Dog Tag.....UPDATED......

[civilman1]

I was invited down to Va. by Hutch911 and his buddy Adam.Both of these guy's are top notch CW Digger's.I've held stuff I never thought I would even see let alone hold.Field's were thick with red Va. clay so it was pretty sloppy hunting the field's but we did.Any way we started out finding some lead on this one ridge top.....took abreak and they showed us another spot....picked a few keeper's from the field and moved on to the next.....this is where I found an Eagle Cuff from the sandy part of the Battle along with the pocket knife,had to be the best find for me for the day.Ended up at a cornfield where it was getting late and the temp's dropped almost 10 deg. in about an hour.....We called it quit's.......Hutch,Adam...That was one of the funnest day's I've had in a long time,Thank You very much for the Invite and you'll be coming up to Antietam soon along with some other spot's,appreciate It guy's.Wierd thing is when I came home to clean the find's up's I noticed some writing on the "COW TAG"......Not So!!!!! I believe this is some kind of "DOG TAG"........let me know what you think......Read's: RAPLEY.K.
21ST OHIO
CO.A
Thank's again Hutch and Adam.....You're Good People!!!

 

[wildrider]

Re: I was going to post about the Cuff Button.....Until I got home and cleaned up...

I say Banner worthy find once in a life time find!

I agree!!!

BANNER!!!

IF Civil War. I also agree with Crusader that the lettering looks a bit more modern...

But I think what needs to happen is for this soldier's enlistment records be found. On the Northern side, we have more of a complete set of records. But I'm turning up nada.

So now I'm going to check later records and see if I can find anything.
-Buckles

I agree with BUCKLES. Union Records aren't that hard to come by and there were no Rapleys listed in the NPS data base for Ohio.
I certainly don't think that an Ohio soldier would become a New York soldier. If he was with the 21st Ohio Inf. according to the regimental history, they fought mostly in the south and then headed up to the Carolinas and to the Washington DC area late in the war.

While most of the 21st Ohio and 150th NY action mirrored one another, I don't think this is BANNER material. Nothing proven, only speculated. This isn't even as convincing as the sword from SW Virginia.

I think more research is in order. That's what we have the information highway.

One Big question I have is: Why would a 150th NYer have a tag made up for the 21st Ohio (no muster roll/no discharge papers/no nothing with the 21st) and no Rapleys at all listed in the NPS data base for Ohio in the CW.

It makes no sense to be ID'd to an area that is about 500-700 miles from home, ie. Poughkeepsie NY to Finley Ohio. I might understand if it was Buffalo NY and Cleveland Ohio.

I also REALLY question it if the "old school twine" was with attached and it was in that good of shape."
I have paper that I dug at a CW site in Virginia, so I know it's possible. But, I really don't see how such a large piece of cotton twine would last that well. Cloth or thread maybe, but that twine is almost white. I'd like know more about the conditionsof where it was dug (not location, but damp, dry, pasture, crop field, woods, swamp, etc)

 

[tymcmurray]

Re: I was going to post about the Cuff Button.....Until I got home and cleaned up...

I say Banner worthy find once in a life time find!

I agree!!!

BANNER!!!

IF Civil War. I also agree with Crusader that the lettering looks a bit more modern...

But I think what needs to happen is for this soldier's enlistment records be found. On the Northern side, we have more of a complete set of records. But I'm turning up nada.

So now I'm going to check later records and see if I can find anything.
-Buckles

I agree with BUCKLES. Union Records aren't that hard to come by and there were no Rapleys listed in the NPS data base for Ohio.
I certainly don't think that an Ohio soldier would become a New York soldier. If he was with the 21st Ohio Inf. according to the regimental history, they fought mostly in the south and then headed up to the Carolinas and to the Washington DC area late in the war.

While most of the 21st Ohio and 150th NY action mirrored one another, I don't think this is BANNER material. Nothing proven, only speculated. This isn't even as convincing as the sword from SW Virginia.

I think more research is in order. That's what we have the information highway.

One Big question I have is: Why would a 150th NYer have a tag made up for the 21st Ohio (no muster roll/no discharge papers/no nothing with the 21st) and no Rapleys at all listed in the NPS data base for Ohio in the CW.

It makes no sense to be ID'd to an area that is about 500-700 miles from home, ie. Poughkeepsie NY to Finley Ohio. I might understand if it was Buffalo NY and Cleveland Ohio. No muster roll/no discharge papers with the 21st


I REALLY question it if the "old school twine" was with attached and it was in that good of shape."
I have paper that I dug at a site in Virginia, so I know it's possible. But, I really don't think twine would last that well. Cloth or thread maybe, but that twine is almost white.

I retract a previous statement and just say.....OK.

 

[BuckleBoy]

Re: I was going to post about the Cuff Button.....Until I got home and cleaned up...

You know Ty, my questions aren't so much the twine as the fact that the soldier's records don't exist from the CW.  I just got done trying to check later records and came up with no hits.

So I don't know where to go from here.

And I'm NOT trying to put down the find in any way! I just want to try and get to the bottom of this. If it was My find, I'd expect the same type of help from folks on here.


And at the end of the day, it is what it is either way. But IMHO we should try to ID it.

 

[nc-joe]

Re: I was going to post about the Cuff Button.....Until I got home and cleaned up...

Great finds and sounds like you have an even better time out there! Congrats!

 

[Don in SJ]

Re: I was going to post about the Cuff Button.....Until I got home and cleaned up...

See if this group knows anything, they would have more interest in it than the average Joe.

http://www.geocities.com/union21ovi/index.html

The finder should do some legwork and contact someone with this reenactor group..............

Don

 

[tymcmurray]

Re: I was going to post about the Cuff Button.....Until I got home and cleaned up...

See if this group knows anything, they would have more interest in it than the average Joe.

http://www.geocities.com/union21ovi/index.html

The finder should do some legwork and contact someone with this reenactor group..............

Don

He IS! Any help would be appreciated.

 

[civilman1]

Re: I was going to post about the Cuff Button.....Until I got home and cleaned up...

See if this group knows anything, they would have more interest in it than the average Joe.

http://www.geocities.com/union21ovi/index.html

The finder should do some legwork and contact someone with this reenactor group..............

Don

Thank's Don for the info but I've already contacted the 21st Ohio Co A reenactor's group and asked them if they were ever down there,should hear back from them soon.I also poured through hundred's of pages from the official roster of the soldiers of the state of ohio and am still looking.I did find an article on the "first ever" civil war reenactment group who marched in an annugural parade in 2005(Dick Cheney's grandfather was a member of the 21st Ohio in the CW) and the guy's name who I guess run's it is Kieth Rapley from the reenactment unit(21st Ohio).....Something smell's a little fishy,maybe K.RAPLEY lost it during a reenactment.....Find out soon as I hear back from the 21st....Oh well,we'll see.

 

[Hutch911]

Re: I was going to post about the Cuff Button.....Until I got home and cleaned up...

WOW I will have to ask the owners if they did any reenactments there as fare as I know they have not. I would think if they did it would of been on the perserved side and that's 1 mile away. maybe they just walk around the farm.just wait and see what they say.

Hutch

 

[Don in SJ]

Re: I was going to post about the Cuff Button.....Until I got home and cleaned up...

See if this group knows anything, they would have more interest in it than the average Joe.

http://www.geocities.com/union21ovi/index.html

The finder should do some legwork and contact someone with this reenactor group..............

Don

Thank's Don for the info but I've already contacted the 21st Ohio Co A reenactor's group and asked them if they were ever down there,should hear back from them soon.I also poured through hundred's of pages from the official roster of the soldiers of the state of ohio and am still looking.I did find an article on the "first ever" civil war reenactment group who marched in an annugural parade in 2005(Dick Cheney's grandfather was a member of the 21st Ohio in the CW) and the guy's name who I guess run's it is Kieth Rapley from the reenactment unit(21st Ohio).....Something smell's a little fishy,maybe K.RAPLEY lost it during a reenactment.....Find out soon as I hear back from the 21st....Oh well,we'll see.

Interesting, I just read about the two Rapleys who participated in the parade, the fact one is named Keith Rapley sure is making the possibility more likely it somehow, someway is connected to that guy, it might also explain the condition of the twine. I'm sure once contact is established with either the group or him the answer will be known.

Don

 

[kdismuke1]

Re: I was going to post about the Cuff Button.....Until I got home and cleaned up...

nice finds.

 

[HuntingVa]

Re: I was going to post about the Cuff Button.....Until I got home and cleaned up...

Osrry im so late posting on here, civil and Ty i hope you guys had fun on sat. you guys are more than welcome to come back and reffering to the dog tag that is awesome im glad i didnt dig it i probably would have thrown it away because i have dug cow tags on the farm. But also reading through the posts i saw there was some controversy as to the authenticity of the tag. I was with them and where it was dug did not seem like a probable spot for a reenactor, but there have been reenactments in the area but that was also 20 plus years ago as the landowner has told me before but to the best of my knowledge the renactment took place almost a mile away not even on the battlefeild really just on the area of it. I hope that helps a little i believe it is legitimate just because of the location and the area didnt look like cow country. But anyways Civil,Ty, Hutch, you guys were all great to get out and go digging with we will get out again soon HH see at least one of you in a couple days

 

[Nick A]

Re: I was going to post about the Cuff Button.....Until I got home and cleaned up...

Agreed, I think this is modern. Men's names starting with K were not that common in that time period.

 

[Mike_of_Tenn]

Re: I was going to post about the Cuff Button.....Until I got home and cleaned up...

Nice button! And sounds like you guys had a really great time!

Mike

 

[tymcmurray]

Re: I was going to post about the Cuff Button.....Until I got home and cleaned up...

See if this group knows anything, they would have more interest in it than the average Joe.

http://www.geocities.com/union21ovi/index.html

The finder should do some legwork and contact someone with this reenactor group..............

Don

Thank's Don for the info but I've already contacted the 21st Ohio Co A reenactor's group and asked them if they were ever down there,should hear back from them soon.I also poured through hundred's of pages from the official roster of the soldiers of the state of ohio and am still looking.I did find an article on the "first ever" civil war reenactment group who marched in an annugural parade in 2005(Dick Cheney's grandfather was a member of the 21st Ohio in the CW) and the guy's name who I guess run's it is Kieth Rapley from the reenactment unit(21st Ohio).....Something smell's a little fishy,maybe K.RAPLEY lost it during a reenactment.....Find out soon as I hear back from the 21st....Oh well,we'll see.

Kudos for having the guts to get to the truth!
Way to research!

 

[civilman1]

Re:CW Dog Tag.....UPDATED......

Sorry, but this is the E-mail from the guy in the 21st Ohio Co.A. reenactor's:

Hey Joe,

Yes, that tag would apparently belong to one of our "retired" guys. The gentleman's name is Keith Rapley and he has been reenacting a long time. It has likely been ten years (or more) since we were up there as a unit. Keith lives in Florida and I should see him next month at our annual business meeting. He'll be quite amused that you found one of his id tags.

Josh

Evidently it is the one "Kieth Rapley" who had his "soldier's" at the Innauguration in 05'.....You Live and Learn.Maybe I should send this up to the 21st Ohio so Josh can take this down to Fla. with him to give back to Mr. Rapley.....I'm sure he'd like to know what the thing look's like now This is the kind of stuff that motivate's me right here....HH!!!

 

[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

How about that.

Strange things.

 

[trikikiwi]

Great research on a very creditable find

Mike

 

[olepossum]

BANNER BANNER BANNER BANNER BANNER BANNER. FROM OLE POSSUM IN MISSOURI

 

[Hutch911]

Well at least we know still a cool find. The way you swing that MXT I know you will find one there has to be one out there somewhere.
Great research that's the hardest part of the hobby. Keep swing and see ya soon

Hutch

 

[CRUSADER]

Re:CW Dog Tag.....UPDATED......

Sorry, but this is the E-mail from the guy in the 21st Ohio Co.A. reenactor's:

Hey Joe,

Yes, that tag would apparently belong to one of our "retired" guys. The gentleman's name is Keith Rapley and he has been reenacting a long time. It has likely been ten years (or more) since we were up there as a unit. Keith lives in Florida and I should see him next month at our annual business meeting. He'll be quite amused that you found one of his id tags.

Josh

Evidently it is the one "Kieth Rapley" who had his "soldier's" at the Innauguration in 05'.....You Live and Learn.Maybe I should send this up to the 21st Ohio so Josh can take this down to Fla. with him to give back to Mr. Rapley.....I'm sure he'd like to know what the thing look's like now This is the kind of stuff that motivate's me right here....HH!!!

As you know I had my doubts about it. However, this has been an interesting story & I'm with you on returning it. That will then give the owner an even more interesting story to tell his kids etc... It also spreads the good name of detecting amongst the reenacting hobbie.

Lets us know whats happens if you give it back?