Four trips into Union camp. Buttons, bullets and camp debris.

[parsonwalker]

This past fall, I mentioned a couple of times that I was waiting for crops to be harvested so I could get into a Union campsite. (I had found some decent stuff in the woods already). I haven't posted about that site yet, so I wanted to let you know I WAS able to get onto the fields. Four trips to date. I've had a ball with this place, but I've hunted HARD for what you see here . . .



Below you'll see some rivets, a canteen spout and cap box flap button (both firsts for me) and other camp debris, including parts from a kerosene lamp. Of course, no way to say that was from the CW, but pretty cool to imagine it on the table of an officer in his tent.



Next a grape shot, two badly corroded springfield musket tools, two Indian head pennies, an 1861 half dime, and a dime that wasn't CW era (1901).



Nice group of buttons. Eagles (Coats and cuffs), New York Coat, unusual 3D flower button, flat buttons and button backs.



My Favs -Two Michigan cuffs and a Mass. Vol. Militia cuff. Firsts for me.



In all, over 50 3-ringers, a few carbines, pistol bullets and Enfields and two handfuls of camp lead - One with three percussion caps stuck in the lead.

 

[tennessee digger]

WOW! You cleaned up in there. Good job and GREAT post. I need to find a camp like that.

 

[The Rebel]

Awesome finds! Do you know what Regt. was camped there?

 

[WHADIFIND]

An awful lot of lead! But, then, it was war.

I know the thrill of finding a civil war bullet. But, nowadays, ya know, the item I find the most interesting in your post, is the coin. Go figure and to each their own. I think I'm a bit "over" on bullets now. They just serve to date an area for me.

What DO you do with ALL those bullets and buttons? LOL

Thanks for sharing!

 

[nova treasure]

that's a Great assortment of relics, I really like all the buttons. It's driving me crazy to get back into some CW relics, hopefully after the holidays as I been waiting to get into some new sites that I been working on.

 

[ModernMiner]

OMG, those finds are remarkable!!! I can't even imagine digging that many CW relics let alone on only 4 trips.
You guys and gals that live and detect in VA are SO darn lucky. The soil must consist of over 50% lead in that state.
Unbelievable post PW. You made my night just drooling over those pictures.
Way to go,
MM

 

[Mach1Pilot]

You have some awesome finds right there! I really like those state cuff buttons - you dug a nice assortment of brass.

 

[Tnmountains]

Fantastic post of your finds. I bet there is a lot more there. No way you could have gotten it all though the pictures sure do look like it. All I can say is happy hunting!

 

[BuckleBoy]

SWEET relics! I bet that was a blast to dig!

Congrats,

Buck

 

[parsonwalker]

WOW! You cleaned up in there. Good job and GREAT post. I need to find a camp like that.

Said the guy with the CSA buckle!!

Thanks guys. I feel really blessed to have permission here. To answer some of you:
REBEL - No I don't, but I need to figure a way to try to find out. My belief is very short term (3 or 4 days) in 1862.
WHADIFIND - Tell ya what, I'll save my coins for you, you save all your site-daters (1861-1865) for me! We'll trade! Funny how we all
have our area of interest. I honestly don't care much about finding a coin unless it's pre-1865, in which case I use
my imagination and "just know" it was from a soldier's pocket . . . (Who's to say otherwise??) I am so NOT over bullets!
NOVA - Thanks man, buttons are my big thrill too. I haven't found many outside of this site. Good luck on your sites. I used to live in
Bracken County (Near Maysville), and my wife's family is from Pineville.
FORT BEDFORD - Thanks! State Buttons are GOLD to me!
TNMNTS - My hot spot is drying up, but I ain't givin' up yet . . .
BUCKLEBOY - Yes it was (and hopefully IS!)
MODERN MINER - As I've told you before, I can't feel sorry for a guy with a NC tongue!! But read below:

What you said in jest about the soil and 50% lead. Let me tell you this true story -

So I was turned on to this spot by an old time hunter who hunted it some back-in-the-day without permission. He steered clear of the area where the house was for obvious reasons. These people have zero tolerance for poachers. They are friends so they let me hunt on two conditions: (1) I bring nobody and tell nobody where I'm hunting (I can live with that!) (2) I hunt nowhere on the property where I can be seen from the road (To avoid lots of people asking for permission)

So the farm is owned by a Father and son. The son is harder on hunters than the father. The father wants me to hunt an area about the size of a one-car garage because he's curious about it. It's a slight depression in the field. He told me that all his life, that spot produces no crop. Grass springs up but dies quick. Corn gets about 18", tassels out and grows no more. Soybeans are stunted. As a young man, he found scores of percussion caps and 3-ringers in that spot after every rain. He finally had the soil analyzed when he was having a crop-production place analyze the whole field for lime, fertilizer, etc. The report came back. The chemist said it was a real "curiosity." That spot had a very high lead and saltpeter concentration, far higher than anything he'd ever seen or heard of. Hmmmm. Saltpeter . . . Black Powder . . . Now here's the kicker - It's 30 feet from the highway. The Dad wants me to dig it up. Son wants me to STAY AWAY from the road. I'm steerin' clear, but it's killin' me man, it's KILLIN' me!

 

[CSA2K]

Well done!

 

[romeo-1]

That's a home run!!!

 

[Ifoundit69]

Well done I bet there are some buckle there as well hidden somewhere , I would have to dig that spot by the road even if I had to put up a tarp to satisfy the owners I would just have to do it ..!

 

[arrowhead82]

INCREDIBLE finds. love that half dime.
GL and HH!

 

[katdancing]

Top Notch - Well done! Kat

 

[parsonwalker]

Well done I bet there are some buckle there as well hidden somewhere , I would have to dig that spot by the road even if I had to put up a tarp to satisfy the owners I would just have to do it ..!

If they'd let me, I'd build a SHANTY over the spot to dig!!!!!!!!

 

[tennessee]

Good looking big bunch of saves. Congratulations, and thanks for sharing.

 

[WHADIFIND]

Thanks guys. I feel really blessed to have permission here. To answer some of you:

WHADIFIND - Tell ya what, I'll save my coins for you, you save all your site-daters (1861-1865) for me! We'll trade! Funny how we all
have our area of interest. I honestly don't care much about finding a coin unless it's pre-1865, in which case I use
my imagination and "just know" it was from a soldier's pocket . . . (Who's to say otherwise??) I am so NOT over bullets!

What?!?! You mean there are actually people with completely different interests in this world?!?!? LOL Yep, I would gladly trade bullets for coins anytime.

To be sure, of COURSE you are not "over" bullets! There's no way you should be! Each have their own vision of "treasure" and yours is no worse or better than anyone else. I was just trying to broaden my understanding of why. With coins there are several "easy" methods to determine a "good" coin. Then, there's the collection that is based on just trying to have one of each coin ever made. I imagine the same is true for bullets. But, there are so many fired in a war. Maybe, there's a bounty on each civil war bullet and one can expect a profit per bullet. In that case, if someone is hunting for profit, then I could see trying to grab every hunk of lead ever fired/dropped.

But, if that's not the case and one is just collecting every bullet. What does one do with tens of thousands of pounds of bullets? Display them?
I'm not picking at you nor any relic hunters. I enjoy a good relic as much as the next guy. I'm just trying to understand bullets. After all, they really do take up a lot of space and weigh a TON! LOL How many is too many? What is done with them? Is it just trying to find them all or maybe just every different type?

Ya see, I am really just trying to understand.

Thanks for your sharing and your patience!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

OH! and PS:

That dead spot in that field? Maybe, the son doesn't want it dug up because he's afraid it might turn out to be a mass grave of some sort? He's afraid that the archeologists might come in and shut down/take away his farm? Just a thought.

 

[parsonwalker]

OK, here's my take: I love finding ANYTHING CW, bullets included. Because I know the last guy who touched it was either fighting for his home and state, or fighting for the Union. (Or both) It's just the "awe" of holding something last held by a guy in an ear-splitting din of terror surrounded by thick blue smoke and the cries of the charging . . . or the wails of the dying. Wondering who he was, how far he had come from home, and if he ever made it back. I often wonder if a fired bullet first passed through a horse, or glanced off a gun barrel, or killed or crippled a man (or a young boy). Not a morbid fascination (I hope) but a profound wonder at the history held in my hand. Having said all of that, I would rather dig brass than bullets any day. Even the rivet off a cap pouch. Because a soldier may have handled a bullet for 20 seconds. But that brass rivet may have seen Bull Run, Bloody Angle and Gettysburg.

It doesn't hurt that I grew up in Cold Harbor with trenches running through my YARD and a Hotchkiss shell imbedded in the roots of a favorite dogwood tree beside the house. daddy was a very early relic hunter (late 50s) but he left the shell there so he could always say there was at least ONE thing in the yard that was exactly where it fell in 1864. Poachers got it last year. Yep.

Having said all that, the vast majority of my bullets are stored out of sight in boxes. I sell nothing (NOTHING) I've actually dug, but I often give a few to interested children, or history loving adults. You're right, display of hundreds of bullets is impractical. I display the "rare" or unusual ones only. I know a guy who filled two oak barrels with bullets, then cut a circular piece of glass for a "top". Uses them as end tables in his relic room. And before you ask, he built the room specifically to hold his relics and the floor is heavily reinforced.

I totally "get" the collection of coins and how it is more methodical and logical. I just have a great interest in the CW, and every time I dig a common, everyday three-ringer, I think . . . "Wow, if that puppy could tell it's story!" Same could be said for a well-worn half dime!

 

[WHADIFIND]

OK, here's my take: I love finding ANYTHING CW, bullets included. Because I know the last guy who touched it was either fighting for his home and state, or fighting for the Union. (Or both) It's just the "awe" of holding something last held by a guy

Yep, now see? You've explained it well enough for even my lil brain can understand.

That feeling of touching the past through an object is what drives me as well. Sure, I keep an eye out for one of those guaranteed banner coins, (which is ANY of them, if they're gold. ). I also have bullets/relics in my main display but, like you, I try to just keep the different styles. The rest? They're scattered through the house in boxes, out of sight again. Hope one can't get lead poisoning just by them being there.

It's not like we can ignore a bullet signal, now can we and after it's dug, just don't seem right to bury it again.
I just wondered what the heck was being done with all this lead! At least they're being taken back out of the ground where they could possibly do more harm. I have been hunting this one old mansion for about a year now and it is completely flabbergasting how many different types I've found there!

For me, nothing makes me smile quite as broadly as a grand old silver coin smiling up at me from the hole. (I expect a gold one would too but I wouldn't know about that yet. Guess I'll never be on the banner. )

Have a kid read about a battle and then take them to the site and have them dig up an actual relic from what they'd just read. Nothing makes history more real!

Thanks for taking a moment to help me understand my hobby a bit more!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!