Official Records and value of Research

[Canewrap]

Has anyone located a site through the Official Records in the last couple years and then found a site that wasn't pounded into oblivion? I'm just wondering if the ORs are as valuable as they used to be. Since they've been used as a resource for so long, I was wondering if their value as a primary source hasn't diminished.

 

[Jigflipper]

I live in Northeast TN and have bought books and read books on the google site in the google books section ( It's a good source of info that is searchable and free. You can even set up to save the books in a library). The official records basically re-inforces what I read in books. I kind of use everything I can when I'm researching to help maximize results so I can't say the records alone have ever lead me to a virgin site. I've been fortunate enough to have friends that have welcomed me to their sites and have found a few places to hunt myself. I'm currently trying to pin down a camp site that I found an obscure passage in a diary, just one sentence about it. I can't find anything about it in the official records but I'm still checking everything before I start knocking on doors. It would definately help if there were detailed old maps of my area but if they exist I haven't found them yet. I reckon I use everything I can find to help me out. I don't know if this answered your question or not but it's how I do it. Good luck hunting....Flipper out.

 

[Canewrap]

Thanks JFlipper. I too, use a variety of resources and I just wondered how valuable the ORs have been to folks lately. I haven't found a good site yet (on my own) and a lot of my research has been through the ORs. However, most of the possibles have been disappointments because of land development, not because of being hunted out. I have a couple possibles down state and again I hope I'm not just on a wild goose chase. Anyway, thanks for answering and good luck to you !

 

[Jigflipper]

n/t

 

[ngrelic]

Hey Guys....I think that really all of the big winter camps in my area, NW Ga., have been found and hunted heavily. Not to say they are "hunted out" because you can still make finds if you are patient and careful. The O.R.'s are still a great resourse for finding small picket posts and one night stay over spots, which is what I am going to focus my research on and see what turns up. Good hunting and may God bless in the coming year.

 

[GRAY GHOST]

hi canewrap. urban sprawl is our biggest enemy - new houses, roads and subdivisions go up everyday. very few relichunters up this way i've heard of use the or's anymore. i live about 5 miles north of petersburg, va. and it's been pounded a lot too. it's hard to find a virgin spot, but theyr'e out there. most of the guys around here see a new road, new subdivions or a walmart going up, and immediately start following the dozers and detecting the site. dirt piles are the instant attraction. the google books feature jigflipper talked about is a great resource, as is your state's historical society civil war era map collections. both are free, and it might surprise you what the historical society has in maps. ours is just amazing. seeing and reviewing these old maps, and comparing them to newer maps will put you on the right path.
i gave up on going to the most obvious sites long ago; most have been pounded to death, and a lot are protected by the park service, so i can't go there. i quickly found that i find some good stuff near battlefields and water sources, and some were virgin sites. i'm always surprised at finding cw relics around old houses too. i've always thought that all ground is good ground. the ol' boys with the minesweepers back in the 60's and 70's beat us to a lot of the big brass relics [like beltplates] and shells. so, with all this in mind, wer'e always looking for anywhere to go in the area...exactly where really doesn't matter to us. nice relics are often found in the most unlikely places. we just get our coils to the ground anywhere we can.
canewrap, are there any big fields or woods near your house? try to hunt them and see what you come up with. old houses often give up a few relics too. your're in a prime civil war area, and so is jigflipper. don't forget that no one man or machine gets or finds it all. good luck my friend, and let us know how you do. hh,

 

[Jigflipper]

n/t

 

[Nemo]

There are 2 versions of the ORs on Google Books (An excellent research source I found a few months ago)

There is the 1899 version

and the 1902 companion.

Try the site out. Both volumes are keyword searchable.

Nemo