Devonrex
Sr. Member
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2012
- Messages
- 351
- Reaction score
- 1,260
- Golden Thread
- 4
- Location
- SE Virginia
- 🥇 Banner finds
- 4
- Detector(s) used
- XP DEUS, Nautilus DMC IIB
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
As everyone knows, the last few weeks have not been too conducive to relic hunting because of all the snowy, cold, and wet weather we have been having. Southeastern Virginia, however, was fortunate to have a break for a few days last week and weekend (at least on Saturday) and I jumped at the opportunity to get some time in swinging my XP Deus. For years I had been wanting to get permission on a piece of property that I knew might have witnessed some shelling during the Peninsula campaign but the landowner was not fond of relic hunters. Permission had been denied to me on several attempts over the last 20 years. I had heard this site had been hunted early in the 60's and 70's and cleaned out but I still felt like this area had some secrets left in it. On Wednesday I drove by the area and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a real estate "Sold" sign. Sure enough this piece of real estate was now under new ownership! It took about an hour of conversing with the new owner but I was soon granted permission to hunt. I'm not going to go into all the details, as I am planning to write an article about the three days that followed, but I wanted to share here with everyone what I have found at this site up till now........ So far the shell and cannonball count is up to EIGHT!!! (2) 10 inch mortar balls, (1) ground burst 10 inch mortar ball, (1) 8 pound solid shot, (2) 6 pound solid shot, what I believe is half of a Revolutionary War chain shot or bar shot, and an unbelievable CS Archer Bolt dug on Saturday! Lots of lead canister shot and fragments have also been found. The only buttons I have dug so far is a Coat New York Staff, an Overcoat Eagle "I", and another coat Eagle button. Other relics include part of a shoulder epilautte, half of an early colonial set of cufflinks with a glass insert, and several bullets including one Enfield, a Burnside, 2 Spencers, and a few pistol bullets. These cannonballs and shells are DEEP. one of the 10 inch balls was at 4 1/2 feet while the other was at 3 feet deep. Even the CS Archer Bolt was at 3 feet deep. So even though I have pretty much covered the entire hillside (impact area) where these were discovered I feel there are more. Hopefully there will be a part 2 to this story! HH Devonrex ..... (PS The cannonballs and shell are currently being defused and electrolysized by a professional and are in no way a harm to anyone)
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