A couple of weeks ago I made a post on the Civil War forum about hunting Civil War relics at Prairie Mount, an old townsite that had troops passing through it on a regular basis during the Civil war and also had a running battle between Nathan Bedford Forrest's troops and William Smith's Union troops go through it. Colonel Jeffrey Forrest, Nathan's younger brother, was killed at Ivey's Hill just west of Prairie Mount during that battle. Prairie Mount wasn't much of a town at it's peak, according to Earl Anderson, the landowner, it had two stores, a stagestop, a livery stable and a few houses, and it gradually died out after a railroad was built a few miles east of it. He also said the last two houses were torn down in the early 1950's. The only indications anything had been there was the old road bed, two cemeteries, depressions where wells had been filled in and scattered bricks from the house chimneys. One of the signals I dug during the first hunt there was an old style womans gold wedding band, similar to the one my mother wore, that was maybe five inches deep and about 15 feet from the old road. I wrapped it in a paper towel, put it in the glove compartment of my truck and stopped by the land owners home to give it to him but no one was home.
I took it back the next time we went and not long after we got there a group of about 15 people came riding up on horses. One of the guys, who turned out to be Earl Anderson Jr, said his dad owned the land and asked if we were finding anything. I told him we hadn't found much, but I had something in my truck I had found he might be interested in. When he saw it he asked where I found it, so I walked over to where it was found and pointed out the spot. He got a funny look on his face and said, "You ain't gonna believe this, but my grandmother was born, raised and lived in a house after her and grandpa got married that was right here, where you found the ring", and then said he would bet it had belonged to her. When his father saw it, and was told where it was found, he also said it had to be his mothers ring. The last time we hunted there the son came by and said he had the ring sized to fit his wife and it would always be a cherished prize in his family. Whether the ring was actually his grandmothers or not is open to question, but both he and his father believed it was and both were thrilled to have it.
I took it back the next time we went and not long after we got there a group of about 15 people came riding up on horses. One of the guys, who turned out to be Earl Anderson Jr, said his dad owned the land and asked if we were finding anything. I told him we hadn't found much, but I had something in my truck I had found he might be interested in. When he saw it he asked where I found it, so I walked over to where it was found and pointed out the spot. He got a funny look on his face and said, "You ain't gonna believe this, but my grandmother was born, raised and lived in a house after her and grandpa got married that was right here, where you found the ring", and then said he would bet it had belonged to her. When his father saw it, and was told where it was found, he also said it had to be his mothers ring. The last time we hunted there the son came by and said he had the ring sized to fit his wife and it would always be a cherished prize in his family. Whether the ring was actually his grandmothers or not is open to question, but both he and his father believed it was and both were thrilled to have it.
