Its a CIVIL WAR DOG TAG! Louisiana Pelican Button Stunner, Eagle, Bullets, Silver

[BuckleBoy]

Hello All,

I just don't know how to even process the hunt we had yesterday. I've found something that was a bucket list, Dream Find for me for 25 years-something that I thought I'd never, ever dig. As I'm still cleaning bullets and brass pieces that I dug, I felt that I just had to get this posted to share with all of you. Here's the video:



We got up early and went to a new field that we've been wanting to try out. The rains have been horrible here in Louisiana this fall, with many crop fields complete failures and the soybeans rotting in them because they couldn't get them out due to the mud. Sugar cane is about a month behind schedule and the yield is poor due to the weather. We were supposed to host a good friend from Kentucky to come dig with us and he had to cancel because it was a flood of rain and we would've been unable to dig at all! Well it was still nasty but we just couldn't stand it any longer, we just had to get out. After parking and walking through the muck for a mile we got to our field, almost worn out before we even started. I'd seen a trash pit there and thought it'd be nice to give it a try.

Turns out the pit was 1920-40s and we werent interested. After digging our butts off for two hours for junk I decided to take a random walk into the next field back. It was quiet, unlike the machine gun chatter of iron I'd been putting up with in the trash pit.

Getting a good beep (my second signal in that field!) I dug what looked like a gilded civilian flower button. I was pleased with it, thinking it was at least a good sign of something old in the area. But when I opened the clod for a closer look, I started to freak out. It was a BEAUTIFUL gold gilded Pelican Civil War button!!





Easily my finest condition Pelican button dug, this is the LA203A1 variety with the *SCOVILL, MF'G, CO* backmark.

Our digging went into overtime! Then the bullets started to come up. Mainly .69 cal round balls and buck from the "buck and ball" configuration rounds. Then I dug a flattened minieball and my buddy dug an eagle button:



Looked like a mixed-occupation site, North and South!

At this point we actually dug several coins--



first a Shield nickel for Shane, then one for me, then a wheat cent, a second Shield, and I got a fantastic high tone. Looking down I spied a Barber Dime poking out of the dirt. Beautiful 1905-O (not the micro-O variety, unfortunately).



Evidently a mixed site in terms of time period too! Funny thing happened when I thought I had another military button (laying face down in the mud). Picked it up and once I realized it was only the back the four letter words came out Plug your ears if u watch the video.

All the while we were digging buckshot and .69 cal balls, as well as some pistol bullets. (Ended up with a NICE pocket full of lead!)

Then I got this good tone and opened up the hole and saw what I thought at first was a Large Cent staring up at me:



Then I looked closely and noticed the gilding. So I started thinking "token." (This whole dialog that's usually in my head is actually coming out of my mouth in the video, which is interesting!). Then I flipped it over and saw this:



Which made me think "Abraham Lincoln Campaign Token" (my wife has dug one). But then I saw "War of 1861" on the token and it started to dawn on me that it MIGHT be a Civil War ID Disc!! My heart started racing!!



Turns out that's EXACTLY what it is! These were manufactured so they could be purchased by sutlers and stamped with soldiers' names so their bodies could be identified if they perished in battle. ("dog tags" as we know them were not standard military issue yet--and in fact these are the first dog tags in use).

Here's a link to a similar, dug one:

http://www.horsesoldier.com/products...qqnVbkntbQO8VM

And a blank, non-dug one (this is how mine would've looked when new, before it was stamped with the soldier's name):



https://historical.ha.com/itm/politi.../96061-27067.s

I raced home, hoping--PRAYING--that the stamped side of the disc would be legible. (They are often lightly stamped and fare horribly in the soil.) After some careful brain surgery with a wooden skewer, and photographing each step of the way, some letters started to come out. (For those of you who clean copper and brass items with water, if I'd done that here, EVERYTHING would've been completely lost!). Eventually the name and other details emerged.



This Yankee soldier's name was Thomas Mason. He was born in Bangor, Maine in 1838 and enlisted on September 20th 1862 as a private in Company G 41st Massachusetts Volunteers (designation changed to the 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry in June of 1863--and this unit designation is what his war records bear). He was a part of the 2nd Brigade of the Army of the Gulf and participated in the siege of Port Hudson where he sustained an injury that sent him home disabled. Thomas wasn't done with military service though. After 11 months recovery, he reinlisted in the 13th Regiment Veterans Reserve Corps (a Corps for those rendered unable to serve due to disease or wounds, but who could continue to serve in garrison or lighter duty). He was honorably discharged at the war's end in 1865. He continued to stay active in the Massachusetts G.A.R. and died in West Bridgewater Massachusetts on March 20, 1896 of bronchitis at the age of 58.

I honestly can't imagine his thoughts, after growing up in Maine, once he enlisted in the summer and they sent him straight to Louisiana. Louisiana is still like no other place in the world today--but in the 1860s I'm sure it was like a foreign country with the rain forest levels of precipitation, deep mud, the spanish moss, plantation homes, French and Spanish language spoken everywhere, mazes of bayous and swamps, nutria rats, gators, snakes and sweltering heat.

I am in awe and humbled to have been the first person to touch this ID disc 156 years after it fell from Private Mason's neck in a Louisiana sugarcane field.



Best Wishes,

Buckleboy

[GB1]

BANNER!! great start for 2019 !!

[billpa]

Some more great finds you dug there.That civil war dog tag looks like a banner find to me.

[dansalata]

dude.........tooo awesome......

[jewelerguy]

awesome!

[CoinHunterAZ]

Agreed, banner worthy. The story of the find, the story of the research after, all of it. That’s the find of a lifetime, well done and congrats!

[Blak bart]

Banner !! Too cool man.

[smokeythecat]

Awesome. I'd be happy with the button!

[Hawks88]

Great save. Great research and put together in a nice story. Congrats on all the nice finds. Definitely banner worthy.

[Lunch Bag]

Absolutely unbelievable find! Congratulations!

Could you please explain using the wooden skewer.

[BuckleBoy]

BANNER!! great start for 2019 !!

Thank you for the banner nomination. I am floating on cloud 9--or perhaps that's lack of sleep from researching this soldier's identity!

[BuckleBoy]

Some more great finds you dug there.That civil war dog tag looks like a banner find to me.

Thanks so much, Bill! My buddy said he thinks I have a horseshoe stuck up my @$$ but I think he's just saving up karma to dig the first gold coin between us!

[BuckleBoy]

Agreed, banner worthy. The story of the find, the story of the research after, all of it. That’s the find of a lifetime, well done and congrats!

Thank you so much, Coin Hunter!

[BuckleBoy]

Great save. Great research and put together in a nice story. Congrats on all the nice finds. Definitely banner worthy.

Thanks so much for the reply Hawks. I'm sooooo thankful that the stamped side was legible after being in a swamp for over 150 years!

[villagenut]

Banner....even if there were no banners that would be a prized find, nothing but awesome there.A hugh congrats on what will no doubt be up top soon.