Relic Hunting Siege of Vicksburg Site

Tom Hughes

Sergeant Major
Joined
May 27, 2019
Location
Mississippi
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With our recent snow/ice storm here in central Mississippi last week, it was definitely time to get back outside once the thaw began this past weekend. Armed with a metal detector, I wanted to find some civil war history at a new site in the Vicksburg campaign. I did manage a few things.

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Here's a close up of the musket hammer. I believe this went to a Belgian .69 calibre musket. I've begun the cleaning process. At this point, most of the loose dirt has been cleaned off. Now time to tackle the hard to clean rust.

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I know this brass item is difficult to visualize it's function, but it's half of a brass trigger guard to a Kentucky rifle style musket. I say "style" because it matches up closer to the Kentucky rifle trigger guard more than any other style trigger guard I've identified thus far.

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Here's a typical fired bullet. This particular one is a British Enfield bullet. Probably fired by a Confederate infantryman.
 
How did you fare in the ice storm? Did you lose power and water?
Power went out twice but I have a really good generator. Pipe busted on Tuesday but damage was minimal. Had to shut the water off until I could get the pipe fixed. That happened mid-afternoon Friday. All good.
 
I just got confirmation that my trigger guard piece did indeed come from a Kentucky Rifle. That would almost certainly mean that it had to have belonged to a Confederate soldier at some point. Any thoughts out there?
I don't know about that has back in the day everyone had a KY rifle and could have just been broken where you found it.
 
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