Civil War Relics - Part 2

[Phantom Captain]

This thread discusses the Content article: Civil War Relics - Part 2

Wow!!

Excellent!! Very interesting finds!

First off the large bullet in the lower left would more than likely be a .69 caliber minie ball for use in a rifled 1842 Springfield but it's almost impossible to say without measuring it. A good set of digital calipers would work wonders here. A little background for you...

The 1842 Springfield Musket was originally produced as a .69 caliber smoothbore and loaded with either an undersized roundball or the deadly close range combination of buck and ball, that is one .670 round ball (or thereabouts, size would vary but it would be underbore for ease of loading) topped with three smaller .30 caliber buckshot. When the war broke out many of these muskets were on hand and were hastily converted to rifled weapons. It was much easier and quicker to rifle an already made gun than to produce a whole new one. That huge minie ball looks very much to me like what was used in the rifled .69s.

The other minies you have on the right are Federal pattern .58 caliber minie balls. True measurement of the balls will give you between .575 - .577 caliber because of course they too were undersized to load easier and quicker and expanded on firing. Federal minie balls had three lube rings. The Confederates used many different combinations but the two ring minies on the left are more than likely Confederate balls as they were most commonly used and produced in the south.

The .58 caliber balls in the middle of the picture with the deep ring groove are Williams Cleaner Bullets. These were issued to Federal troops most commonly in 1 per pack of 10 regular minies. The groove is where a zinc oversized ring was originally located (since weathered off with time) with the intent to scrape the bore and clean the rifle upon firing. Perceived success of the design was mixed with some soldiers saying they worked great and other saying they worked not at all. It was also common for Federal troops to quite often just drop them and not even use them!

The smaller caliber balls in the two rows to the left of the two-band Confederate Minies look mostly like either .52 caliber Sharps or Spencer bullets. Much harder for me to see and say for sure without closer inspection.

The cartridge bullets you have there look very much like a Spencer cartridge but there isn't much lip at the end of the cartridge though it could have worn a bit over time or just isn't as obvious in this picture. I'm pretty much willing to bet they are Spencer cartridges though.

The bullet mould you have there is also really interesting! It's either a .36 caliber or .44 caliber (again impossible for me to tell without my calipers and actual measurement)and was very common in the war in either caliber. The Colt Navy was one of the most popular weapons in .36 only supersceded by the Colt Army in .44. The mold can throw either a conical slug or a round ball. Some soldiers liked the conical better and said it hit harder with better stopping power but of course was more difficult to load quickly than a regular round ball. Other soldiers said the round ball killed all out of proportion for it's size and some have even said a round ball was a much better man stopper than the conical bullet. I could go on and on but don't want to take up too much space right now.

Most interesting to me are your examples with the dents and deformities. Look at them again very closely and see if they are actually teeth marks. Wounded soldiers would chew on a bullet to try and ease their pain and suffering or so as not to cry out!

Some of yours there are definitely from hitting things, hitting the ground etc but a few definitely look to me like chewed bullets.

[Amish John]

Louie,

It would be interesting to be able to hunt relics and live near an area where I could do it (I'm about an hour and a half east of Gettysburg). Do you have any trouble getting permission to hunt on a person's land or do you just go to an out of the way area and start looking? How long did it take you to find the part 1 and part 2 items?

John

[chantilly]

Thanks for posting Louie, good stuff. I might be able to pinpoint some of those buttons for you - I've got a book that has a ton of pictures of ACW artifacts with reference.

Amish John's question brought back a funny memory. Back in 1996 I was touring the Peninsula Campaign battlefields. I think it was Gaines Mill, or maybe Seven Pines - but one of them has a small walking trail, of about a mile. My car was the only one in the parking lot - so I was the only person there. About a third of the way through, I saw a recently downed tree, and it was a big one. By the size of it, I figured it was probably big enough during the battle to catch a few bullets. So I trekked back to my car to get my leatherman and dig into any pock-mark scars, looking for a souvenir.
When I got back to my car a NPS ranger was there, I like those guys, so I chatted with him for awhile and snuck my leatherman from my console into my pocket. After 20 minutes or so - I told him, I appreciated the chat and was on my way to the walking tour.
I had every intention of poking around in that downed tree for a bullet, but as you guys know: That's a serious no-no on the National Park Battlefields. When I got to the vicinity of the tree - that crafty old park ranger was also following the foot-path, so no relics for me.

[Edwin Jemison]

Picture 2- Middle cartridge is a Sharps or Spencer.

Picture 6- Right shell, judging by the \"12\" on both sides it would appear that this is a picture of a post ACW Shotgun shell.

Picture 7- The bullet on the right has been pulled from the barrel of a rifle after it was drilled into with a piece that is added the end of a ramrod

[louie raider]

Amish John wrote:

Louie,

It would be interesting to be able to hunt relics and live near an area where I could do it (I'm about an hour and a half east of Gettysburg). Do you have any trouble getting permission to hunt on a person's land or do you just go to an out of the way area and start looking? How long did it take you to find the part 1 and part 2 items?

John

thanks for the questions - as stated in my intro, i didn't find any of these relics, as they were found by my in-laws back in the 80s. i've been metal-detecting with my own father when i was a kid, but that was in our backyard in IL.... so i have very little experience with relic-hunting.

i would imagine it took my father-in-law 2 or 3 separate excursions to find all of these items, and he knew the land owners personally who gave him permission. I'd never knowingly go hunting on any land (animal, artifact or otherwise) without getting permission first; i believe in karma too much

thanks to all for your feedback, it means a lot to be able to ID some of these items! stay tuned for the final installment this week!