tndirtdigger
Full Member
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2015
- Messages
- 108
- Reaction score
- 754
- Golden Thread
- 2
- Location
- Middle Tennessee
- 🥇 Banner finds
- 2
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Equinox 800, Garrett AT Pro, Garrett AT Max
- Primary Interest:
- Relic Hunting
Traveled about an hour away from the house yesterday with the Minelab Equinox 800 and tried a spot that I have dug civil war relics at for the last two years. I previously found a M1861 Springfield trigger guard and bayonet, as well as, a bayonet at this site. In 2016 I found a US Cartridge box plate at the same spot.
Got out of the truck and immediately dug a 36 Cal pistol ball, which is my first bullet at this site oddly enough! My third signal was a deep brass signal which was a high tone but the number reading was changing as I swung from different directions. After the first shovel full or dirt was removed the tone became more solid and my heart started beating a little faster. I noticed lead in the bottom of the hole about 9-10" and could tell it was a breast plate. This was my first eagle breast plate so couldn't be happier with the find! Didn't think much more about it and wrote it off as a great find and a personal bucket lister. I went on detecting for a couple more hours and left the dirt on the plate. My finds after that were a rusty camp knife, flat button and a few other misc. iron items. Nothing to write home about in other words!
Once I was ready to leave I used a water bottle to wash off some of the clay mud that was on the plate and to my amazement two brass hooks appeared on the back of the plate. I thought this is interesting and knew right then that I had a little more than a breast plate. I could tell by looking at the broken third hook that this was converted into a belt buckle. The part that I didn't know is that it was done by Confederate hands. I posted this on another online group and almost immediately began getting info that the hooks were Confederate and match the hooks that were installed on CSA pewter plates. A legend in the civil war relic community confirmed that these breast plates were used for Confederate troops as belt plates and the hooks were installed by Noble Bros out of Rome, Georgia in an attempt to supply belt buckles to the Confederate Army. So basically, I was shocked that this went from a US breast plate to a rare Confederate belt plate! Never judge a plate by its cover seemed appropriate for this thread! Thanks for looking and HH!
Got out of the truck and immediately dug a 36 Cal pistol ball, which is my first bullet at this site oddly enough! My third signal was a deep brass signal which was a high tone but the number reading was changing as I swung from different directions. After the first shovel full or dirt was removed the tone became more solid and my heart started beating a little faster. I noticed lead in the bottom of the hole about 9-10" and could tell it was a breast plate. This was my first eagle breast plate so couldn't be happier with the find! Didn't think much more about it and wrote it off as a great find and a personal bucket lister. I went on detecting for a couple more hours and left the dirt on the plate. My finds after that were a rusty camp knife, flat button and a few other misc. iron items. Nothing to write home about in other words!
Once I was ready to leave I used a water bottle to wash off some of the clay mud that was on the plate and to my amazement two brass hooks appeared on the back of the plate. I thought this is interesting and knew right then that I had a little more than a breast plate. I could tell by looking at the broken third hook that this was converted into a belt buckle. The part that I didn't know is that it was done by Confederate hands. I posted this on another online group and almost immediately began getting info that the hooks were Confederate and match the hooks that were installed on CSA pewter plates. A legend in the civil war relic community confirmed that these breast plates were used for Confederate troops as belt plates and the hooks were installed by Noble Bros out of Rome, Georgia in an attempt to supply belt buckles to the Confederate Army. So basically, I was shocked that this went from a US breast plate to a rare Confederate belt plate! Never judge a plate by its cover seemed appropriate for this thread! Thanks for looking and HH!
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