Religious medal I dug

[LafayetteCountyDigger]

I was hunting a confederate camp and I wasn't finding much, just a couple of bullets and some camp lead. I was detecting my way back to my truck and I got a low tone that sounded similar to a button and I was surprised to see a religious medal come out of the ground. It says 1830 on it I'm assuming it's period I have never dug anything like this but I've always heard of them being dug in camps. My buddy said that it's period but what do y'all think

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

It looks like a Catholic holy medal that is still sold today.

The year 1830 is on the Miraculous Medal because Catholics believe it is the year the design of the Miraculous Medal was given to St. Catherine by the Blessed Mother Mary. Here's some more general information

Miraculous Medal - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[LafayetteCountyDigger]

It looks like a Catholic holy medal that is still sold today.
View attachment 478998

The year 1830 on the Miraculous Medal is the year the design of the Miraculous Medal to St. Catherine. Here's some more general information

Miraculous Medal - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Thanks for the reply. I noticed that they still make them today. The one I dug is different in many small details compared to the modern ones. I found a couple others dug in Virginia camps and they were exactly the same as mine. I believe it's period but I could be wrong. I'd like to have @ucvrelics opinion

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

No reason a Catholic soldier in 1861-65 would not have worn such a medal and lots of reasons he would.

 

[LafayetteCountyDigger]

No reason a Catholic soldier in 1861-65 would not have worn such a medal and lots of reasons he would.

Yep. Also I dug it in an isolated spot in the middle of the woods. If I had dug it in a yard I would think it was post war

 

[Mrs. V]

I came here to say "That's a Virgin Mary medal" and it's period. People were religous back in the day. It might be what is considered a "Scapular medal" meaning that the person was confirmed in the church and the medal takes the place of the fabric Scapula.

 

[Tanglewood]

That beautiful patina says the medal has been laying there quite a while. Sure looks period to me.

 

[SJU]

Still a common medal. My grandmother gave me one several times as a kid.

 

[UCVRelics]

Thanks for the reply. I noticed that they still make them today. The one I dug is different in many small details compared to the modern ones. I found a couple others dug in Virginia camps and they were exactly the same as mine. I believe it's period but I could be wrong. I'd like to have @ucvrelics opinion

Very Nice medal and its hard to say if it was soldier used as many folks wore them and if not being found in a camp its a toss up but still a nice piece.

 

[delta rifles]

I am fairly positive that this is a Miraculous Medal as well. The miraculous medal became very popular in the 1830s and 1840s and are associated with the Marian apparitions experienced by Saint Catherine Laboure.

At least one of these medals was found among the dead of the Irish Brigade killed during the battle of Antietam as described in
Archaeological Perspectives of the Civil War, Clarence R. Geier and Stephen Potter. I don't own this book.....although it'll be on my bookshelf before long, but there was a thread on the AC Forum that detailed this a few years back.

Unfortunately, these medals are still very popular today, and I am not sure that you will be able to put a conclusive date to the medal itself.

Out of curiosity, was this found in a Union or Confederate campsite or on a battlefield?

 

[LafayetteCountyDigger]

I am fairly positive that this is a Miraculous Medal as well. The miraculous medal became very popular in the 1830s and 1840s and are associated with the Marian apparitions experienced by Saint Catherine Laboure.

At least one of these medals was found among the dead of the Irish Brigade killed during the battle of Antietam as described in
Archaeological Perspectives of the Civil War, Clarence R. Geier and Stephen Potter. I don't own this book.....although it'll be on my bookshelf before long, but there was a thread on the AC Forum that detailed this a few years back.

Unfortunately, these medals are still very popular today, and I am not sure that you will be able to put a conclusive date to the medal itself.

Out of curiosity, was this found in a Union or Confederate campsite or on a battlefield?

The campsite was mainly confederate. I was digging 3 ringers and round balls all around it. I also got a couple buttons but they where eagles

 

[Booner]

Was the metal found at the same or deeper depth than the other items you dug?

 

[LafayetteCountyDigger]

Was the metal found at the same or deeper depth than the other items you dug?

It was about the same depth as the bullets and buttons

 

[Booner]

It was about the same depth as the bullets and buttons

Maybe that's an indication that the medal is of the CW period.

 

[R. Porter]

Well how about asking this way, were there any non-Civil War period artifact? If so, what were they? If the answer is, no, there were no other artifacts from a different time period, then it would more likely be of the period when you know people had a reson to be in that area rather than a random artifact lost by chance in the middle of nowhere that just happened to have been a Civil War camp site. If the answer is, yes, there were other artifacts, then what were they and what can they tell you about the time period they were lost in and the people who lost them.

Unless there is some glaring trait that requires it to have been made post-Civil War, I see no problem hypothisizing that it was dropped by a soldier at camp. Those medals were all over. Who would need one more than a soldier? I would suggest that in the Confederacy soldiers from the state of Maryland and state of Louisiana would be more likely to be Catholic, however a soldier from any state might be Catholic. If you can figure out what unit was camped there you might have a chance of identifying the former owner.

 

[LafayetteCountyDigger]

Well how about asking this way, were there any non-Civil War period artifact? If so, what were they? If the answer is, no, there were no other artifacts from a different time period, then it would more likely be of the period when you know people had a reson to be in that area rather than a random artifact lost by chance in the middle of nowhere that just happened to have been a Civil War camp site. If the answer is, yes, there were other artifacts, then what were they and what can they tell you about the time period they were lost in and the people who lost them.

Unless there is some glaring trait that requires it to have been made post-Civil War, I see no problem hypothisizing that it was dropped by a soldier at camp. Those medals were all over. Who would need one more than a soldier? I would suggest that in the Confederacy soldiers from the state of Maryland and state of Louisiana would be more likely to be Catholic, however a soldier from any state might be Catholic. If you can figure out what unit was camped there you might have a chance of identifying the former owner.

the camp I found it at in particular has no modern BS that's why I like to dig there so much. A lot of the camps are littered with trash so if you get a good signal at one it could be something good or garbage but if you get a high tone at this particular camp it's guaranteed to be something period. I've been going to the camp because I wanna dig a confederate button but apart from the medal all I've dug are a couple nice eagle Is, some general services, and a lot of bullets

 

[SJU]

Just left a church street fair. They were giving out the Miraculous Medal for free.
I don't know how common they were during the Civil War period.

 

[LafayetteCountyDigger]

Just left a church street fair. They were giving out the Miraculous Medal for free.
I don't know how common they were during the Civil War period.
View attachment 479097

View attachment 479098

That's a modern one the civil war era ones have a more distinctive design

 

[Cavalier]

I had one of those medals myself. Just an opinion, I can't help but believe that yours could have been civil war era. In any case, it's a very nice item.

John

 

[R. Porter]

If you ever look on eBay in the UK or Netherlands for the stuff dug up by detectorists there are always a few of those medals. Something I picked up years ago in eBay UK was a tiny metal plaque that looked like half of a 10 Commandments tablet. On it, in Spanish, was something that said, essentially, "I am Catholic. If I am wounded please see that I receive Last Rites." A small tablet written in Spanish saying the bearer was Catholic and requesting Last Rites found in the UK I figured had to have been brought back from the Peninsula Campaign, in Spain against Napoleon, not in Virginia. That could be wrong on my part, but I've never seen another one like it.