I was very fortunate over the last couple of weekends to have a friend from my MD club invite me on a relic hunt in South Carolina; the first relic hunting I've ever done.
We hit the site of a Union encampment that appeared to have been hunted a lot in the past. Seemed all that was left were thousands of square nails. I was hunting in relic mode, so everything was setting off the detector. Near the edge of the remains of a trench line, however, I dug this Spencer rifle cartridge. It is unfired, but the bullet is missing. My first CW relic!
[attachment 36161 DSCN0013.JPG]
[attachment 36162 DSCN0014.JPG]
The following weekend we went back to the same encampment. With small iron discriminated out, the search was on anew.
After about an hour of digging an endless supply of spent shotgun shells (it's just too hard to ignore that nickel signal), I got a high tone from between two trees. My pinpointer told me the target was 6-1/2" down. I cut a plug with my shovel and popped it out. After pinpointing the bottom of the hole, I reached down and pulled out this CSA general services button. I was so excited!! I just knelt there on the ground staring at it for about 30 seconds. My second CW relic!
The back of the button reads "S. Buckley & Co. - Birmingham"
[attachment 36163 DSCN0010.JPG]
[attachment 36164 DSCN0011.JPG]
It's interesting to speculate on how that Confederate button came to be in a Union encampment
[attachment 36160 DSCN0015.JPG]
-Tioga
We hit the site of a Union encampment that appeared to have been hunted a lot in the past. Seemed all that was left were thousands of square nails. I was hunting in relic mode, so everything was setting off the detector. Near the edge of the remains of a trench line, however, I dug this Spencer rifle cartridge. It is unfired, but the bullet is missing. My first CW relic!
[attachment 36161 DSCN0013.JPG]
[attachment 36162 DSCN0014.JPG]
The following weekend we went back to the same encampment. With small iron discriminated out, the search was on anew.
After about an hour of digging an endless supply of spent shotgun shells (it's just too hard to ignore that nickel signal), I got a high tone from between two trees. My pinpointer told me the target was 6-1/2" down. I cut a plug with my shovel and popped it out. After pinpointing the bottom of the hole, I reached down and pulled out this CSA general services button. I was so excited!! I just knelt there on the ground staring at it for about 30 seconds. My second CW relic!
The back of the button reads "S. Buckley & Co. - Birmingham"
[attachment 36163 DSCN0010.JPG]
[attachment 36164 DSCN0011.JPG]
It's interesting to speculate on how that Confederate button came to be in a Union encampment
[attachment 36160 DSCN0015.JPG]
-Tioga
