How Do I know I’m Close ?

Hi folks, in this month’s article, we are going to talk about narrowing down your search areas as well as what are the tell tail signs that I’m close to a military camp. I get a lot of questions asking, "where do I start? " Or "What kind of research do I need to be using?" Well I hope to give a few ideas that I use that help me in locating a starting point.

I use 2 books when searching for a starting point. You will need to get these 2 books and use them to your advantage. Each book has its special function, just as tools do. The first book you need is a "county" or "parish" historical book. Why? well, most accounts of the actual history within ones county has been written in this book. Most of the information is correct, however, there are those that re-write history to gain fame and glory and is actually fairy tale. If a copy of this county historical book was written earlier in the years say around the 1930's -40's, these are the best, as there wasn’t much incentive for gaining glory over past events as today, and I have found that information to be more true than the today’s books. In this book you will read all sorts of past historical accounts. Keep a keen eye open for the words, Major, Colonel, & Captain especially in the early accounts of history within your county. These fellas lived in your county, and I guarantee they had soldiers with them. Find their home site, and you will find relics!

The second book you will need to get will be "The Back Roads Map Book." This is a big map book that breaks down the state that you reside in. It shows cemeteries, creeks, rivers, and today’s roads for accessibility. This map is also great for showing old towns and old names in it. This map book is my bible of relic hunting. You will never see me without it when searching for sites. This book gets all the credit for Camp Bowie 1837, Camp Crockett 1837, New Camp 1812, and over 30 other non named camps. Most bookstores carry this map book.

In the county historical book you will read about towns that had military activity, and it will give a location. This town will be on a creek or river. This book may also give another town just down river, or up river that was present as well during this time. This is where you must Jump! Two old towns on the same river that existed about the same time I guarantee there was a road that followed along the river or creek from one town to the next. The perfect ideal situation to run across, is a town that is about 30 - 40 miles apart from the next town along the same route. Why? Well most will never make that march or ride in a day, and will have to make camp ;-). This is where the back roads map book comes into play, as it will show you the roads of today that can access the river or creeks in that part. The ideal road to look for is a road today that follows a creek or river. 9 times out of 10 that road is original. To sum this up, I look for 2 old towns on the same water way about 30 to 40 miles apart. I also look for the same situation with a today’s road that connects the two towns. This means I have access by car to visually inspect the Good looking areas, especially the ridges and draws. It doesn’t get any better than this type of situation.