In the Digger’s Own Words:
“Relics from 2nd Manassas Battle Camp
An old relic hunter, who now only hunts in his dreams, remembers these Texas and La. Buttons dug history as follows.
In the late 70’s my buddy and I, having read a diary, went to Manassas, Va. The diary led us to a camp occupied by the 1st, 4th, and 5th Texas under the command of Gen. Hood. The La. Troops, to the best of memory, were part of the 8th La. Tigers.
We found a gentle slopping hill with a field overgrown with grass and weed for the greater part. A couple acres adjacent to the field were in large trees and clear of debris, etc. Were the trees there 100 years ago? Our thoughts were “what the heck, let’s see what if anything is there.”
The first La. coat was dug within ten minutes. Three more were dug in a couple of hours. In between La. finds, my son dug a Texas cuff. Now that was humiliating! Neither my buddy or myself had ever dug a Texas.
Inspired by our humility, on our next trip, we brought weed whackers to the site. Over time the rest of what we considered camp was cleared of about 200 square feet at a time and hunted. This was a little tough on rainy days with the detectors wrapped in garbage bags.
Over the next weeks I personally found 15 La. and 7 Texas buttons. My buddy found as many or more buttons.
Sadly, the site is now covered with homes.