In Va., a Vanishing Era Civil War Relic Hunters Running Out of Relics -- and Places to Look

By Chris L. Jenkins
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 24, 2002; Page B01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37414-2002Apr23.html

With metal detectors, shovels and a pack of smokes in their hands and a vision of El Dorado in their heads, they were looking for a bullet, a button, a belt buckle -- anything that would connect them with
the Confederate or Union soldiers who camped on the open field near Manassas 140 years ago.

But the developer who owned the swath wouldn't let John Blue and his crew mine the land, forcing them to a smaller plot a half-mile north. To make matters worse, there already were a handful of relic
hunters on that plot before Blue arrived. After a few hours, the morning's yield amounted to a melted bullet encrusted in mud.

"Ten, 15 years ago you could go out to a site around here and find all kinds of stuff," said Blue, 29, who has been hunting in the fields of Prince William and Fauquier counties and Manassas since he was a
child. "You come out here now, and first you have to find a place, then you have to worry about whether there's anything actually left, because so many people are hunting out there now."

Such experiences are becoming more and more common for many Civil War relic hunters, who spend their weekends searching for weapons and personal effects from Northern and Southern troops.
Veteran hunters say suburban Virginia and Maryland, once considered a region of riches for anyone with a metal detector, are starting to yield fool's gold -- or no gold at all -- as development overtakes the
sites where hundreds of thousands of troops left behind hundreds of thousands of mementos.

Many wonder about the future of the somewhat quirky pastime that has been part of the fabric of the region for generations.

"It's basically the law of diminishing returns," said Jimmy Wilson, 62, who has been strapping on his metal detector for more than 35 years and owns a coin and relic shop in Manassas. He is fond of telling
stories about how 25 years ago, Fairfax County was like the Emerald City, where a rare belt buckle or artillery shell were common finds.

"It's over up here in Northern Virginia and anyplace like it," Wilson said. "Fairfax used to be a gold mine with all the places you could go. Look at it now. You'd have to go nearly another 30 miles to find
anyplace good."

Many enthusiasts also are finding that developers are becoming more and more wary that hunters might find something significant -- and throw them off schedule. Several years ago, for instance, the
construction of a McDonald's outside Manassas was delayed for months because hunters found nine Confederate graves that had to be studied by experts.

"A lot of companies are really concerned with relic hunters, because it might slow up business if they find anything," said Steven Sylvia, publisher of North-South Trader's Civil War magazine, an industry
publication. "Negotiating has become harder and harder.'

At the same time, hunters say they have become victims of their own success. Competition from rising numbers of amateurs makes it more difficult to find the dwindling crop of historical treats.

And every once in a while, a loyal farmer who once let hunters onto private land will no longer let them, pestered one too many times by a renegade hunter who disturbed the farmer's property.

"What's kind of ironic is that the interest has grown in relic hunting, but the opportunities just aren't there like they used to be," said Preston "Toby" Law, 68, who for 34 years has mined the fields near
Sharpsburg, Md., looking for campsite leftovers from soldiers who fought at Antietam. He also has hunted much of Frederick County, where the Battle of Monocacy was waged in 1864.

"I never would have imagined when I started that there would be so much interest in digging around looking for stuff from the past," he said.

Several dozen Web sites are available where relic buffs can hawk artifacts pulled from the ground -- and where a Mississippi militia button can sell for $600. At a recent convention of relic hunters in
Chantilly, 2,000 people came from across the South, Maryland and Pennsylvania to sell their finds and share experiences.

"When we started our organization 30 years ago, we barely had half a dozen people," said Robert Buttafuso, president of the Clifton-based Northern Virginia Relic Hunter Association and author of "Civil
War Relic Hunting, A to Z." "Now we have hundreds of members, and people don't seem to be letting up.

Hunters have never been popular among archaeologists and federal authorities. Archaeologists often say that hunters disturb historic grounds that should properly be studied by experts. Federal law prohibits
relic hunting in national parks, particularly those set aside to commemorate Civil War battles. In addition, Maryland and Virginia have laws against relic hunting on state-owned sites.

Over the last decade, however, some relic hunters, archaeologists and park officials have worked together on excavations on private property and federal lands. Some archaeologists say that may become
one of the few ways hunters will be able to practice their craft as development encroaches and landowners become more skeptical.

"They very well may be a doomed species," said Bob Sonderman, an archaeologist for the National Capital Region of the National Park Service, adding that stiffer rules for hunters on federal lands are likely
to be instituted this year. "After a while there's no more places to go, and with the exception of working with the Park Service, that may be it."

In addition, several landowners say they have stopped letting hunters onto their property because they don't know whom to trust. Although they say most hunters follow the sacred rules of digging -- giving
advance notice, refilling holes when they are done and chatting amiably about what they found -- every once in a while, they find garbage, torn-up sod and people using their property to get on federal land.

"There was a time when maybe two or three people would come up a month," said Roger Lancaster, who recently sold a farm outside Frederick where troops who fought at Antietam also had fought. "But
you keep getting people over and over again, and I finally said that's enough."

In the meantime, hunters say that all they have left is their creativity -- not only in finding relics but also in researching where land is still open.

"It's always a search, no matter what . . . whether you're looking for relics or looking for land," Blue said. "Maybe that why I still do it . . . and that's part of the fun."

© 2002 The Washington Post Company

Carl Steen
Archaeologist
The Diachronic Research Foundation
PO Box 50394
Columbia, SC 29250
Web Site: http://diachronicresearch.com