If my memory is correct I think the first live Cottonmouth I ever saw was at Fort Stewart GA, used to go there for summer camp with the National Guards.
If the area where you were frog hunting is anything at all like the area around Stewart I wouldn't call it being Chicken, just Smart.
Stan, your being downstream of the bomb plant, I'm surprised you didn't see two-headed gators and snakes.
Miller, I've hunted and fished Stewart since the 70's and it is ideal reptile habitat--sandhills with gopher tortoise burrows are made to order for snake dens and the swamps abound with gators and snakes. However, I rarely see snakes. I suppose it is because they don't want to be around me just as much as I don't want to be around them. I can count on one hand the number of venomous snakes I've seen at Stewart. Two basking cottonmouths during turkey season, last one two seasons ago, and a freshly shed timber rattler (canebrake) last month while mushrooming. My relationship with them was reciprocal. They left me alone and I them. I see gators most every time I cross the Canoochee bridges. As for snakes, I know they are there and govern my self accordingly and don't go in the woods without snake boots unless the weather is cold. Gil
