Trivia 1-10-19 Unusual Discovery

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After chewing on this question and not really finding anything of help on the internet, I’m going with the clues - Cold Harbor - community’s name - located 15 miles from navigable water - I will guess it’s an anchor. I will be most anxious to see the correct answer and its’ source.

Edit - Response revised in subsequent post.

hoosier
 
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No luck on the search, although I have certainly learned a lot about Cold Harbor. More on the name--the Middle English word "herber" meant an inn; we still use the verb "to harbor" in a non-nautical sense to mean "to shelter," such as "harboring a fugitive." Henry Bolingbroke, before he became king Henry IV, had access to a London palace called "Cold Harbor" which neither he nor his father John of Gaunt owned, so it was useful to shelter his family during political upheavals when Richard II was trying to seize his family's wealth. None of this has anything to do with our question!

I'm going to take a really wild guess on the "unusual object": an oar?
 
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Finally :bounce:... I found it!
It was a multi-faceted Fresnel lens, manufactured in Paris, originally made for a lighthouse, and valued at $3000. Source: On to Petersburg: Grant and Lee, June 4-15, 1864, Gordon C. Rhea, LSU Press, 2017, page 40.
 
After three days of searching, I surrender. The only thing I can find that 6th Corps soldiers discovered when they dug entrenchments was skeletal remains from the 1862 battle. I suspect that the questioner is asking for something related to water like an anchor or boat chain but I am unale to find anything. All keyword searches lead back to this question or modern day collector discoveries - except the skeletal remains.
 
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Very frustrating question with almost 16 hours of searching produced no hits. I don't know if the double the resulted in a missing clue. There was a nearby foundry and brass works nearby. I would think that an anchor would be too large to bury. So I am guessing it was a brass marine lantern. Grrrrrr, all those hours of wasted time.
 
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A Fresnel lens constructed for a lighthouse.

Source:
On to Petersburg: Grand and Lee June 4 - 15, 1864 by Gordon Rhea, page 40.

Edit - I assume the correct title of the book is "On to Petersburg: Grant and Lee..."

I agree with those players who feel that the first few questions of this month have been difficult. All I can say is that my rule of thumb is that if fewer than six players get the correct answer to a question, I will seriously consider throwing the question out. In this case, eight players (in addition to the question submitter) got the correct answer.

hoosier
 
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