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

 

[Joe Whitworth]

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

Thanks you Sir for that interesting article.

 

[History hoarder63]

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

Here are several examples of chewed musket balls that I personally excavated from circa 1779 encampments of the Virginia line.

This example has deep large teeth marks. I am guessing probably made by a wild boar or pig.

This example has numerous smaller teeth marks, fairly deep, possibly human but more likely a boar or pig.

This last example was excavated in a fire pit therefore the teeth marks have to be contemporaneous with the final occupation of the site (June 1779). Possibly human but also could be a dog. It is known that there were a few pet dogs in camp.

 

[Ethan S.]

I think Beau did a good job here explaining this.

 

[Booner]

Having read all of the comments and articles, I come away with a different possibility that hasn't been brought up; the teeth marks from the roundball found at the archeological dig was the end result of casting less than perfect round balls. When casting bullets in a mold, the bullet will be left with a spot where the lead entered the bullet mold which is called a sprue. You can cut or pinch this sprue off, but it may leave a high spot on the bullet. Once the bullet has cooled down to a tolerable temperature, it would be very convenient for the caster to simply put the bullet in his mouth and bite down on the area where the sprue was located in order to flatten it out in order to make a rounder bullet. He could be doing this while he's casting other bullets. I would also think that the molds being used were possibly out of alignment and the soldier used their teeth to make the bullets usable.

"Adapt, improvise, overcome" is a phrase that's been used in the military since Christ was a corporal.

As far as hogs or other animals chewing on lead bullets; hogs have one of the highest sense of smells in the animal kingdom. Perhaps they can detect the smell of the remanent lubricant that was use on the bullets? Don't the French use hogs to detect a certain kind of mushroom that grows underground?
I grew up on a hog farm, and when pigs are weaned and you place two or more litters together, they'll fight each other to establish the new "pecking order" in the herd. We used to take a rag soaked in diesel fuel on a stick and slap each of the hogs with this. No more fighting as the two litters now all smell the same.

(again, adapt, improvise, overcome).

 

[Joe Whitworth]

Having read all of the comments and articles, I come away with a different possibility that hasn't been brought up; the teeth marks from the roundball found at the archeological dig was the end result of casting less than perfect round balls. When casting bullets in a mold, the bullet will be left with a spot where the lead entered the bullet mold which is called a sprue. You can cut or pinch this sprue off, but it may leave a high spot on the bullet. Once the bullet has cooled down to a tolerable temperature, it would be very convenient for the caster to simply put the bullet in his mouth and bite down on the area where the sprue was located in order to flatten it out in order to make a rounder bullet. He could be doing this while he's casting other bullets. I would also think that the molds being used were possibly out of alignment and the soldier used their teeth to make the bullets usable.

"Adapt, improvise, overcome" is a phrase that's been used in the military since Christ was a corporal.

As far as hogs or other animals chewing on lead bullets; hogs have one of the highest sense of smells in the animal kingdom. Perhaps they can detect the smell of the remanent lubricant that was use on the bullets? Don't the French use hogs to detect a certain kind of mushroom that grows underground?
I grew up on a hog farm, and when pigs are weaned and you place two or more litters together, they'll fight each other to establish the new "pecking order" in the herd. We used to take a rag soaked in diesel fuel on a stick and slap each of the hogs with this. No more fighting as the two litters now all smell the same.

(again, adapt, improvise, overcome).

Most molds have a sprue plate which cuts the sprue off neatly. If using a non sprue plate cutter mold a knife will easily cut the sprue. Any high spot left could be removed by rubbing on a file or stone. Humans biting bullets has pretty well been debunked. I'm not saying rare instances of bullet biting may have happened but can't see it as a widely used practice. One possible cause not mentioned is lead projectiles that have been stepped on on stoney ground. I have one Gardner I eyeballed on an old gravel road leading to Solomons Gap that looks chewed up by animals. BTW I once had a dog take a Minie ball off an end table and start to chew on it. YMMV