Your Very First American Civil War Relic Find?

FiremarshalBill

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Feb 4, 2016
What was the very first Civil War relic you ever found yourself? Mine was a .577 Enfield bullet I picked up in the Tennessee River, literally only a couple inches from the waters edge "near" (I won't say "in") the National Park at Shiloh, TN in 1967. That little piece of lead somehow made it real and gave me a whole new perspective on a war that, up until that moment, I hadn't really though much about. Moreover, it began my long love affair with searching for those tiny threads of relic history that are still weaving a fascinating tapestry of life 150 years ago.
 
A South Carolina State Seal button found in a field - it was lying on top of the ground in plain view. The button was apparently a souvenir accidentally lost by one of Sherman's men March 8-9,1865. Sherman spent the night of the 8th less than two miles away in a church. His men were camped in fields in the area. I was looking for Indian artifacts at the time so the button was a bonus.
 
I only made one find and that was when I was maybe five. We lived in Atlanta then and I had older cousins who lived in a new suburb where they were still building. My cousins said you could find Civil War stuff where they were digging and one day we went looking through the dirt piles and sure enough, I found two Minie balls. I had those for a number of years but then lost them somehow. We moved about three years later so I was never close to any battlefields after that and I moved out west when I was 22 (and I be old now).
 
Over the years, I have found a South Carolina State Seal button, a North Carolina State Seal button, a Massachusetts button (possible state seal) several bullets,including a .69 minie and two 32 calibre rim- fire hulls all in fields where Sherman's army camped or passed through.
 
Being from eastern Ohio, I have only dug one Civil War relic. Back in about 1986, I was detecting my Grandpa's yard and found a General Service button. The button had obviously belonged to the man who built the house around 1870, James Bethel. James Bethel had been a veteran of the 185th O.V.I. At least I can identify the soldier the button belonged to. :smile:
James Bethel is buried in the cemetery right across the street, and within sight of, where I dug it.
 
I found my first relic (minnie ball) in 1970 in the side of the Sunken Road at Shiloh. My Grandfather took my brother and I to the park and we were walking the road and it had washed out of the bank. I got my first detector that Christmas. It was a Radio Shack put together and I have been a relic hunter ever since.:running:
 
What was the very first Civil War relic you ever found yourself? Mine was a .577 Enfield bullet I picked up in the Tennessee River, literally only a couple inches from the waters edge "near" (I won't say "in") the National Park at Shiloh, TN in 1967. That little piece of lead somehow made it real and gave me a whole new perspective on a war that, up until that moment, I hadn't really though much about. Moreover, it began my long love affair with searching for those tiny threads of relic history that are still weaving a fascinating tapestry of life 150 years ago.


.69 confederate musket ball near Vicksburg
 
My wife and I were in Marshall, VA where they were restoring an old building that had been a hospital after Manassas. By the dumpster I for a holster that had enough of the imprint to tell that it had held an 1851 navy revolver. What I didn't know enough to pick up were the dozen or so shoes also laying around the dumpster.


whaaaaaa? When was this
 
I could afford some good equipment but live too far from battlefields and have no access to battlefields privately owned that I know of. One more reason to love this forum. Sure do enjoy others posting about the relics they have found. Some pretty good videos on YouTube too.
 
I was 16 when I found a Federal cart. box belt plate on the grounds of Camp Dennison outside of my hometown Cincinnati. Found it in a pile of local dirt that had been excavated from a graded area where the original parade grounds were located (now an outdoor sports complex, I believe). After a few hours of searching I came away with dropped pocket knives, insignia, buckles, coins, a pocket watch, buttons, and heel plates. Later still, when my brother and dad went to the camp, we were still finding a lot of relics in bare soil in the same area and where some new home foundations had been dug; that time we found more knives, a bayonet, gutta percha watch fob, more buttons & etc..
 
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