't donate anything to any museum or such. Even with "papers" there's a good chance anything of value will "dissapear" before you can ever reclaim it. Donating "junk" ya don't want is OK, of course. But either keepin valuable finds in your own possession or having an antique auction is the best bet nowadays to realize anything at all for all your hard work. Comanchero

[miata2k]

I'm not sure about relics, but my parents did donate a few paintings to a local art museum. They were able to get a tax write-off for the appraisal value of the art or a percentage of it, I'm not sure.

If you find something very valuable, have it appraised and look into donating it for a tax write-off. Also, be sure to have some sort of contract stating that the relics are on loan to the museum and are to be returned to you at XXX date or in the event of a museum closure.

M2k

[Comanchero]

Yeah Mia, I guess all you rich folks know all the ropes about squeezing our country outta every red cent you can! That way you also don't hafta care if the objects are missing, stolen, burned up or whatever, because you've done got your money outta the goods anyhow.
I still advise to trust NO ONE when it comes to anything valuable, if you're the average or poor person that's just getting by as it is, 'cause ya certainly don't have the means to go to court to reclaim anything, regardless of papers of writ, promise or what-ever. Comanchero

[rovnrbl]

Why don't you loan them the relics instead of donate - maybe for 6 - 12 months; see how it goes. If you're looking for artillery, unexploded shells probably 400 - 1200 yards beyond target area, maybe further.

[nahabit]

I would advise you to study maps of operations and as places of dispositions of armies. And to try to look for finds in deserted places.... Or if these places in national parks - that in the most distant places of this park... Being hidden and disappearing.... It is possible to try at night with a small lamp.... I hope you you understand about what I....Suddenly you will find several the soldier... 8)

[archmjr]

Gosh,

If getting you on the site has to do with you donating some then do it. You should get them back if you want them but donating, you are ok.

Archmjr

[diggummup]

Good Luck, I hope you do get the chance to hunt this site. There are very few undiscovered or unhunted sites left in Tenn. If you are planning on donating you items to a museum, take a lot of pictures of your items, make sure each item is clearly marked with your name and the date donated to the museum. Also keep a small notebook with the location, date, and a brief description of each item found. Have a written agreement with the museum that if the museum closes the items would be returned to you. Also set a future date that the items will be returned to you. If not you might see your items show up at a surplus artifact auction and you will never see them again or the money from the sale of these items. Good luck and keep us posted.
Relicreb

I think this is the best advice given.I might add that you get this "agreement" notarized.Also see if you can get your name in the museum with the relics.You know,"donated by Your name".A little recognition never hurts and just may help in the long run.Good luck and keep us posted. I just noticed the date of the original post.Did you ever get permission to dig this site?

[core028]

Thanks for all the good advise guys. Diggummup I will finally get the chance to hunt the battle site this weekend. I have been researching and thinking about hunting this site for over a year. Its finally good to get the chance to hunt a real historical place and not just old houses. The owners of the land that the battle took place on finally gave me permission a couple of months ago but I had to wait till deer season was over (January 15). The owner told me he knows for sure that no one has hunted this site for as long as hes owned the property. About 30yrs. I know its going to be really cold this weekend but theres no way I could sit at home after waiting this long.
This was a small battle, a few hundred on each side, but there was alot of artillery. The small amount of records that do exist about this engagement say that there was at least 300 rounds of artillery shells fired. I hope my research pays off not only for my benefit but for the benefit of finally locating the exact site.
I will keep everyone updated. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.
Thanks

[Jason in TN]

Good luck and keep us posted. As many of us relic hunters as there is here in TN I would be willing to bet that this site has been hunted. I hope it has not but there are little to no unhunted battle sites in TN that I know of. The best bet is to look for camp sites. Good luck and hope you find a bunch.

[JoeinMemphis]

How about an update??