Question for bullet collectors.

[Rhea Cole]

A recent excavation of a well preserved Revolutionary War barracks at Williamsburg has produced a surprising result, to me anyways. See link below.

Among the objects preserved when Cornwallis burnt the structure are many musket balls with teeth marks on them. This is a common find because the lead had a sweet taste & soldiers sucked on them.

As I have said, lead having a sweet taste is news to me. By the same token, I have seen bucket loads of Minnie balls without noticing any chew marks. I have never read a soldier letter or memoir that refers to the sweet taste of lead.

It is common to find Civil War bullets that have been whittled on by a bored soldier. I cringe at the suggestion that some of those bullets were chewed up.

The evidence at hand leads to a couple of mutually exclusive conclusions. Either Civil War soldiers did not suck on lead bullets for the sweet taste or it was so common as to be unremarkable.

Has anybody read about soldiers sucking on bullets or found a bullet with chew marks?

Archaeologists Accidentally Found the Incredible Lost Remnants of America's First Soldiers — Popular Mechanics

The Revolutionary War artifacts tell the story of what General Cornwallis tried to destroy forever—but couldn’t erase.

apple.news

 

[History hoarder63]

In Private Yankee Doodle, the author Joshua Martin tells of putting a musket ball in his mouth the generate saliva on a hot day.

 

[UCVRelics]

found a bullet with chew marks

I have found many with teeth marks but all were done by animals.

 

[Joe Whitworth]

I have found many with teeth marks but all were done by animals.

Yup, me too.

 

[Joe Whitworth]

A recent excavation of a well preserved Revolutionary War barracks at Williamsburg has produced a surprising result, to me anyways. See link below.

Among the objects preserved when Cornwallis burnt the structure are many musket balls with teeth marks on them. This is a common find because the lead had a sweet taste & soldiers sucked on them.

As I have said, lead having a sweet taste is news to me. By the same token, I have seen bucket loads of Minnie balls without noticing any chew marks. I have never read a soldier letter or memoir that refers to the sweet taste of lead.

It is common to find Civil War bullets that have been whittled on by a bored soldier. I cringe at the suggestion that some of those bullets were chewed up.

The evidence at hand leads to a couple of mutually exclusive conclusions. Either Civil War soldiers did not suck on lead bullets for the sweet taste or it was so common as to be unremarkable.

Has anybody read about soldiers sucking on bullets or found a bullet with chew marks?

Archaeologists Accidentally Found the Incredible Lost Remnants of America's First Soldiers — Popular Mechanics

The Revolutionary War artifacts tell the story of what General Cornwallis tried to destroy forever—but couldn’t erase.

apple.news

Lead acetate, AKA lead sugar Pb(C2H3O2)2 has a sweet taste, lead bullets don't. The Romans produced a sweet syrup by boiling grape juice in lead vessels, this syrup was added to wine as a sweetener. Some say it made them crazy as well giving them lead poisoning aiding the downfall of Rome. YMMV

 

[Rhea Cole]

Lead acetate, AKA lead sugar Pb(C2H3O2)2 has a sweet taste, lead bullets don't. The Romans produced a sweet syrup by boiling grape juice in lead vessels, this syrup was added to wine as a sweetener. Some say it made them crazy as well giving them lead poisoning aiding the downfall of Rome. YMMV

This is a logical explanation. That begs the question, what's with the chew marks on the Rev War bullets? Was there a lead alloy that was not used in the 1860's? Lead is an element, so any difference would have to come from something else.

 

[Package4]

A recent excavation of a well preserved Revolutionary War barracks at Williamsburg has produced a surprising result, to me anyways. See link below.

Among the objects preserved when Cornwallis burnt the structure are many musket balls with teeth marks on them. This is a common find because the lead had a sweet taste & soldiers sucked on them.

As I have said, lead having a sweet taste is news to me. By the same token, I have seen bucket loads of Minnie balls without noticing any chew marks. I have never read a soldier letter or memoir that refers to the sweet taste of lead.

It is common to find Civil War bullets that have been whittled on by a bored soldier. I cringe at the suggestion that some of those bullets were chewed up.

The evidence at hand leads to a couple of mutually exclusive conclusions. Either Civil War soldiers did not suck on lead bullets for the sweet taste or it was so common as to be unremarkable.

Has anybody read about soldiers sucking on bullets or found a bullet with chew marks?

Archaeologists Accidentally Found the Incredible Lost Remnants of America's First Soldiers — Popular Mechanics

The Revolutionary War artifacts tell the story of what General Cornwallis tried to destroy forever—but couldn’t erase.

apple.news

Animals will pick up a ball thinking it is a nut and bite, over decades many different animals will take a bite. Squirrels, pigs, boars, racoons even skunks will take a bite. Put a bullet in your mouth and bite down hard enough to make a dent and you will be making an emergency call to your dentist!

 

[Jack7171]

Animals will pick up a ball thinking it is a nut and bite, over decades many different animals will take a bite. Squirrels, pigs, boars, racoons even skunks will take a bite. Put a bullet in your mouth and bite down hard enough to make a dent and you will be making an emergency call to your dentist!

I've read the bitten bullet myth dispelled several times,,and there is even a forensic pathologist who did a mock scenario of a human biting a lead bullet hard enough to make teeth marks,,,I forget the actual data #'s, but the force required to dent the lead is far beyond what a human tooth could withstand. Hogs teeth are tremendously harder

 

[Joe Whitworth]

Pure lead balls and bullets are soft and can be easily scratched with a fingernail, that method is commonly used on scrap lead to test it's suitability for use in muzzleloaders that require pure soft lead. I cast my own bullets and balls and have used that method. Cloth patches will imprint the weave on a tight fitting pure lead ball when rammed down the bore of a Kentucky or Hawken rifle. Minie balls are under bore size and require pure lead to allow the thin skirt to expand filling the grooves in the bore to take the rifling imparting spin. Depending on the alloy lead bullets can be quite hard. The linotype alloy (84% lead, 12% antimony , 4% tin) I use to cast hex bullets for my Whitworth are hard enough to shatter against a steel target and pass thru 12" of wood without deforming. Pure lead on the Brinell scale of hardness comes in at 4.5 while linotype rates 22. As to biting a pure lead bullet for science I've got too much money invested in dental work to try it with my teeth these days. One of you youngsters with good teeth can give it a try and report back YTMV

 

[R. Porter]

If lead has a sweet taste, that might cause wild animals to chew on them. If they are soft enough, rodents might chew on them to wear down their teeth. I once recovered some bullets from a skirmish site on the retreat to Appomattox. Based on their location they appeared to be Confederate. Due to their deformity they appeared to be the softest lead bullets I had ever seen, but I didn't bite them.

 

[R. Porter]

The linked article says it was lead shot, not musket balls that was chewed by the soldiers. That might make a difference.

 

[Rhea Cole]

Here is an academic paper on the subject of bite marks on bullets. It includes an analysis of two bullets with tooth marks displayed by the Cole County MO historical society in Jefferson City.

The methods, analysis & conclusions reached satisfy my curiosity on this subject.

https://meridian.allenpress.com/tmas/article/48/2020/11/464446/Biting-the-Bullet-Analyzing-the-Authenticity-of

 

[bayonet]

Wasn't there an expression "Bite the Bullet" back then when some type of medical procedure was being done to them? Bite down hard on something to help control the pain same as using leather or a wooden stick.

 

[Joe Whitworth]

Here is an academic paper on the subject of bite marks on bullets. It includes an analysis of two bullets with tooth marks displayed by the Cole County MO historical society in Jefferson City.

The methods, analysis & conclusions reached satisfy my curiosity on this subject.

https://meridian.allenpress.com/tmas/article/48/2020/11/464446/Biting-the-Bullet-Analyzing-the-Authenticity-of

Thanks Rhea for posting that link, very interesting. I have a few bullets and balls with obvious teeth marks from a small rodent. They all came from the top of the mountain where the soil is thin and it wasn't uncommon to find a bullet still on the rocky surface covered only by leaves. I tried photographing a Williams cleaner bullet with mouse bites taken around the whole perimeter of the base but they don't show up very well along with a ball with a set of obvious small rodent teeth marks.

 

[Rhea Cole]

Wasn't there an expression "Bite the Bullet" back then when some type of medical procedure was being done to them? Bite down hard on something to help control the pain same as using leather or a wooden stick.

The link that I posted above delves into biting a bullet during amputations. The obvious risk of breaking a tooth or the choking hazard militate against it.

I highly recommend the paper.

 

[Rhea Cole]

The linked article says it was lead shot, not musket balls that was chewed by the soldiers. That might make a difference.

It is a distinction without a difference,

 

[Rhea Cole]

Thanks Rhea for posting that link, very interesting. I have a few bullets and balls with obvious teeth marks from a small rodent. They all came from the top of the mountain where the soil is thin and it wasn't uncommon to find a bullet still on the rocky surface covered only by leaves. I tried photographing a Williams cleaner bullet with mouse bites taken around the whole perimeter of the base but they don't show up very well along with a ball with a set of obvious small rodent teeth marks.

The paper is a good example of the scientific method in action.

 

[Sowbelly and Hardtack]

February 2013 Who Bit the Bullet?: Let Slip the Pigs of War!

An official website of the Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum.

jefpat.maryland.gov

 

[Rhea Cole]

February 2013 Who Bit the Bullet?: Let Slip the Pigs of War!

An official website of the Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum.

jefpat.maryland.gov

I really like the way our CWT discussions meander into unknown territory.

 

[Package4]

February 2013 Who Bit the Bullet?: Let Slip the Pigs of War!

An official website of the Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum.

jefpat.maryland.gov

Great article!