Civil War brass I didn't know I had (Again!)

Hey everyone!  I've been scouting some new properties, which can often take time before it produces results.  In between scouting trips, Jim and I would headed back to our "old faithful" construction site, hoping to rescue a few more relics before the new buildings go up.  We've done a fairly good job cleaning the place up, but it's a large area and there are still a few more dozer-scattered bullets to be found.  Here are a few bullets found on recent trips.

Now, in the past, I've talked about the fun of identifying unknown relics and the importance of hanging on to things you can't quite ID.  Recently I found yet another example of this, and pulled another Saxapahaw Civil War relic from my scrap box.  But the story actually starts back in 2010.  One of my early finds here in Saxapahaw was this large, flat, brass oval.  I didn't know what it was, but it was interesting and I knew I should keep it, so into the scrap box it went.  Several months went by, and I happened to be perusing one of the numerous detecting forums on the web when I found a post of one user's best Civil War recoveries.  Scrolling through pictures of buckles and buttons, there I find this same large, flat, brass oval.  I jumped up and ran to my box to recovered my piece, and sure enough, it was an exact match.  It was ID'ed as the pan portion (sometimes called the "clam shell" or "mouse ear" ) of a shoulder epaulette or shoulder scale.

These brass pieces, issued to Union troops, were made up of several pieces that form a row of armor over the shoulder.  They were intended to reduce injuries from cavalry sabre strikes to the shoulder, but proved to be rather ineffective in actual use.  As a result, they were often discarded by soldiers, so finding one at a late-war site (for example, here in Saxapahaw) is much less common.  Here is a picture of a Union soldier showing shoulder scales in use, as well as an original non-dug pair of shoulder scales.

Recently I had a bit of a deja-vu moment.  I was browsing some recent finds on a detecting forum, when I happened across a small brass piece which looked familiar.  I once again ran down to the scrap box, and sure enough I had recovered the same small brass item from the field where the shoulder scale pan had been found.

The shoulder scale attached to the uniform using a brass turn-key piece, which I had already recovered without realizing it!  The image below shows a pair of reproduction turn-key attachments, as well as a pair of original scales demonstrating how the turn-keys work.  The turnkey I found is pictured above.  My first thought was to grab the DFX and search the field again for the rest of the scales, but it will have to wait, as the field is currently in hay.  I will, of course, keep you updated should I find some more of it though!

Confederate Button? Yankee Knife? Not so fast...

Hey everyone!  I haven't found anything amazing lately that would warrant it's own blog post, but I thought I'd post a few things I have found lately over several hunts.  In the process, I'll make a short commentary about a subject few relic hunters want to discuss, but which is important for us all to be aware of.  Namely, the temptation to identify an item the way you want it to be, even if the evidence is lacking to make that claim.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Last weekend I took a trip down to the Battle of Bentonville, NC with a few guys from the Raleigh detecting club.  The heavy rains in the area preceding our visit made for a wet, soggy, and cold day of detecting.  It was also comparatively slow in terms of finds for all of us, but I did manage two 58 caliber three ring minie balls and one Williams cleaner bullet.  The find of the day was made by John, who recovered a US bridle rosette, although the plow had beaten him to it and bent the brass piece nearly in half.

Wednesday after work I had a bit of time, and decided to do some more detecting right here in Saxapahaw.  I was working a Confederate site on a farm near town, which I believe may have been a small picket post.  It sits on a low hill with a view of Saxapahaw Bethlehem Church Rd. and the old White Cross Road (NC 54), and would have provided a safe but effective watch post to cover the Confederate crossing of the Haw River further North.  I have previously recovered several military related items which date to the Civil War, including coat size buttons from both Virginia and North Carolina.  I only found one period item in my short hunt on Wednesday, which turned out to be this tiny (very tiny!) two piece brass cuff button.  The brass back has no backmark, and the shank is broken off.  The device (design on the front) of the button shows a star pattern, with rings of dots at each point.  This would fall under the collector's classification as a "flower button."

And here is where the temptation comes in.  The Confederate army was very poorly equipped compared to the Union, and this included uniforms and uniform buttons.  It is well established than many Confederates wore makeshift uniforms, often consisting of civilian-use gilted flower buttons or flat buttons. It is easy to find similar civilian buttons online listed as "Confederate."  So did I find another Confederate button in that field near home?  It's tempting to say yes.  It was found very close to (actually, in between) the two Confederate buttons previously recovered in the field.  It is fitting in both design and construction for the period, although the size is a bit unique.  I have not found any distinctly non-military period finds in that area.  As tempting as it is to declare this a "Confederate button," I will stop short of making that claim.  Although it MAY have been used by a Confederate, it was designed as a civilian button, and the field in which it was found has been farmed by civilians for some 200+ years.  This is why responsible relic hunters stress the importance of good record keeping.  The best I can do is record the provenance of the item for the future, and to ascribe any more significance to it would simply be disingenuous.

I also took a trip yesterday down to a Union Camp that I have been searching with my buddy Jim.  We haven't located the main camp exactly, but have been working the outlying areas trying to hone in on a central location.  The result of yesterday's scouting trip was three bullets - two 58 cal minie's for me and a fired Williams cleaner for Jim.  This is an interesting bullet, as the vast majority of cleaners that I have seen dug have been dropped rather than fired.  They were considered by the troops to be less accurate or harder to load, and were often discarded without firing.  I also recovered a pocket knife, made of iron with a brass end.  Since it was found near the camp site, it clearly belonged to a soldier, right?  No?  Good, you passed the test.  Pocket knives like this were made during the period, but their design has changed very little since then.  I will have to do some more research to find out if this is a period knife, although it's likely that I will never really be sure.

Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for any comments you may have.  God Bless!

An Unexpected Relic from a different Great War

I finally got back to some digging back home in North Carolina, and made an unexpected but very interesting find.  I was back at the construction site with Jim last week, looking for more bullets from a Civil War camp site which is currently being developed.  Most of the targets we've been recovering there have been of the Civil War period, but the land was originally part of a farm, so we occasionally find more modern items as well.  My take for the day was four more bullets (three 58 caliber minie balls and one Williams cleaner type two), two small rivets, some melted lead, and the base to another Williams cleaner bullet.  I was surprised when I uncovered a small holed coin from the site!  Given the hole, I thought it was likely from the Civil War period, but cleaning it revealed a relic from a different Great War.

One side of the coin shows the Reichsadler, or Imperial Eagle, the heraldic symbol of Germany.  The other side identifies the coin as 10 Pfennig, along with the country of origin, the "Deutsches Reich" or Imperial German Realm.  The date on the coin holds a special significance - minted in 1918, this coin marks the end of World War I and the fall of the German Empire that created it.  This explains the hole in the coin, as it was almost certainly a souvenir brought back from the war.  This is one of those special sort of finds that I really wish could talk.  It would definitely have a story to tell, and it is fascinating to think about the places it has been and the things it might have been witness to.  I have included a picture of a non-dug example of this coin below, so you can see what it would have looked like before it was lost.

Video from DIV, and the history behind the finds

In my DIV daily blogs, I told you about the experiences I had detecting in Virginia, and showed you some of the relics I recovered there.  In this blog post, I'd like to take a closer look at some of those finds, and put them in the perspective of their use and historical significance.  First, though, I'm happy to share with you the video I put together while on the trip.  I wanted my friends, family, and readers to share in the excitement of the finds as they were made.  I have both the bottle and plate reveals on camera, showing these rare items coming to light for the first time in 150 years.  I do hope you enjoy it.

On June 9th, 1863, some 20,000 soldiers converged near the town of Brandy Station, Virginia.  The ensuing battle was the largest cavalry engagement to ever take place in America.  The Union cavalry launched a surprise raid against the Confederate cavalry encampment of Gen. Jeb Stuart.  Although the attack failed to route the Confederates, and the outcome was not a significant victory for either side, the battle marked one important turning point in the war.  For the first time, the Federal cavalry held their own against the Confederates, who had previously dominated in terms of mounted combat.

The properties we searched included part of the Brandy Station battlefield.  In addition, the area was used as winter camps by both armies during the war.  During the winter of 1863-1864, the Spillman Farm (site of DIV XXI) was home to the 1st Division, United States Cavalry.  It was in the center of this camp that I recovered the sword belt buckle, worn by all enlisted cavalrymen.  It is simply amazing to know that I walked the very hill these men are standing on in the picture.  An enlarged section of the picture is also posted below, clearly showing the eagle sabre belt plates they wore, exactly like the one I recovered form the hillside.  Numerous other cavalry-related items were recovered by other detectorists at the hunt, including bit bosses, rosettes, curb chains, bits, several sabre belt plates and carbine sling buckles, sharps and colt pistol bullets, 1st division hat numbers, a Co. K 1st Division ID tag, and even a bugle found at the bottom of a dug out hut.  Below is a picture of Company K, 1st US Cavalry Division in that camp, not far from where my sabre belt plate was recovered.

The sword belt rig consisted of a leather belt with brass buckle, and a number of brass pieces for hanging the sword while standing and mounted.  CivilWarMall has an excellent image which clearly illustrates the metal parts of the sword belt rig.  Notice the large rivets and snap-swivel at the end of the hanging straps - these are the pieces of the sword belt rig found by Earl K. on the hillside near my Virginia buckle at DIV XIX, which he so graciously gave to me.

For a one-piece infantry belt, a small brass adjuster was attached to the opposite end of the belt from the buckle.  You can see how it was used, and how it was affixed to the belt, in this example from Gatling-Gun.com. I recovered an infantry belt adjuster at a Union campsite located on the Beauregard Farm (DIV XX), which is also shown in the image below.

I also wanted to post a picture of the Ordnance button I recovered at a Confederate camp site on the Beauregard farm, with a non-dug example from relicman.com for comparison.  The low-convex three-piece button was originally produced for a Union Ordnance Corp officer, responsible for the logistics of weapons development and procurement.  The design features a flaming bomb over two crossed cannons, both of which bear the letters "US".  This is a pre-war button was produced in the 1830's-40's, and a new design was used for Federal Ordnance Corp buttons in the 1850's-60's.  It was found in a camp which produced several other confederate buttons, including North Carolina seal buttons and at least one Confederate Artillery "block A" button.  The combination of the outdated style of the button as well as the location of the find makes it very likely that this button was re-purposed by the Confederacy for use by an artilleryman.

DIV Blog Day 7: Back to Saxapahaw!

I apologize for not adding the Day 7 blog yesterday, I was simply exhausted.  We hunted in the rain yesterday morning, and I didn't make any find of note except for one small brass buckle.  But the highlight of the day was when my digging buddy, carpool driver, and friend Josh came over with something to show me.  He held out a carbine sling buckle, plow bent but with both keepers, and asked if I knew what it was.  I sure did!  It's a carbine sling buckle, used on a wide leather belt to attach a cavalryman to his weapon so he could hold the reins.  Josh had found his first Civil War buckle!  They were used by both sides, but based on the construction, it appears that his was made by the Union.  I didn't get a picture of his buckle to show you, but below is a picture of a Union carbine sling buckle I found a while back right here in Saxapahaw.  It was both my first Civil War buckle and the first Civil War relic I had ever found.  Josh hadn't cleaned when I last saw him, so I don't know if it had any maker's mark.  My buckle from Saxapahaw is double stamped.  The first says "E. Gaylord Chicopee Mass.", the buckle maker.  The second stamp reads "T. J. Shepard", the US equipment inspector.  It's hard to get an idea of the size of this buckle from this picture, but it's quite large at about 3.25 x 2 inches.

We celebrated for a bit, and dug some more before the rains hit hard.  We went back for lunch and the relic show (with some AMAZING finds on display) under the HQ tent.  After lunch we were wet (with more rain coming), exhausted from a week of relic hunting, and happy with our respective buckles - so we decided to hit the road early, and come back to Saxapahaw a bit early.  That was nice, as I was starting to miss this little town.  It's good to be home.

DIV Day 6: Union Cavalry Buckle!!!

At the end of yesterday’s post, I commented that I was happy with lead but I really wanted to find some brass today.  Well, I accomplished that in a BIG way!  The day started off well with a few bullets, two grommets, and an eagle coat button.  I struggled to pull a few more bullets out of the big field where I found them yesterday, but then decided to move on to the large Union cavalry camp that I had heard about last night.  There were detectors everywhere, and a few pits open on the hillside.  With the amount of bullets being found in that camp, I knew there had to be a plate in there somewhere, so I headed up the hill and started swinging.

I wasn’t in the camp very long before I got a shallow bullet signal.  I dug down, but the target was still in the hole.  When I saw a line of green brass showing at about 6 inches I started to get excited.  Clearing away a bit more dirt revealed the loop on the side of a belt buckle, and I knew I was in business!

Pulling it out from the clay, I confirmed my suspicion when I saw the Federal eagle of a saber belt plate.  This type of buckle was used on a Union cavalryman’s sword belt.  Around the eagle, a silver laurel wreath would have been soldered on, but is missing on my particular buckle.

Once again I have to thank God for helping me to make such a historic discovery.  Also, I’d like to offer a huge thank you to John, Rose, and the entire DIV committee for their hard work which made this hunt possible.  I’m so excited to have found such an amazing piece of this nation’s history!!

DIV Blog Day 5: S'more lead

Today was the start of DIV XXI at a different property associated with the Battle of Brandy Station.  WOW, there were some amazing relics unearthed today!!  They included an ID badge, complete pistol, a sword hilt and pommel, buttons from Louisiana Mississippi Texas and many others, a South Carolina belt plate and many more amazing recoveries.  Unfortunately none of those mind-blowing finds were mine, but I'm still happy with the new lead I recovered.  I took far too long finding a "spot", and I really only got into a decent place thanks to fellow digger Vaughn (thanks!).

I was pleased to recover a total of 9 bullets, all of them different!  Several I have never found before, so this made for a successful day of detecting.  From left to right they are: 44 pistol round ball, 44 Colt pistol, 58 round ball, 54 Sharps variant (I think), my first 54 Sharps ringtail, my first 58 Gardner, Williams cleaner type 1, 58 caliber three ring Minie, and an unidentified high-velocity impact bullet.

I'm looking forward to getting out again tomorrow to hopefully add some brass to all this lead, and if I'm really lucky get into another pit to dig.  Wish me luck!