Huge Relic Spill at an Indian Wars Site

[Mason Jarr]

I didn't find these today, but rather on Monday. There was no cell service until I got into town today. I was literally 15 minutes out of the truck and had dug a few cans and other trash. I got a banging signal on my Nox 800 jumping between 17 and 18. That's usually a lead bullet for me. Little did I know. Popped the plug and out came seven .58 cal Minnie balls. I scanned it again and there was more. This went on for 10 minutes or so. I ended up pulling 94 Minnies from that one hole...all perfect other than the few I nicked with my digger (hard to not hit a few with that many in one hole). About three feet away I found one more and then four feet further was another two in a hole. 97 for the day. I went back the next day and scanned the surrounding area and got three more for an even 100. I don't know how these were packed for shipping, but finding an even 100 in perfect condition makes me think they must've fell off a supply wagon or something. No doubt my best hunt for relics thus far. Other than the Minnies I found a few buttons, shoulder scale pieces, a knapsack hook and a few .56-50 casings.

 

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[Tpmetal]

that is a whole lotta lead! nice job

 

[GoDeep]

I nominated you for a banner find because you found it out west (i'm assuming that looking at your profile and the picture flora) rather then at the usual Civil war sites and it was a perfect 100!

 

[Mason Jarr]

Thanks, GoDeep. Yes. In the west. This site was active in the late 1860s/early 1870s...so the Minnies were still being used for a portion of that time.

 

[Jose The Goon]

Congrats on an all-around fantastic find !! A supply wagon spill.....Incredible !!! Keep looking. Maybe they dropped a box of Gold or Silver coins somewhere along the way !!

 

[scruggs]

That's a 100% GOOD FIND!

 

[GaRebel1861]

That's one heck of a find. I threw you a banner vote as well. Good luck.

 

[RichsEquinox]

Congrats Mason Jarr, thats a lot of Minnies!

 

[erfranks]

Awesome Find, Love the lead

 

[niffler]

Nice find! I moved out of the Boise area a couple years ago. Looks like you have a great site to hunt HH.

 

[Silvermonkey]

That's a crazy good, unusual find! Major congrats!

 

[bologna321]

Very cool

 

[Mason Jarr]

Thank you all for the comments. I found more in the one hole than I've found combined in my 3 year relic career.

 

[Mason Jarr]

That's one heck of a find. I threw you a banner vote as well. Good luck.

Thanks, GaRebel! The Minnies aren't as common this far west....and definitely not in that quantity.

 

[UnderMiner]

Very interesting, museum worthy find. Something happened there. Perhaps a lazy soldier tasked with carrying bullets tossed a portion of them when his superiors weren't looking, or more likely they fell off the back of a wagon, maybe as it was being persued by Indians... or something completely different that we will never know. Whatever happened the world has changed more than those bullets have.

 

[Steve in PA]

Very cool discovery. Here is another theory as to why they ended up there. Maybe the soldiers old CW era muskets had just been replaced with guns using more modern 45-70 cartridges and those bullets no longer served any purpose?

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Outstanding find, congrats!

 

[Mason Jarr]

Very cool discovery. Here is another theory as to why they ended up there. Maybe the soldiers old CW era muskets had just been replaced with guns using more modern 45-70 cartridges and those bullets no longer served any purpose?

I considered that, also, Steve. Here's why I think this spill was accidental instead of intentional. Most regimental companies at that time had several varieties of weapons at any point in time. It was rare for all troopers to have identical weapons and wholesale swap-outs were almost unheard of. From my knowledge most of the Army's inventory of Sharps and Springfield muskets which would've fired the .58 cal Minnies were sent in after the Civil War for refitting; the barrels were sleeved to accept the metallic. 50-70 Government round and the percussion cap ignition system was converted to a firing pin system which ignited the internally primed .50-70s. The site where I found these Minnies was active from around 1868 until about 1872. While I've found a few metallic casings there (mainly .56-50 Spencer's and .50-70 Government) I've not found them in enough quantity to say those were the primary weapons they were using. I believe the .45-70 didn't come along as the .50-70 replacement until 1873. I've never found either a casing or bullet of the .45-70 there. I do think your theory could possibly be correct, but if they were dumping the remaining. 58 cal musket bullets there likely would've been more than 100 and I made a large circle around that area to see if I missed another pile. One thing is for certain, we'll never know what exactly occurred! Thanks for your input.

 

[Steve in PA]

I considered that, also, Steve. Here's why I think this spill was accidental instead of intentional. Most regimental companies at that time had several varieties of weapons at any point in time. It was rare for all troopers to have identical weapons and wholesale swap-outs were almost unheard of. From my knowledge most of the Army's inventory of Sharps and Springfield muskets which would've fired the .58 cal Minnies were sent in after the Civil War for refitting; the barrels were sleeved to accept the metallic. 50-70 Government round and the percussion cap ignition system was converted to a firing pin system which ignited the internally primed .50-70s. The site where I found these Minnies was active from around 1868 until about 1872. While I've found a few metallic casings there (mainly .56-50 Spencer's and .50-70 Government) I've not found them in enough quantity to say those were the primary weapons they were using. I believe the .45-70 didn't come along as the .50-70 replacement until 1873. I've never found either a casing or bullet of the .45-70 there. I do think your theory could possibly be correct, but if they were dumping the remaining. 58 cal musket bullets there likely would've been more than 100 and I made a large circle around that area to see if I missed another pile. One thing is for certain, we'll never know what exactly occurred! Thanks for your input.

You make perfectly good sense with that explanation. Thanks.

 

[CASPER-2]