Group of Keepers from Recent Indian War Forts Visit

[Mason Jarr]

I spent a couple of weeks detecting on some of my private property permissions where forts from the Snake Indian War were. These are the best items from the trip. I think my favorite find was the light cavalry spur. I've found broken pieces of them before, but this is the first nearly complete one. It's only missing the rowel which was made of iron and has rusted away. I hope you can zoom in and see the items, but I'd be glad to post additional photos if anyone would like to see something in better detail. Thanks for looking!

 

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[Digger RJ]

I spent a couple of weeks detecting on some of my private property permissions where forts from the Snake Indian War were. These are the best items from the trip. I think my favorite find was the light cavalry spur. I've found broken pieces of them before, but this is the first nearly complete one. It's only missing the rowel which was made of iron and has rusted away. I hope you can zoom in and see the items, but I'd be glad to post additional photos if anyone would like to see something in better detail. Thanks for looking!

Very Cool!!!! Congrats!!!

 

[plehbah2]

That is a neat collection of finds. I am curious about your bullets. There is some distance time-wise between those muzzleloader round balls and the 45-70 bullets. Are those from earlier military occupations, Indians, mountain men, or are they from emigrant traffic along a nearby trail? I know that in the West carrying outdated armaments could get a man killed and so they usually did not use old firearms technology.

 

[Mason Jarr]

I hunted three separate locations. A couple of them weren't in use for very long, but one was used until the 1880s, hence the variety from muzzleloaders to metallic. Good question!

 

[ToddsPoint]

Nice finds! What are the 3 items with the letter “T” stamped in them?

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

What a great haul !

 

[Mason Jarr]

Nice finds! What are the 3 items with the letter “T” stamped in them?

They're the upper scales from a set of shoulder boards. A locking mechanism that was sewn onto the uniform went through the slot and then was twisted to hold it in place.

 

[Mason Jarr]

Nice finds! What are the 3 items with the letter “T” stamped in them?

Here's an image that might help.

 

[scruggs]

Very interesting finds you made! Thanks for showing them! Good luck on your next hunt!

 

[oldmxrat]

Great bunch of finds, and yes more pics would be super! We're picture nuts, the more the better.
That spur and the buckle with the birds on it really stand out, as well as the one with an elephant.

 

[Mason Jarr]

Great bunch of finds, and yes more pics would be super! We're picture nuts, the more the better.
That spur and the buckle with the birds on it really stand out, as well as the one with an elephant.

Here's some additional shots of the spur. I believe it's a Model 1859, but could be wrong.

 

[Mason Jarr]

Great bunch of finds, and yes more pics would be super! We're picture nuts, the more the better.
That spur and the buckle with the birds on it really stand out, as well as the one with an elephant.

Here are the suspender clips. The one with the elephant says, "Jumbo, Patent Ends". The one with birds (I think they're peacocks) just says "Patent Ends".

 

[Mason Jarr]

Great bunch of finds, and yes more pics would be super! We're picture nuts, the more the better.
That spur and the buckle with the birds on it really stand out, as well as the one with an elephant.

This was probably my 2nd best find. It's the base that held the horse tail hair plume on a Model 1872 Dress Helmet.

 

[Mason Jarr]

Great bunch of finds, and yes more pics would be super! We're picture nuts, the more the better.
That spur and the buckle with the birds on it really stand out, as well as the one with an elephant.

Last one, unless you want to see something else. I'm pretty sure this is a ferrule from a two piece guidon flag staff. You can still see the wood on the end photo and there's a brass pin through the ferrule and wood.

 

[JeffInMass]

Quite the fantastic group of sweet finds- great work!

 

[Mason Jarr]

Quite the fantastic group of sweet finds- great work!

Thank you. Not bad for out west. Nothing like you guys have in the east though.

 

[Mason Jarr]

I'm fairly certain these are fragments from a cannonball. You can see the threads for a fuse on the right side piece. Am I right?

 

[plehbah2]

Here are the suspender clips. The one with the elephant says, "Jumbo, Patent Ends". The one with birds (I think they're peacocks) just says "Patent Ends".

Here are the suspender clips. The one with the elephant says, "Jumbo, Patent Ends". The one with birds (I think they're peacocks) just says "Patent Ends".

Here in Colorado, the stamped brass suspender ends mostly date to the 1870s. They had similar in the 1860s, and probably the early 1880s, but I find almost all of mine from the 1870s context where they are a common item of material culture.

I am not a Civil War era artillery expert by any means, but in my opinion I think the iron fragment on the right with the threads is from a projectile, probably using a Bormann fuse. There is even the little shelf in the counter sunk hole for the plug to fit under the fuse. The other fragment very well could be, but it is harder for me to give an opinion based on the one view of it.

I will include a picture of a Bormann fuse and plug in an exploded fragment of cannonball for you to compare.

 

[Mason Jarr]

Here in Colorado, the stamped brass suspender ends mostly date to the 1870s. They had similar in the 1860s, and probably the early 1880s, but I find almost all of mine from the 1870s context where they are a common item of material culture.

I am not a Civil War era artillery expert by any means, but in my opinion I think the iron fragment on the right with the threads is from a projectile, probably using a Bormann fuse. There is even the little shelf in the counter sunk hole for the plug to fit under the fuse. The other fragment very well could be, but it is harder for me to give an opinion based on the one view of it.

I will include a picture of a Bormann fuse and plug in an exploded fragment of cannonball for you to compare.

Thanks. I'm no expert on artillery either, but I believe you're correct. Was the cannonball filled with powder or did the fuse cause it to fragment? Also, what caused the fuse to detonate? The two fragments have the same curve radius and were found fairly close together so I think they're from the same projectile.

 

[plehbah2]

Thanks. I'm no expert on artillery either, but I believe you're correct. Was the cannonball filled with powder or did the fuse cause it to fragment? Also, what caused the fuse to detonate? The two fragments have the same curve radius and were found fairly close together so I think they're from the same projectile.

I think all of the Bormann types were filled with powder and case shot. If there were no powder load, then there would be no need for the fuse assembly at all, and they also knew that solid shot would be ineffective in Indian Country. Those solid shots are only good against masses of troops and fortification walls.