Most Unusual Civil War Relic Ive Ever Found, + Flying Eagle Cent From the Trenches!

[parsonwalker]

Most Unusual Civil War Relic I've Ever Found, + Flying Eagle Cent From the Trenches!

I didn't see it until I got home and was cleaning my bullets. This certainly looks like a common 3-ringer, and it is.



Note - no ramrod marks, no impact marks, but it doesn't appear to be "dropped". It obviously hasn't been "pulled".



Or HAS it?? Turn it over, and this bullet was "pulled" . . . but from the BOTTOM! This bullet MUST have been mistakenly loaded UPSIDE DOWN. That's the only explanation I can think of. I imagine in the confusion of the heat of battle, some terrified boy shoved this bullet in his musket the wrong way! It misfired, and he had no choice but to "worm" it out.



I suppose this is not the only time this ever happened among the millions and millions of bullets loaded in the civil war, but I've yet to show this to a relic hunter who has seen one before. I'd be interested to know if any of you have. Of course, I have an alternative theory: This bullet was fired by a sharp-eyed yankee and it went straight down the barrel of a Confederate's musket! He of course, had to remove it. Yeah, well . . . it's a MUCH better story.

I had a good hunt. Two other pulled bullets, an iron buckle, a thin brass strange little buckle of some description, a half a gun main-spring, some shell fragments and a Flying Eagle cent from the trenches. I'm told they were made from 1856-1858, but the date is unreadable. I MIGHT see a "7". If anybody can ID the thin brass item, far right center, I'd like to know. No holes or rivets, very thin and springy.



Digging buddy had a good bullet day, also some frags, and some flat buttons - and what appears to be a salt-shaker top. The stars are actually holes.



Mudduck dug a lot of bullets too, a flat button, and a very unusual gun wrench which was probably the find of the day. But I am really knocked out by that rear-pulled 3-ringer.

 

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[N.O. noir et d'or]

Wow PW! That's the first rear wormed minie for me. I'm sure it happened from time to time, but to recover one has to be a rare occurrence. Thanks for posting something so unusual!

 

[Slingshot]

Nice finds! That pulled 3 ringer might not be an accidental bullet reversal in the rifle, as I have found a few that were obviously fired backwards - think of a giant .58 hollow-point bullet, accurate enough for close range combat. Most close contact combat takes place at about 50 yards on the modern battlefield, and I imagine it was much the same in the Northern War of Aggression. The backwards bullet would not have the same velocity as one properly loaded since the bullets skirts are designed to bump up to bore size from the pressure of the expanding gasses of the black powder burning, nor would it's ballistics make it very viable at much range since that big void in it's base would cause tremendous resistance while passing through the air if fired backwards, but close up and personal, anybody hit with one would suffer a most grievous wound. Good hunting, nice coin, looks like fun! Cheers!!

 

[UnderMiner]

Really cool finding a bullet like that. It really tells a story about the soldier who last handled it. Just imagine his shivering hands as he fumbled around trying to unclog his gun as enemy soldiers were firing shots all around him. I wonder if he made it though the war. Neat stories these artifacts tell us.

 

[Old Dude]

What a story! You know that poor fellow was furious with himself and his luck. Great group of finds. Congrats on the FE...don't see them often at all.

 

[The Patriot]

That's a different type of bullet find…love the lead

 

[CASPER-2]

NICE HUNT - NICE FINDS - ACTUALLY IVE SEEN AT LEAST A DOZEN OR SO OF THOSE REVERSE LOADED PULLS - A GUY GOT ONE NOT TO LONG AGO ON A HUNT I WAS ON

 

[david680]

You could be right about "heat of the battle". I read somewhere once about after the Battle of Gettsyburg, they picked up the battlefield. A lot of frontstuffers were improperly loaded, including one that had around 20 loads stuffed down the barrel. Getting a round in backwards would have been perfectly understandable.

 

[relic nut]

Wouldn't that piss you off! Very cool. Nice find

 

[Subterranean]

Parsonwalker, It is possible that your brass spring is part of a CW era Morris Code telegraph machine? Sub

 

[46Wheat]

Unusual find

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Congrats great finds, and a very telling one!

 

[Mr Ripley]

Very nice finds for sure! Believe it or not (see user name), the Flying Eagle is the coin I would be most thrilled to find. I am west of the Alleghenies and have dug large cents, but I have always wished for a FE.

Well done!
Mr R

 

[Pointman]

Just wondering if the salt shaker lid could actually be a sand shaker, but I realize it may be impossible to tell.

 

[deerhuntinghippie]

That is one cool bullet!

 

[parsonwalker]

Just wondering if the salt shaker lid could actually be a sand shaker, but I realize it may be impossible to tell.

What the heck is a sand shaker?!?

Casper - Well thanks for bursting my bubble . . .

And Sub - Hmmmm. I never THOUGHT of that!