Hit the SC Camp Area Hard for 2 Days before heading home

BioProfessor · Mar 28, 2009

It's been a long winter here on Tybee Island, GA. Got a chance to spend about 2 days in the SC low country hunting several known sites this past week. Hard hunting in the woods but I think it was worth it. Lots of targets to sift through but the ratio of aluminum to brass wasn't that bad. Hopefully I can get back there next winter and do a little more exploring.

The areas covered the Colonial period onward. Here's what I got that seemed period enough to keep and share.

Daryl

BioProfessor · Mar 31, 2009

ME TOO!!

Thanks,

Daryl

RELICDUDE07 · Mar 31, 2009

That minelab is doing great,very nice relics :thumbsup:

BioProfessor · Mar 31, 2009

I LOVE that machine.

Daryl

{Sentinel} · Mar 31, 2009

Not a bad hunt :wink:

I like the Enfields the most. Do they have the Rosewood plugs in them? The Eagle "C" is in great condition. Almost non-dug quality there! Did you move South from Minnesota?

mlayers · Mar 31, 2009

You have some nice finds there......Matt

BioProfessor · Mar 31, 2009

Didn't know Enfield bullets might have plugs. Just rinsed and brushed them off. I'll have to look. They are all packed in my car right now and I'm on my way back to the frozen north of Minnesota. So I spend the winter on an island off the coast from Savannah. Don't want to move back to Georgia. I grew up there. Too hot and humid in the summer.

The calvary button came out of some nice ground. We found several things that looked almost "just dropped." I found a sword hanger adjuster and you could still see the outline of the leather around the brads. I just polished up the button with a little felt buffing. Not something I do with all my buttons but this one looks better cleaned up like this.

So I don't move, I visit. Tybee Island in winter. Amsterdam in Summer. Minnesota in spring and fall.

Daryl

BioProfessor · Apr 4, 2009

Well I'm back in Minnesota. 6" of snow for tonight. Great!?!

I looked at the back of the Enfield bullets, no evidence of any wooden plugs in the back. They are just conical indentions. Maybe next time, I won't assume there is nothing there and give them a soak in olive oil first and take a closer look before I clean the stuff out. Glad to learn something new.

The camp area has some places that are very sandy. I assume that the cavalry button was face down in this sand and it drained pretty quick to help preserve the button. The area was also in old woods and the only fertilizer that may have been applied would not have been modern. So the back shows the age and the front showed no "crud." Not sure if I will buff up any more buttons that have no guild left but I like the way this one turned out. Sorta like cleaning an artifact with nice green patina - like the "ring" being made from the top of a spoon or a fork. All the silver plate is gone but I think it looks better greenish than buffed brass. Not so sure about the trigger guard. My biggest "issue" with changing them is that you can't go back.

Daryl

COUNTRY GIRL · Apr 4, 2009

WOW! Great group of finds! Is that a ring? I'd have had a tough time going home with a site like that! Congratulations!

BioProfessor · Apr 4, 2009

Not sure if it is a ring or not. It's too big as it is for a ring that fits on a normal size finger. I think it is either the start of a ring that got dropped when they troops moved - either slowly or quickly - or someone trying to make a replacement part for a rifle. Maybe a cap for where the wood ends on the forearm part of the stock. Something to hold the barrel to the wood.

Whatever it is, I think it is neat. It has 4 hallmarks (3 hallmarks and 1 maker's marks actually) that are in good shape. I posted them in another thread to try and find out more about who and when the fork or spoon was made. So far no luck. I found it about 20 feet from the musket trigger guard. I'm hoping the dates are close.

I REALLY had a hard time leaving the site. It is 2.5 hours away from where I was staying on Tybee Island, GA (off the coast of Savannah) and it was a chore to get there. I'll be back this November. Guess where the first place I'm going when I get there. It is a very small area in a HUGE forest so maybe it will remain as I left it and I can find more. Or maybe I might find the main camp as I think this one was a small camp that served as an outpost for the main camp as it is within sight of the main river in the area.

There is also a much older site about 1000 yards from this site that produced hammered British coins from the early 1600's. There seems to have been a lot going on in this area. I need to spend more time trying to figure out what was really going on. Just a lot of land with VERY thick underbrush to get through. So far, I've been hunting piles of oyster shells and concentrating my efforts close to these. Fun to try and figure out.

Daryl