Spencer Carbine Bullets Excavated from the Red River Campaign

[Red River Campaign 1864]

A first for me!

After a few hours of relic hunting, got a real strong signal, I started to dig and only got down about two inches so thought .... must be another shot gun shell! But to my surprise..... delicate to the touch, I could tell I had something old!

The first one came out of the ground almost complete, only missing a small portion of the cartridge! The second was found only 30 feet away!

The site was used by the Union Cavalry during the Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, to set up a ambush of the Confederate Army! These two Spencer Carbine bullets never completed their mission on April 9th, 1864!!

Below is the before and after my attempt at restoration! Fun to see the 1864 gun powder still in the cartridge!


A little history lesson for those who care to read~

The Spencer repeating rifle was a manually operated lever-action, seven shot repeating rifle produced in the United States by three manufacturers between 1860 and 1869. Designed by Christopher Spencer, it was fed with cartridges from a tube magazine in the rifle’s buttstock.

The Spencer repeating rifle was adopted by the Union Army, especially by the cavalry, during the American Civil War, but did not replace the standard issue muzzle-loading rifled muskets in use at the time. The Spencer carbine was a shorter and lighter version.

 

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[JmCraz8]

Great saves!!!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Congratualtions!

 

[Joe-Dirt]

Very nice, good job

 

[Hawks88]

Excellent job on the displaying of those finds. Congrats!

 

[JBnNC]

Very nice!--JB

 

[Red River Campaign 1864]

Great saves!!!

Thanks my friend!

 

[Red River Campaign 1864]

Congratualtions!

Thanks my friend!

 

[Red River Campaign 1864]

Very nice, good job

Thanks Joe-Dirt!

 

[Red River Campaign 1864]

Excellent job on the displaying of those finds. Congrats!

Thanks Hawks88! Restoration is not my strong suit but came out nicely for the display!

 

[Red River Campaign 1864]

Very nice!--JB

Thanks my friend!

 

[Carolina Tom]

Very cool finds. Congrats to you sir.

 

[Red River Campaign 1864]

Very cool finds. Congrats to you sir.

Thanks my friend!

 

[Steve in PA]

Relics from the Red River campaign are probably pretty hard to come by these days as relic hunters from Texas and Louisiana have hit those sites hard. When I lived in Dallas in the early 1990s we drove over to Mansfield and hunted a place called Chapman's Bayou. A lot of the site was destroyed by gravel mining. Found a few shot bullets and one dropped three ringer was all. Now if you were hunting sites from the 1864 Valley Campaign in West Virginia, you would need a whole lot more display cases for your Spencers

 

[mhess22]

Nice finds and nice way to display them. Thanks for the write up.

 

[JmCraz8]

Relics from the Red River campaign are probably pretty hard to come by these days as relic hunters from Texas and Louisiana have hit those sites hard. When I lived in Dallas in the early 1990s we drove over to Mansfield and hunted a place called Chapman's Bayou. A lot of the site was destroyed by gravel mining. Found a few shot bullets and one dropped three ringer was all. Now if you were hunting sites from the 1864 Valley Campaign in West Virginia, you would need a whole lot more display cases for your Spencers

I do all my relic hunting in WV only found .69s so far

 

[Steve in PA]

I do all my relic hunting in WV only found .69s so far

I probably have 150 Spencer Casings and a few complete ones, plus plenty of fired Spencers. and living in Pennsylvania I only get down there occasionally. If you hunt skirmish sites where cavalry were involved, between Shepardstown and Winchester, you will find them.

 

[JmCraz8]

I probably have 150 Spencer Casings and a few complete ones, plus plenty of fired Spencers. and living in Pennsylvania I only get down there occasionally. If you hunt skirmish sites where cavalry were involved, between Shepardstown and Winchester, you will find them.

That's awesome I mostly hunt the western part of the state but will have to venture that way one day lol

 

[Red River Campaign 1864]

Relics from the Red River campaign are probably pretty hard to come by these days as relic hunters from Texas and Louisiana have hit those sites hard. When I lived in Dallas in the early 1990s we drove over to Mansfield and hunted a place called Chapman's Bayou. A lot of the site was destroyed by gravel mining. Found a few shot bullets and one dropped three ringer was all. Now if you were hunting sites from the 1864 Valley Campaign in West Virginia, you would need a whole lot more display cases for your Spencers

Yes.... like most of the battles "West of the Mississippi" these sites were mostly lost to history until the early 1960s when a group of first generation metal detectorist started digging around Mansfield and Pleasant Hill! Heard stories all my life of them finding relics just laying around on the ground! Buckets of bullets and shrapnel they'd leave behind just because it was too heavy for their pockets! The "good ole days" as they reference it! Lucky for us 2nd and 3rd generation "relic hunters", the metal detectors just kept getting better and digging deeper so we still find a piece of Civil War treasure every once in a while, that they left behind! Would love to hunt the Virginia Campaigns.... Me and my buddy are always open to a road trip so a invitation would be great!

 

[Red River Campaign 1864]

Nice finds and nice way to display them. Thanks for the write up.

Thanks my friend!