My Small Bullet Collection.

[Bass50Ga]

My small collection, a 69 cal . on line from Tennessee
One from Gettysburg Lee's HQ. Store.
One from Gettysburg Camp ground, was selling some in a Styrofoam cup??
One from a flea market in Florida, said Cedar Creek, is darker than the others?
C.S.Gardner from Tennessee on line.
Not much but a start

 

[iron bender]

Looks like Gettysburg #2 .58 was loaded and pulled. Very nice start to your collection!

 

[CWLeadManiac]

My small collection, a 69 cal . on line from Tennessee
One from Gettysburg Lee's HQ. Store.
One from Gettysburg Camp ground, was selling some in a Styrofoam cup??
One from a flea market in Florida, said Cedar Creek, is darker than the others?
C.S.Gardner from Tennessee on line.
Not much but a start

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Very nice start!! I've only been collecting for a month or two and I'm totally addicted!!

 

[Cato3rd]

Bullets are a staple for any collection. They display nicely and you get to own one from every battle. It's even better that you know where they came from. They're like potato chips; you can't just have one

 

[R. Porter]

Bullets are a staple for any collection. They display nicely and you get to own one from every battle. It's even better that you know where they came from. They're like potato chips; you can't just have one

And bullets were collected by active duty soldiers during the war. There's an example in one of the relic books of a Union soldier who was posted just out of range of Confederate rifle fire at the siege of Vicksburg. When he Wanted to add to his collection he would stand in view of the Confederates inviting their fire. After they got off their rounds he would walk over and pick up another group for his collection.

 

[UCVRelics]

Great looking starter group. Thanks for sharing them with us and Keep on collecting.

 

[Cato3rd]

And bullets were collected by active duty soldiers during the war. There's an example in one of the relic books of a Union soldier who was posted just out of range of Confederate rifle fire at the siege of Vicksburg. When he Wanted to add to his collection he would stand in view of the Confederates inviting their fire. After they got off their rounds he would walk over and pick up another group for his collection.

That's pretty funny, I never heard that story. I think someone posted on here awhile ago a story of a reserve union cavalry soldier who collected relics. He collected relics but never saw action until Antietam. When he finally saw the combat, he was so disgusted with the carnage that he threw them all away

 

[R. Porter]

That's pretty funny, I never heard that story. I think someone posted on here awhile ago a story of a reserve union cavalry soldier who collected relics. He collected relics but never saw action until Antietam. When he finally saw the combat, he was so disgusted with the carnage that he threw them all away

Hmmm… he didn't say where he threw them did he?

 

[MRB1863]

Very nice start for your collection. Do you have any ancestors who fought in the war? Would be nice to find some bullets connected with their units if so.

 

[Bass50Ga]

50th Georgia/ 7th Florida and 8th Florida infantry.

 

[LCYingling3rd]

My small collection, a 69 cal . on line from Tennessee
One from Gettysburg Lee's HQ. Store.
One from Gettysburg Camp ground, was selling some in a Styrofoam cup??
One from a flea market in Florida, said Cedar Creek, is darker than the others?
C.S.Gardner from Tennessee on line.
Not much but a start

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View attachment 495664

Thanks for posting your collection, it is great!

Be careful, I started with collecting bullets and my obsession grew from there! Then it was camp items, then accoutrements, then paper items and letters and photographs, and finally weapons...LOL

No, you will collect what interests you. I still enjoy collecting bullets. They are a relatively affordable, very tangible connection to the Civil War for me. It is so cool to be able to hold something in your hand and be able to think, "this was actually there, where and when it happened!"

I grew up in Baltimore, MD and there is a cool town with lots of antique type shops on the west side of the city called Ellicott City. I remember going there when I was young and there was a militaria shop that I always went to at the top of the hill on the south side of the street. I loved the sights and smells of all the fascinating military items from a wide variety of time periods. It was like a museum where you could buy things...and I wished that I could buy everything!

I was drawn to the Civil War bullets. Yes, partly because I could afford them. However, I really liked that there were so many different kinds and they had them from different battlefields. I got a book on them, and it is still so much fun finding the different kinds, some of which are hard to get. It is fun now when I travel to stop in shops and find types I don't have and from battles I don't have yet. I like the dropped ones that are in good shape, but I do also like the fired ones that are dented and misshaped - it kind of brings the harsh reality of the war home thinking it could have caused a casualty.

You have a wonderful collection! Thanks for sharing it with us. Enjoy!

 

[R. Porter]

When I was little there were two-ring, three-ring, and round balls. Two-ring and round balls were Rebel and three-ring were Yankee and all you needed was one of each to complete your set. That was easy to do because they were only 25 cents each. All you had to do was pick them out of a bucket on the counter. As I got older I noticed there were different sizes, different types of two-ring and three-ring, and some had no rings at all. I don't know how many types are recognized now but it is at least well into the hundreds.

Given the location found and condition (shot or dropped for example) it might be possible to know what unit dropped the bullet and thus their position or who they were shooting at and thus some other unit's position. It might be possible to know when it was fired, month, day, year, time of day, and even minute or range of minutes. Not so long ago I read an article where an archaeologist in Georgia, l think, was able to do just that for the writer of the article. It impressed the heck out of the author and me too! There can be so much information tied to small things that can invoke such a strong understanding of an incident in the past, think CSI.

Suppose you get a bullet from a spot where one unit was attacked by another unit one time. If the bullet has been fired you have an idea of the type of firearm used by the attacker. Now suppose that you get another bullet but this one is different. It had to come from a different weapon. If it has been fired that suggests the attacker used more than one type of firearm And you have a better understanding of how the attacker was armed. This might support or contradict a written account or add a bit of unknown information. There's no telling where this could lead, think Little Bighorn, for example.

A bullet collection can be small but mighty!

 

[LCYingling3rd]

I read an interesting article about how archaeology assisted in determining the position of the Irish Brigade as they assaulted the Sunken Road at Antietam/Sharpsburg because they were using smooth bore muskets with buck and ball which was quite identifiable.
I think that is fascinating.