Patriot Relics
Silver Member
Hey guys,
Anyone that has ever seen my dig an early military button knows that these rare relics of our past are my favorite recoveries. As far as military buttons go, the personal nature of a button worn by a soldier or sailor involved with the American Revolution is the top of my list. I have been fortunate over the last 3 years to dig pewter buttons from the 3rd and 19th regiments of foot...curiously both arrived late in Southern campaign in 1781. Each button tells a story and helps to validate endless research and hours spent behind the coil.
Yesterday I hit the road to link up with DownNDirty on a well pounded permission-the site is remote and overgrown, however you just have the feeling while gridding through large iron patch that there could be another relic left over by the British...likely masked and waiting to be saved.
Working with the redheaded stepchild of my detecting arsenal...the XP Deus
I left the CTX in the truck, and got to work in the thick iron. For a site that has been pounded, initial signs were promising. Managed to recover a small tombac button, musket ball, and fired round ball.
For the next 3 hours I had nothing but iron to show for it. Made my way back to Glenn who at this point was 3 hours into sifting. He had scored a bit of pottery, but nothing non-ferrous...yet (see his post). As I worked closer I heard the familiar sound of pewter under the DEUS coil. As I had dug only 3 plugs in 3 hours I was pretty excited. Quickly got down in the dirt, flipped the plug and this is what I saw.
Heart now thoroughly pounding in my chest, I removed my glove and reached in...
30th Regiment of Foot cuff button...an incredibly rare button to be found in North America and with its iron loop shank intact.
The crazy part is that all 3 British regimental buttons I've recovered (3rd, 19th, and 30th) all landed in Charleston in 1781 and departed by 1782. Buttons of the 30th are rarer still given the fact that their short term service in South Carolina's hot climate favored linen clothing with self covered cloth buttons rather than issued woolen uniforms with regimental buttons. Don also mentions that much of the 30th's regimental clothing was destroyed in the baggage lost in July 1781.
Needless to say I am absolutely thrilled with the condition and history this small pewter button represents.
Among the other surface finds was this marked pipe bowl- T D stamped I think-
Also managed to get a sifting adventure with Stef45 in...who bailed on this weekend's hunt to get married. With a bit of helpful advice from Brad (OutdoorAdv) and Glenn we set off to open up a large pit section of a colonial permission. While non-ferrous targets were not as plentiful this round, we did score a ton of iron and pottery. I was able to reconstruct a few pieces-
Also managed to sift a bit of furniture hardware and a small buckle.
On the coast I did score an early unmarked pewter with curious offset shank.
All in all another incredible weekend that I will certainly remember for years to come. Big thank you to Glenn (DownNDirty) for letting me tag along. Have a great Thanksgiving and as always thank you for looking!
Anyone that has ever seen my dig an early military button knows that these rare relics of our past are my favorite recoveries. As far as military buttons go, the personal nature of a button worn by a soldier or sailor involved with the American Revolution is the top of my list. I have been fortunate over the last 3 years to dig pewter buttons from the 3rd and 19th regiments of foot...curiously both arrived late in Southern campaign in 1781. Each button tells a story and helps to validate endless research and hours spent behind the coil.
Yesterday I hit the road to link up with DownNDirty on a well pounded permission-the site is remote and overgrown, however you just have the feeling while gridding through large iron patch that there could be another relic left over by the British...likely masked and waiting to be saved.
Working with the redheaded stepchild of my detecting arsenal...the XP Deus
I left the CTX in the truck, and got to work in the thick iron. For a site that has been pounded, initial signs were promising. Managed to recover a small tombac button, musket ball, and fired round ball. For the next 3 hours I had nothing but iron to show for it. Made my way back to Glenn who at this point was 3 hours into sifting. He had scored a bit of pottery, but nothing non-ferrous...yet (see his post). As I worked closer I heard the familiar sound of pewter under the DEUS coil. As I had dug only 3 plugs in 3 hours I was pretty excited. Quickly got down in the dirt, flipped the plug and this is what I saw.
Heart now thoroughly pounding in my chest, I removed my glove and reached in...
30th Regiment of Foot cuff button...an incredibly rare button to be found in North America and with its iron loop shank intact.
The crazy part is that all 3 British regimental buttons I've recovered (3rd, 19th, and 30th) all landed in Charleston in 1781 and departed by 1782. Buttons of the 30th are rarer still given the fact that their short term service in South Carolina's hot climate favored linen clothing with self covered cloth buttons rather than issued woolen uniforms with regimental buttons. Don also mentions that much of the 30th's regimental clothing was destroyed in the baggage lost in July 1781.
Needless to say I am absolutely thrilled with the condition and history this small pewter button represents.
Among the other surface finds was this marked pipe bowl- T D stamped I think-
Also managed to get a sifting adventure with Stef45 in...who bailed on this weekend's hunt to get married. With a bit of helpful advice from Brad (OutdoorAdv) and Glenn we set off to open up a large pit section of a colonial permission. While non-ferrous targets were not as plentiful this round, we did score a ton of iron and pottery. I was able to reconstruct a few pieces-
Also managed to sift a bit of furniture hardware and a small buckle.
On the coast I did score an early unmarked pewter with curious offset shank.
All in all another incredible weekend that I will certainly remember for years to come. Big thank you to Glenn (DownNDirty) for letting me tag along. Have a great Thanksgiving and as always thank you for looking!
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