Civil War find today (I think)

[Poptopagain]

Today a good friend and I hit the private fields of a Western Maryland civil war battlefield and came up with a good find. This is a brass heel or toe plate from a shoe. (At least I think that it is...and I'm open to suggestions.) There are no markings on it other than the holes were tags went into the sole or heel.

I was located about four inches down using a White's XLT.

 

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[BuckleBoy]

Below is my 2008-09 collection. They are from old homestead sites. None of these should be considered strictly "Civil War" finds. They are civilian items, although soldiers used them too--much like common flat buttons or suspender clips. I enjoy finding them though, since they are old and they do have a story to tell.






Regards,



Buckleboy

My collection looks like yours B.B!!I dug over 30 of them at one site last year it must have been the camp cobbler!!!

Well, now that I've posted a photo of all of them, I guess I am vindicated for saving them all LOL.

 

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[kuger]

Below is my 2008-09 collection. They are from old homestead sites. None of these should be considered strictly "Civil War" finds. They are civilian items, although soldiers used them too--much like common flat buttons or suspender clips. I enjoy finding them though, since they are old and they do have a story to tell.






Regards,



Buckleboy

My collection looks like yours B.B!!I dug over 30 of them at one site last year it must have been the camp cobbler!!!

Well, now that I've posted a photo of all of them, I guess I am vindicated for saving them all LOL.

I like em,I always seem to find good stuff where they show up!!

 

[BuckleBoy]

I like em,I always seem to find good stuff where they show up!!

That's the truth, my friend.

 

[Elliott Ness]

I would agree with some of the previous post in regards to assuming that a certain finds may or may not be "Civil War" related, and I would also agree that these were used by civilians as well.

The only reason that I believe it may be related to the Civil War is because we have dug numerous relics only a few feet from where this was dug. Some of those items were three ringers (Dropped and Fired), tompians, spurs, pocket calendar, and LC's that were dated from the same time that the fighting occurred only a few hundred yards away from where these relics were found. I guess that these items could have also been used by civilians as well as soldiers?

We are really lucky and grateful that we have permission to hunt on private land that butts right up to the battlefield. Now if we could only find those buckles . Anyway just my 2 cents. HH

 

[ivan salis]

unless they were actually there at the time --how can anyone "prove" that anything even on a battle feild was "dropped" at any given time frame? and not later on ?-- item "A" is on the feild its a "union eagle button A artillary button " so ok its "real" -- button B (of the exact same type) is just off the battlefield area but close by -- nope

if thats the case everything is "just- civil war era- possibly battle used " --unless you dig up the dead soldiers bodys and pry the stuff off em and bullets out of em. -- then you could go -- yep this is "real battle used stuff"

if found in or close by known areas of civil war action and encampments -- I have no problem with thinking of them as "real civil war items" -- now repo stuff yah to present it as real is BS.

 

[Bridge End Farm]

sweet find congrats

 

[kuger]

I would agree with some of the previous post in regards to assuming that a certain finds may or may not be "Civil War" related, and I would also agree that these were used by civilians as well.

The only reason that I believe it may be related to the Civil War is because we have dug numerous relics only a few feet from where this was dug. Some of those items were three ringers (Dropped and Fired), tompians, spurs, pocket calendar, and LC's that were dated from the same time that the fighting occurred only a few hundred yards away from where these relics were found. I guess that these items could have also been used by civilians as well as soldiers?

We are really lucky and grateful that we have permission to hunt on private land that butts right up to the battlefield. Now if we could only find those buckles . Anyway just my 2 cents. HH

I have never hunted a Civil War site and dig them quite often!So yes saying they are C.W. would be misleading

 

[Elliott Ness]

Ivan, I couldn't have said it better.

 

[{Sentinel}]

That's a very cool collection Buckleboy. Thanks for sharing. Are they all made from brass?

Yes, they are brass. The time frame on these is probably 1840 to 1900 or so. I'm convinced that the ones with the bigger holes in them date later than the others--perhaps as late as the 1920s on that style. This is all from estimating the age of my sites based on the other finds found.


Best Wishes,



Buckles

Yes, I was wanting to say the same thing that you said above. I've found quite a few top taps but never any with the large holes as the ones in your photo. Has to be a later date type or maybe, a regional or manufacturer variation. But as you said, they are nice to dig and usually can be placed in context with other items found....Just as I found one last month on a known civil war site in which I dug about 12 bullets, pieces of cannonballs (4), etc.. though there are exceptions, these types of circumstances can usually aid a person in determining whether the toe tap is indeed Civil war, civillian, later, earlier, etc...