Question for the MD gurus

[Bounty Hunter]

Question for the MD guru's

First off- lemme say hello. Been lurking for a while (first post).

Maybe kind of a vague question but I am curious. When hunting an area that has seen some history (Revolutionary or Civil war for example) how far away from the main sites can you reasonably expect to find items? I know you can dig up maps that locate main battle sites fairly easily, but do you have to be on the actual field of battle to find anything worthwhile?

I know the closer you get the better the odds of finding stuff, but I am assuming that it would be pretty much impossible to document every campsite, trail or pigpath that was used.

 

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[omnicognic]

Re: Question for the MD guru's

Imagine yourself 200 yrs from now seeking artifacts from a historical place known as the magic kingdom.(Disney World) How far from the actual castle would you find Disney relics? The answer is that in Orlando, it's almost impossible to dig without finding something with a Disney character on it. As you move away from Orlando they become harder to find. CW battlefields would of course have relics, but as those historic centers become hunted out, then the outskirts become more productive by comparison. Welcome to the forum! Happy Hunting! omnicognic 8)

 

[stoney56]

Re: Question for the MD guru's

Omni has a very good point. Remember that most of the soldiers in the Civil War marched to the battlefield. For one, the officers didn't want their men so worn out from walking as to be so tired to fight. Two, having reinforcements come up quickly from the reserves. Three, and probably most important, the campsite would have been on higher ground and easier to repel attack but needed to be an area with a good supply of water.
Look closer at the maps of battle sites and see if they show a bivuac area and see what they all might have in common. Look for troop letters to home for little tidbits of information. Also remember that they needed to be rresupplied and the only way to do that was by wagon. The wagons definitely left more than a pigpath or slight trail if they traveled often through the area.

 

[dano91]

Re: Question for the MD guru's

Find the area you like and then look around and find the lowlying areas that would have been used for travel, deer trails ,along creeks,
Also high ground areas that would have been used for defense. Then look everwhere else lol unlikely places sometimes pay off best.

 

[stoney56]

Re: Question for the MD guru's

I believe you can find a fair amount of info from here.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/collections/civil_war_maps/
Research is aways the best starting point.

 

[mvSWAT]

Re: Question for the MD guru's

While a known battlefield would be prime, most likely it would be off limits. There were lots of skirmishes that never made the history books. Campsites would also yield nice finds. There are plenty of areas outside of state regulated historic sites that are privately owned.Seek and ye shall find.

 

[alabamadan]

Re: Question for the MD guru's

I read that General Sherman rested his troops for 10 minutes every hour when the marched. I think they covered an amazing 20 miles a day. That's twenty places a day where they stopped and rested, possibly dropping things! Heck, people could've just got tired of carrying things and threw it down.

 

[fishercz20]

Re: Question for the MD guru's

Now if you can locate where they camped for the night, which alot of times was near water, river or lake, they would tend to throw their garbage down ravines or along side hills toward the rivers and lakes just off the camp sites.

 

[ericwt]

Re: Question for the MD guru's

Look at the books written by people who served in the Civil War. They will talk of training camps that they learned how to shoot the musket and the cannon. Also these areas had trash dumps. They often trained for weeks or months. A good deal of them are on private property.

Also look for retreat routes. If they were in a panic they often dropped anything they did not need at that second.

I found a place by going to a second hand store. They had some buttlets and cannon balls. I asked where they got them and they gave me directions and the landowners name. Your people skills can pay of big.

Ericwt