132 Year-Old Model 1873 Rifle Found Against Tree in Nevada

[jeff of pa]

Why can't I find one of those

 

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[Back-of-the-boat]

That's where I left it.

 

[EdwarDallas]

There is no way this is real.

 

[huntsman53]

That would be a heck of a find for anyone! It reminds me of the movie "Jeremiah Johnson" when he stumbles on to the frozen body of Hatchet Jack (another mountain man), clutching a .50 caliber Hawken Rifle in his dead hands. Jack's legs were broken while fighting a bear, and knowing he was going to die, Jack wrote a will giving his rifle to the first man who came across his corpse. Johnson gladly takes it for his own.

Many, many years ago and possibly before I was born (I am almost 62 now), my Dad and his first cousin were Squirrell hunting along Bull Run Creek (not associated to the Battle of Bull Run) here in East Tennessee and found a Rifle and what was left of it's bayonet (dating from the Civil War) about 6 foot up in a tree. It was grown right into the tree at the center of the trunk and could not be removed. Dad said that it was apparent that one soldier was charging another soldier with the bayonet attached and inadvertently rammed it through what was probably a small tree at the time of the Civil War. The soldier either could not get it out of the tree or was killed about the same time. Dad had always intended to take me there to show me the rifle but the property had changed hands since the find and was posted for as long as I can remember.


Frank

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

That would be a heck of a find for anyone! It reminds me of the movie "Jeremiah Johnson" when he stumbles on to the frozen body of Hatchet Jack (another mountain man), clutching a .50 caliber Hawken Rifle in his dead hands. Jack's legs were broken while fighting a bear, and knowing he was going to die, Jack wrote a will giving his rifle to the first man who came across his corpse. Johnson gladly takes it for his own.

Many, many years ago and possibly before I was born (I am almost 62 now), my Dad and his first cousin were Squirrell hunting along Bull Run Creek (not associated to the Battle of Bull Run) here in East Tennessee and found a Rifle and what was left of it's bayonet (dating from the Civil War) about 6 foot up in a tree. It was grown right into the tree at the center of the trunk and could not be removed. Dad said that it was apparent that one soldier was charging another soldier with the bayonet attached and inadvertently rammed it through what was probably a small tree at the time of the Civil War. The soldier either could not get it out of the tree or was killed about the same time. Dad had always intended to take me there to show me the rifle but the property had changed hands since the find and was posted for as long as I can remember.


Frank

Loved movie Jeremiah Johnson... You find strange things all the time when in the mountains.

 

[Peyton Manning]

would not be surprised to find T_H left it back when he trapped beavers

 

[huntsman53]

Loved movie Jeremiah Johnson... You find strange things all the time when in the mountains.

You've got that right! Many years ago, I took my Dad with me on a Ginseng hunting trip on private land at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. While high up on the side of the mountain and a long ways from any current homes or old homestead sites, I came across a very old grave complete with an unmarked Head Stone. I have often thought on whether this was the grave of a Civil War soldier, an East Tennessee Mountain Man who died while fighting Creek or Cherokee Indians or someone who died from a Rattlesnake bite or an attack by a Black Bear. One even wonders if this person may have known or fought Indians with Davy Crockett who roamed many of these mountains here, was born and lived for a time only some 40 to 60 miles away as the Crow flies. I guess I wonder on these things as a lot of my ancestors grew up and lived in the same areas that Davy lived and it is likely that some knew him personally. Even one of my great, great, great Uncles fought in the Mexican-American War, returned home only to fight in the Civil War for the North and died in a Confederate Prison Camp at Richmond, VA on July 1, 1864 while his brother and my Great, Great, Great Grandfather fought for the South and died on May 16, 1864 at the Battle of Drewry's Bluff in Chesterfield, VA. No matter who this person was that lies in the grave I found so many years ago, it makes one feel good that this person's companion or companions were good enough to dig this person a somewhat proper grave and bury them.


Frank

 

[TKgal]

I thought of the same movie when I read this.

 

[cw0909]

im not a gun expert, so why would this have been done to the rifle

Adding to the mystery, the gun’s lifter was removed so it was only capable of firing a single shot at once.

Mystery deepens: Who left 130-year-old rifle in NV desert? | Fox News

 

[UnderMiner]

im not a gun expert, so why would this have been done to the rifle


Mystery deepens: Who left 130-year-old rifle in NV desert? | Fox News

Very interesting new update to this amazing story.