| When it comes to Civil War activity, the state of
Virginia. was camped on, fought on, marched and skirmished on so much, that it
would be hard to find an area where you can say with absolute certainty
that no relics could be found. Therefore if you own a metal detector in
Va. you will probably be a relic finder even if you didn't set out to be
a relic hunter. If you bought a detector to hunt the yards of old 18th
and 19th century homes for coins and jewelry, chances are , if troops
were in the area they probably visited or camped around these homes, so
you're still liable to find bullets, buttons, or some kind of brass
relic from the Civil War. |
Once you get seriously into relic hunting, you'll
also get serious about learning C.W. history.
(probably never paid much attention to it in school), that means reading books. letters, diaries,
maps, anything that tells of camp sites, battles, troop movements, etc..
Then getting out in the field to locate and confirm your information.
For example, here in central Va. the armies of both North & South spent
the winter camped along the opposing sides of the Rapidan & Rappahannock
rivers. By studying and exploring, you can locate the camp sites, actual
river crossing sites, and other smaller areas , not always mentioned in
any records. Problem is, after all this work , you probably will find
you weren't the first one to do this, when you see shotgun shells piled
around tree stumps, potted meat, and sardine cans, you'll know you're in
the right place, just a little late.
Now is when slow careful hunting with a better suited detector than what the earlier hunters had
available to them will pay off. I have never seen a camp site or battle
area that was "hunted out" to the point where I couldn't find a few more
deep bullets, buttons, or even larger relics still in the ground. But
the success or satisfaction of a days hunt is not judged strictly by
the amount or value of relics dug. It's a "state of mind" feeling you
get when you've stood in the actual camp sites, walked in the trenches,
and envisioned how the soldiers felt during the events that happened
there over a hundred years ago. This is a much stronger connection and
feeling than any tourist can get by standing on National Park property
with the nice clean reconstructed trenches and pretty signs to explain
it to them.
A relic hunter will also dig coins, rings, jewelry, etc. in the normal course of relic hunting in certain areas , but I think
It would be very hard for a relic hunter to move to a state where no
C.W. activity took place and have to become a coin & jewelry hunter only.
However on the other hand, if a coin hunter had the chance to do some
relic hunting and get interested in C.W. activities, they might get
hooked on a whole new world of detecting. I guess when the GNRS comes to
Va. in Oct. , we'll find out if there's anyone who has never dug a
C.W. relic, just how they feel when they hold in their hands a button or
bullet that was last touched by a soldier 130 some years ago . Might
be habit forming-----DC
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