Virgin Military Sites

I wanted to share a few things with everyone about these so called virgin military sites. I receive a lot of questions in the mail or by phone asking about these sites. I hope to use this column each month to help others interested in finding virgin military camps. A lot of folks think that the only camps that exist are the ones mentioned in our historical books, or books of research like the " War of the Rebellion". Well the fact is, the camps that have been documented in books, as well as in the war of the rebellion only add up to 10% of the actual camps that do exist. Not every camp was mentioned in writings or diaries. Some campsites were used for only an over night stay, but was used by everybody traveling that route over and over. One thing that 90% of all camps have in common is easy access to water. We drive cars today to get back and forth to
work or where ever we may go, the military uses jeeps, trucks, tanks etc. One thing for a fact, all these vehicles need gasoline to get from point A to point B. Now as we know, our highways are strategically made from city to city, almost always going the short route. While driving from
city to city, we will always find gas stations, if there wasn't any gas stations, we wouldn't get to far.

During the days of horse and buggy, the same applied, only they didn't have automobiles for travel. I still say if the confederates had one stinking Jeep, we would had won the war ;-) In the days of horses and buggies, the same routes were taken from city to city on the norm, however, with the lack of horse power, low land and muddy travel was avoided. Most roads of the olden days stayed to the high ground. Water in the old days was in fact fuel of the past. Without water, the horses would surely die. Without water man can survive, but back then, it wasn't like they could whoop out a nice 16 ounce cold soda from their rubber maid ice chest, no, they used these same watering holes to water themselves, can yaw imagine drinking water where your horse just filled his tank ;-( Well they did. Water , and high ground are the two major components in being successful in finding virgin military sites. 

There are different types of watering holes that needs to be looked at. Here's a great way to look at what would be a great place for a soldier to water his horse. When your out looking for these sites, envision yourself on the back of a mule, been riding for a while and your mule needs
watering, and needs a rest. Now if your on the back of this mule, your going to look for the EASIEST place to water your mule, right? right! Same as today with convenient stores and gas pumps, oh yeah they through in the bread etc. etc. very convenient ;-) Well a steep bank of a
river is no good! Don't believe me? Try it ;-) walk a mule by the harness down the steep banks of a river. You will find this is not easy and not convenient. All rivers have sloughs or creeks that branch off. These places are ideal for watering, as most banks are not steep and on the norm,
you could water a horse without dismounting. Now this is convenient, and this is where you want to begin your search! 

Creeks back then may be nothing more than a dry swag in the earth today. I have found many sites at such places. With today's damming of rivers, it has altered our water ways from the ways they use to be, this is very important to remember when reading the land. Oak trees are
important, as they provided shade for weary soldiers. Hey we have air conditioning even in our cars, soldiers back then used umbrellas, and oak , pecan etc trees for shade to cool off. One thing I have learned, rivers for the most part were at one time much larger than they are today.
This is very important to remember. There's only one thing that makes a cannon or valley and that's water erosion. Try this next time out driving. Before approaching a river I would say a mile or so, keep an eye on the road. You will see the road descend downward before reaching
the bridge. Right at that moment, you are on the ridge. Right where the land starts to slope down is the actual ridge even if the river is 1/2 mile away, I bet back in the old days the river wasn't 1/2 a mile away ;-) This is the ridge I walk all the time, and it has paid off big time.

Next month I will share with everyone a few pics of the things that are tell signs your getting close to a camp site, and how to narrow your search areas down. Until then happy hunting. Larry Cissna---TR