W.B.T.S. Battle of Brown's Mill, Newnan GA. 1864. Official Records stated that soldiers were buried on the battlefield, but the burial sites were never found. Last year several respected grave dowsers searched the site and found graves. The county, who owns and manages the battlefield park, who wanted more proof hired a trainer and her cadaver dogs to search the site. Without advance knowledge of where the dowsers located graves, the dogs identified the exact same locations as the dowsers. At one location was a mass grave roughly about 50' x 50'. The dogs circled the area then one dog sat on a corner of the perimeter and the other set diagonally across on the opposite corner. Several years ago, I took a dowsing class in Tennessee from a man who was a 40 year veteran of the art of dowsing. The State of Tennessee DNR trusts his findings more than GPR (ground penetrating radar)...
Decades ago, was asked to help Nebraska archeologists find the mass grave of immigrants who were burned by Indians in their wagon train at the little blue. We didn't have gpr, but gpr is the best technology to find burial sites. Dowsing rods believe it or not, are also a wonderful tool. They reached out to us since we located a pony express station which was nearly a mile off on the maps.
That is an important statement. OCTA has guidelines on how to investigate to respect and preserve. Jerry talks about ensuring you have the landowners permission on private property or work with the respective agency for public lands, that you don't remove artifacts, but record their location and finally that all excavations are performed under the supervision of the regulations of that jurisdiction and under the care of a trained archeologist. Thanks for emphasizing that.
I live in The Dalles, Oregon right on the trail. I’m 75 and have a great interest in the trail. I actually found the Cathleen Butts grave on the Meeks cut off.
Just some family history, my grand mothers' grand mother came to Oregon then Washington over the Oregon trail in 1862 as far as I can tell. I have the only thing left and it is a rocking chair which came with her. This is what I was told by my grand mother. I am 72 .
Near San Antonio was the Battle of Medina .They arent exactly sure were the battle took place.But they are looking for it.The Battle of Salado took place along Salado Creek.Across the creek on Holbrook which runs next to the battle field, is Victoria,s Black Swan Inn.The house was built in the 1850s ,1860s on the grounds of the battle field.The Black Swan Inn is haunted and has been on Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, and Sightings.
My mom lived at a Oakwell Farms and I drove past that house a few times. I liked to wonder down into the rivers and never went back to explore Salado Creek across the street from the Black Swan like I wanted to. After finding a haunted grave yard I can believe that house is haunted. Thanks for the reminder!
There’s a little girls grave in Wyoming that is on the Oregon Trail at the confluence of Coal Creek and South Piney Creek somewhere The sign says she drowned in an accident crossing Coal Creek in high water She was buried in a now unknown spot overlooking the creek Go find her
Looks like Cagney could be marking where the people died and became skeletons. The scents there would be stronger for decay than the burial site for the skeletons.
I wish you luck......I got stuck with a gpr unit but trained as a civil surveyor and I can tell you you are pissin in the wind with that gpr - a gpr is made to find underground utilities and that is completely dependent on the backfill... what is a shame is that people automatically believe that because something is called or named after a task it performs that it does it perfectly to their expectations - and they do not, whatsoever, the first gprs were 40k usd - now much less money but still effective for underground utilities, I still wish you luck and commend the operator to humor someones hobby because that helps everyone - ive found lots by digging deep doing sewer rehabs - and found lots of utilities by searching, sometimes maps are better but gpr can help - but it all depends on the backfill, and about a dozen or so of other variables.... rip to the pioneers and good luck to the keepers of the trail (it does look like a good place for an ambush)
My family all stopped in Mo! (From VA/KY)... but especially because of existing swales, and my neighborhood being the beginning of three trails (SantaCali-Gon), I respect the determination of these travellers. If I had been part, I would have died early on, from sickness or severe allergy. My parents would probably have made it, and most of my brothers. I've Driven cross country by car....7-11s were heavenly! I just cant fathom the despair mixed with determination of these courageous and desperate people. (Also live near springs, where they camped and watered before heading to Westport 😊. We played there often.
My family has a similar history - from Fluvana County, VA and then settled in Boone County, MO near Rocheport - they travled up the Boonslick Road in 1821. Do you have much history on their details?
Native Americans often maintain a durable oral history; it would be interesting if a liaison twixt the local Shoshone and researchers could be made, to hear what, if anything is known from the Indian account of this incident. Also: metal detectorists, what have found at this site? So many aspects of this incident are haunting to contemplate, staying with me for many days.
It would seem to me a drone would be very helpful if the grave was outlined with rocks. One question I have is this. The bodies were found in tall grass, that area doesn’t exhibit tall grass. Has it been grazed by cattle or sheep?
Was driving down a two-lane country road west of Des Moines, IA, years ago. The road went on for miles, and at one point passed a two-story farm house that was only maybe 100 years old. There in front of that house though was a crossroad, next to which where two small stones that marked the graves of a couple of sisters who had died on the trail west during the 1850's, according to the inscriptions. Two little girls all alone on the vast prairie. No other graves around them. Bizarre.
Have you researched information in either of the two books by Irene D. Paden? The Padens followed the various trails, researched journals, diaries, maps and letters of the pioneers and spoke with descendants and witnesses of the migration along the way for over 15 years. Their books may help you in your investigations.
@@octatrails I did. Just to confirm that there was virtually no point to this video. The story is very interesting, but......after that the video consists of people yapping at the camera and little else of substance.
They are just organic compounds and elements… whoever they belonged to is long gone , you know …DEAD. Who knows what happens when we die , but I’m pretty sure we don’t stay attached to our worldly bodies. But who know , I suppose I could be wrong ( but I’m probably not)
I understand the indians, it was THEIR land. Taken away from them and whilst they were hunting with respect for nature and their pray, they saw nothing but destruction done by settlers.
Because they quickly ruled out aliens, illegal migrants? Just gonna throw that out? Of course there is a "camp" that believes the white settlers themselves are illegal migrants, trespassing on the native lands? Anytime modern humans, (if you will) meet stone age hunter gatherers, well we all know the results! What is interesting, if first contact with the north and south american continents were today, you would not land to see a modern highway system, a space shuttle lifting off, think about that? But find a people unchanged, living the same way they did 509 years earlier, hell 800 years earlier! In direct answer to your question, I believe the remains at the time of discovery were riddled with arrows,
The emigrants of 1854 broke the trail on the new route and suffered from several attacks by Indians. In late August, a small wagon train was attacked a mile west of Little Camas Creek, killing three emigrants. The next day, the Ward wagon train was attacked along the Boise River near Middleton. Survivors state that they were attacked by Indians. A third attack occurred that summer on the final wagon train through, as the remains of a massacred wagon train were discovered in 1862 when the route was next utilized.
Cadaver dogs can detect human scent up to 15 feet deep and have identified remains 3000 years old. Their sense of smell is thousands of times more acute than a human.
See the Overland Journal, Vol. 30, No. 3 for the article "Locating the Grave of John Snyder." You can order the issue at www.octa-trails.org or, if you become a member of the Oregon-California Trails Association, you will have full access to over 40 years of the Overland Journal at www.octa-journals.org.
For more information, see also Overland Journal Vol. 36, No. 2 for the article "Starved Camp of the Donner Party" for more information on the work of cadaver dogs to find emigrant graves.
An accurate term for "complete destruction".....without consideration of the needs of emotional pampering for our overly sensitive viewers/readers.....
The indigenous people also fought , raided , raped and stole from other tribes all the time. Apparently it’s different when a tribe with lighter skin comes along and beats them at their own game? All the sudden everyone is offended 🤦♂️ Talk about hypocrisy and double standards.
