About Us

Charlie and Teresa Harris

I have have been Civil War Relic Hunting in the southeast, primarily in Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama since 1968, when I thought all the major finds had already been made. Since that time I have found many good Confederate and Yankee belt buckles, seven rifles, five revolvers and well over 100 artillery shells. I guess that I have been granted a curious mind by my maker and have always wanted to know what something was, how it was made and what makes it tick.

I have written over 100 Civil War articles for Treasure, Treasure Search & Treasure Found until the series was sold and went under. Evidently this is how I evolved into being the Question & Answer editor for the great magazine, American Digger. My theory to life has always been “If I can help someone else with an ID or something similar, the effort is more than worth the trouble.” This resulted in my first book Civil War Relics of the Western Campaigns, 1861-1865, which has become one of the standard reference works on the Civil War with over 1500 photographs of relics. After 4 printings it is, at present, out of print. A second volume, or rather a similar volume, is hopefully going to be released in 2010. Similarly, I have co-authored with Butch Holcombe, the publisher of American Digger Magazine, the true but humorous book about Relic Hunting, Never Mace a Skunk II, The Legends Continue. Also hopefully to be released in 2010 will be The Lookout Mountain Cave Guns which covers the whole story of the recovery of nine long guns from a cave on the side of Lookout Mountain Tennessee in 1931. The story delves into the “How Comes” they were there, what happened to them and how five of the nine have gotten back together again. Often humorous, but a wonderful example of the relics telling their history to all who will listen.

My wife, Teresa, collects baby bottles and infant feeders and her collection ranges from the early 1700s up through the 1960s. Because of a self-defense mechanism and because the prices of purchased Civil War relics has grown too fast I have been appointed the national editor of the Baby Bottle collectors association, American Collectors of Infant Feeders (ACIF). Their quarterly newsletter, (magazine) Keeping Abreast, usually runs 60-65 pages. As Teresa says, “We live in a museum, it’s just called home.” and we’ve been told that our security system might rival that of Fort Knox.

Keep your powder dry, Charlie Harris

Teresa and Charlie Harris
Teresa and Charlie Harris

Civil War Relics of the Western Campaigns, 1861-1865
Never Mace a Skunk II