Ammo The Raymond Minie Ball That Found It's Mark

I think that's the real take-away from artifacts like this.

It was fired and then ended someone's life.

That someone died and filled an unmarked grave for over a century.

620,000 question marks.

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Reminds me of the poem "Here, Bullet" by Iraq War vet Brian Turner:

Here, Bullet

If a body is what you want,
then here is bone and gristle and flesh.
Here is the clavicle-snapped wish,
the aorta’s opened valves, the leap
thought makes at the synaptic gap.
Here is the adrenaline rush you crave,
that inexorable flight, that insane puncture
into heat and blood. And I dare you to finish
what you’ve started. Because here, Bullet,
here is where I complete the word you bring
hissing through the air, here is where I moan
the barrel’s cold esophagus, triggering
my tongue’s explosives for the rifling I have
inside of me, each twist of the round
spun deeper, because here, Bullet,
here is where the world ends, every time.

 
I know exactly where this site is as RP dug it back in Jan 1970 and according to his hunting log it was a mass grave that included both US & CS buttons. We have hunted this area a few times and it still gives up some nice relics.
 
I know exactly where this site is as RP dug it back in Jan 1970 and according to his hunting log it was a mass grave that included both US & CS buttons. We have hunted this area a few times and it still gives up some nice relics.
The Friends of Raymond did an archaeology survey south of Hwy. 18 and lots of stuff was found too. Its amazing how much stuff is still in the area.
 
This is a fired .58 caliber minie ball that was found in the skeletal remains of a Confederate soldier who was killed during the Battle of Raymond, MS on May 12, 1863.
It's a little morbid, I know.
But how many minie balls have been found that you know 100% entered the body of the enemy during combat?
Back in the early 1970's during road construction of Hwy. 18, a salvage archaeology operation revealed several skeletons of Confederate soldiers. Based on the position, it is pretty certain they were members of the famed 7th Texas Infantry. This fighting unit suffered over 50% casualties during the battle:
22 killed
66 wounded
70 captured
This bullet almost certainly felled one of those 22 boys from Texas.

"It was the 7th Texas which had struck us, a regiment which had never been beaten in any fight. We soon found they didn't
scare worth a cent."
- Lt. Henry O. Dwight, 20th Ohio Infantry, USA


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Many times, one can look at the distorted end of the projectile and with a glass or other magnification, if the bullet hit a soldier, there will be the weave, of the cloth impressed, in the lead. The cloth was usually the first thing hit and was carried into the body cavity with the projectile, almost like a machinist punch. Take a look at yours under magnification and let us know if you see a checkered weave.
 
Many times, one can look at the distorted end of the projectile and with a glass or other magnification, if the bullet hit a soldier, there will be the weave, of the cloth impressed, in the lead. The cloth was usually the first thing hit and was carried into the body cavity with the projectile, almost like a machinist punch. Take a look at yours under magnification and let us know if you see a checkered weave.

...and the filthy cloth was often the cause of the septic poisoning that killed the victim, even if the bullet was extracted.

See p 454 for gross details
 
Many times, one can look at the distorted end of the projectile and with a glass or other magnification, if the bullet hit a soldier, there will be the weave, of the cloth impressed, in the lead. The cloth was usually the first thing hit and was carried into the body cavity with the projectile, almost like a machinist punch. Take a look at yours under magnification and let us know if you see a checkered weave.
I will.
 
Many times, one can look at the distorted end of the projectile and with a glass or other magnification, if the bullet hit a soldier, there will be the weave, of the cloth impressed, in the lead. The cloth was usually the first thing hit and was carried into the body cavity with the projectile, almost like a machinist punch. Take a look at yours under magnification and let us know if you see a checkered weave.


Guess who is going to drag out "the box o' bullets to look at this? Moi.
 
Behold the lowly minie ball, this modest lump of lead;
no longer than my fingertip, but colder than the dead;
it knows no exalted station of laurel, rank or birth;
of the heart it seeks to shatter, it cannot judge the worth;
and when its bloody work is done, it cannot feel the pain;
but as my dust returns to dust, tis' the minie twill remain.

I saw this poem in an issue of North South Trader many years ago and it always stuck with me - unfortunately I don't remember who wrote it.
 
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