Todays Pre Civil War lead finds.

[Dan(NM)]

I've been busy the last few weeks getting 2 of our places ready to sell so I can get ready to move from NM to Texas this year. I finally got caught up, closed on one place Friday and will close on the main house next month month

Hit a new area at the 1850's fort sight today and managed to find a pouch full of lead. Normally the bullets we find are dropped, today, almost all looked fired. I was about 2000 feet or so from where the fort originally stood, from what I've read about this place, no skirmishes took place near the fort. My buddy and I think it may have been the firing range, but, we have no idea. I was surprised to dig some Confederate bullets mixed in with the other lead, not sure what's going on there, but, I'll take it. After almost 6 hours of digging nothing but lead and aluminum, I quit digging the 10-11 numbers because most turned out to be the small lead balls. I did managed several pewter trouser buttons from a different spot right before I called it a day.

I was running the Nox 800 with these settings:

Park 1

Recovery speed 4

Sens 24

Iron bias 0

2 tones

Tone break set at -9 to +9

Manual GB

 

[Mike K (Ohio)]

Damn Sweet Haul!!!!! Congrats!!!!!

 

[Dan(NM)]

Damn Sweet Haul!!!!! Congrats!!!!!

Thank Mike, it was very entertaining to say the least.

 

[laplander]

Great "therapy" day sounds like you needed it Dan. I see your lead is not oxidized white like ours.
HH Jeff

 

[sgoss66]

Dan,

Are you sure you are not hunting the same old fort site (1850s) as the one I have hunted?!?! The finds you make are EXACTLY the same, and...we ALSO dig lots of fired bullets on what we ALSO think was a firing range, which, in our case, is ALSO roughly the same distance from the main fort site that you say yours is!!!

I am just joking of course, as our site is in Oklahoma -- but it sounds like an identical type of fort setup, with identical age; I guess that's not surprising, as I expect that all the forts of that era were set up quite similar. Your digs are the same as ours...pewter buttons, eagle buttons, and the lead you dig is the same as well; lots of round balls -- small ones, and large ones. The "bullets" are the same, except there's one in your picture that I don't recognize, that we've never dug -- the one with the "round" top (2nd row, far right). The others I see, the "three-ring Sharps," and the one "multi-ring Sharps" that I see, the little "teardrop shaped" smaller caliber bullet (which I think is a St. Louis Arsenal .36 cal teardrop bullet, for a Navy revolver), plus the typical .58 cal. 3-ringer minies -- those are exactly what we've dug in our site.

VERY cool!

Steve

 

[Dan(NM)]

Dan,

Are you sure you are not hunting the same old fort site (1850s) as the one I have hunted?!?! The finds you make are EXACTLY the same, and...we ALSO dig lots of fired bullets on what we ALSO think was a firing range, which, in our case, is ALSO roughly the same distance from the main fort site that you say yours is!!!

I am just joking of course, as our site is in Oklahoma -- but it sounds like an identical type of fort setup, with identical age; I guess that's not surprising, as I expect that all the forts of that era were set up quite similar. Your digs are the same as ours...pewter buttons, eagle buttons, and the lead you dig is the same as well; lots of round balls -- small ones, and large ones. The "bullets" are the same, except there's one in your picture that I don't recognize, that we've never dug -- the one with the "round" top (2nd row, far right). The others I see, the "three-ring Sharps," and the one "multi-ring Sharps" that I see, the little "teardrop shaped" smaller caliber bullet (which I think is a St. Louis Arsenal .36 cal teardrop bullet, for a Navy revolver), plus the typical .58 cal. 3-ringer minies -- those are exactly what we've dug in our site.

VERY cool!

Steve

Thanks Steve,

I'm assuming the fort you hunted was a Union site? If so, I'm guessing the items would be standard issue, but, being that I'm just a beginner relic hunter, I can only assume. We spoke with a gentleman that was hunting this place years ago, seems we are only finding the left-overs The volume of finds were staggering, which would be expected in a virgin fort site. I'm still trying to ID the round top bullet your talking about. I'm still scratching my head about the Confederate bullets mixed in with the others.

 

[Dan(NM)]

Great "therapy" day sounds like you needed it Dan. I see your lead is not oxidized white like ours.
HH Jeff

The soil is desert sand and the ground drains extremely fast where we are finding this stuff, sand as deep as you can dig. The Nox GB's at 3 and there doesn't appear to be much if any mineralization.

 

[sgoss66]

Dan,

Yes, it was a "Union" site. When the fort was opened in 1850, this was obviously "pre-war," so of course not really "union" at that point. But, as I understand it, during the Civil War, some Confederates moved north from Texas, to the fort site -- but beforehand, the fort was evacuated, with the Union troops moved north to Ft. Leavenworth in Kansas, for the rest of the war, with Confederates at least partially occupying the fort, if I recall. It was re-occupied, after the war, I believe, by "Union" soldiers, and then later was occupied by "Buffalo" soldiers. Anyway, not sure if maybe something similar happened at your fort -- Confederates occupying the fort during the war, as the Union soldiers vacated to areas farther north? That is one way to explain the Confederate stuff you found. I'm very "green" when it comes to war relics also, as this fort is the only place I've ever hunted Civil War-era items, so I know very little. What bullets in your bunch, are specifically confederate?

Yes, what I got to hunt was just the "leftovers," as well. ENORMOUS amounts of finds were taken from here, by a prior couple of hunters who had access when it was "virgin," just as was the case at your site...

We found quite a few coins, at our site. Are you finding many?

Steve

 

[Dan(NM)]

Lol...the history of our fort mimics the events at your's, almost identical!! This one was finally abandoned in 1862 and was torched. So far, this year, only 2 silver coins and 4 Mexican 1/4 reales have been taken out. From what I was told the ringtails were used by Confederate forces, but, I haven't confirmed that from any book or know expert.

 

[sgoss66]

Dan,

I found this...

http://cwbullet.org/bullet-relic-forum/showthread.php?t=4214&s=fc6e3f50d47721c23be108f5b62decfc

VERY interesting discussion; from the information in that forum thread, PRIOR to the Civil War the U.S. Military's Sharps rifles used "ringtail Sharps" bullets, with the "groove" on the tail of the bullet there to allow a paper cartridge to be tied onto the bullet. Later, a change was made, with the cartridges changed to linen, instead of paper, and they were glued on, as opposed to tied on. So, without the cartridge needing to be "tied on," there was no more need for the "tail." This transition, from "ringtail" to NO "ring on the tail" (i.e. from tied-on paper cartridge to glued-on linen cartridge) started happening in the late 1850s apparently?

But, since apparently the "old" style of cartridges, during the war, were the ones being used by the Confederates, much moreso than the Union (who had been transitioning to the linen cartridges, and thus no "ring" on the tail of the bullet), finding a ringtail bullet on a Civil War site COULD more likely imply CSA -- though, it's not a "definite," since it seems that some Union troops were still using some of them, in certain instances where the "transition" had not occurred yet. BUT -- on an 1850s site, BEFORE the war, these bullets were being used by the U.S. Military, thus their presence at your, and my, fort site.

Hope that helps!

Steve

 

[calabash digger]

nice haul!