Out of the ground that is…

Our club recently obtained permission to go back to a site we visited earlier this year with an abundance of Civil War bullets. This is near a known Union camp. So these bullets would not have been derived from a battle but probably just goofing off or target practice. This time, there was a lot more territory open to hunt. I was able to spend a day and a half. Somebody commented it was almost as if the bullets had been seeded. That is not the case, but I certainly can’t complain about the quantity. Of the bullets I found, there seem to be three general categories: the “longer” bullet with three more widely spaced rings, a “shorter” bullet with three more closely spaced rings, and a “shorter” bullet with only two rings. I am not a Civil War arms expert. I can weigh these if anybody thinks they could identify the guns.

There were three oddballs which I suspect are newer. These include one longer bullet with a more conical nose and two widely spaced deep rings and a flat (not dimpled) base, one shorter three ring bullet with a flat base, and one longer bullet missing the base ring but having a much thicker rim around the basal dimple. One of the pictures shows this side-by-side with one of the more common bullets.

The Gearlight actually works and is a USB-C rechargeable. I made a mistake of having it pointed in the general direction of my face when I turned it on… Suffice it to say, it is bright. It was just sitting on the ground. The ring I suspect is stainless with the size ( stamped inside. It has stars around the rim covered in plastic. The snap underneath the Lions badge is stamped Carhart. I have a pair of Carhart overalls I wear for work in the winter. The 2-hole button underneath that still has some thread attached so it can’t be too old.

I need to straighten up some of those aluminum tent stakes and sell them for pennies on the dollar…

Nice finds!!!
That site was polluted with lead!!

fwcrawford said:

Nice finds!!!
That site was polluted with lead!!

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Yeah, after we clean it out a bit might have to ask them to till it so we can collect some composite soil samples…

Lots of lead but unfortunately not Civil War.

Fredneck said:

Lots of lead but unfortunately not Civil War.

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I am curious why you think they are not Civil War vintage?

Geologyhound said:

I am curious why you think they are not Civil War vintage?

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Look like more modern black powder bullets similar to these in the pics, notice the flat noses. Someone could of been practicing 20-30 years ago, as their light patina shows.

Fredneck said:

Look like more modern black powder bullets similar to these in the pics, notice the flat noses. Someone could of been practicing 20-30 years ago, as their light patina shows.

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When our club found numerous bullets in our first outing, we wondered about the patina, the abundance, and the variety as well. One member took several samples to a major metal detecting gathering, and the general consensus was (aside from some obvious newer bullet designs) that these bullets were indeed Civil War era. The light patina apparently has an alternate explanation other than age. Specifically, the site has been under continuous ownership for about 100 years and has not been used for farming. So there has been no fertilizer usage. Secondly, the site is subject to flooding which changes the oxidation potential and appearance. Thirdly, this is an Ohio site and soil conditions vary from other states. Apparently, the appearance of these bullets was considered to be very similar to Civil War bullets recovered from other sites with many of the same circumstances.

In addition, as I mentioned before, the site is next to a known large Union camp. Similar bullets were not found elsewhere at the property - only the section facing the camp. Cannonballs have also been found elsewhere on the property where records indicated they should have been. Furthermore, my contact for the property confirmed that there have been no live fire reenactments, nor has this area ever been a shooting range since the property came under their ownership. However, we were cautioned that we might want to wear orange during hunting season as hunters do sneak onto their property during the various hunting seasons. Hence, in my original post, I separated the different designs, and placed the obvious oddballs to the side. But, not knowing much about Civil War bullets, I would like to make sure what appears to be morphologically different to me is actually modern/not modern so I can set those aside/recycle accordingly. So, thank you for the information on the recent maxi ball!

For the remaining bullets, if I am understanding correctly, you think they are modern because a common brand of modern mold would result in a little flat spot on the tip? Would any from the Civil War have a similar flat spot? Would there be a difference in size of the flat spot? The bullets I have seem to be a mix. Some have a small flat spot, some have a larger flat spot, some have an indented head (perhaps from a tumbling impact), some have no discernible flat spot, and some are distorted by what I assume is hard ramming resulting in an extra “nose ring”.

This just seems like an extraordinarily large number of bullets (perhaps 1000 between myself and other club members) for a location the property owner says has not been subjected to sanctioned modern gun fire in 100 years.

I'll add... these smooth flat cavity rims are not Civil War period. The cavity type itself can also be a source for dating if they are period or not.