Civil War dropped and fired Munitions/Projectiles

[Brokenbear]

I think I have the imagination of a child .. I watch these guys who are living in or near main battle grounds of the Civil War campaigns as they metal detect spent and dropped genuine original Civil War munitions of all kinds ..It fascinates me to hold in my hand physical real deal that was part of the great conflict ..

So I have bought a Garrett metal detector, shovel, digger, pointer with the first trips to land i own that I have identifies old but long gone homesteads ..to metal detect just to see what history has left behind ..

But I have to say I am studying maps of the limited "skirmishes" that have occurred here in my native Missouri regarding the Civil War ..I would really love the thrill of finding some real battlfield history with my metal detector

Bear

[redriverhunter]

Sounds like fun to me. I wish I had somewhere to look like you are. Please post pics of any neat finds thanks best of luck.

[Scrounge]

Sounds like fun to me. I wish I had somewhere to look like you are. Please post pics of any neat finds thanks best of luck.

SWMBO curses the Europeans because they have so much buried history. Girl on her first trip with a metal detector recently found a cache of Bronze Age axe heads and such. Someone else found an gold earring that was probably made for the Byzantine Emperor.

Bill <------ paint me a bit disgruntled that I can't do that!

[contender1]

Well, I'm a longtime detectorist. I was also president of a metal detecting club for 10 years. Just the other day I hit a "honey hole" & pulled about 40 coins, and 1/2 dozen rings. Sadly,, only 2 of the rings were silver,, and none were gold.
And,, as for Civil War relics,, I've seen many dug & recovered, including finding some of my own.
A few pointers;
NEVER,,,, EVER,,, try & hunt ANY known State Park or National Park property for such things. Big no-no!

Private property,, WITH THE OWNERS PERMISSION,, is paramount.
Take all trash out with you.
Re-fill any holes you dig.

And,, learn the machine. They talk a specific language,, you just have to learn how to speak "detector"!
Relic hunting for many of the items you seek should be done in an "all metal mode" to really get stuff. BUT,, be prepared to dig junk, trash, & in general,, worthless stuff.
But, once you do some research,, & find a place to try,, get permission,, then hunt it,, and find your first relic,, you will be ecstatic! It may not be anything more than a simple dropped or fired lead bullet. But you will get a feeling of touching a piece of history, that's hard to describe.

The best way to truly find anything is "location, location, location!" Researching as much as you can,,, will often lead you to old camps, small skirmish places, etc. You'll have much better luck if you can find smaller places that aren't well known. Local papers from the Civil War timeframe, along with maps & overlays of more modern maps,, can often lead to a simple campsite where troops quartered for a while as they awaited orders or whatever. During these down times,, they would work on equipment, test fire guns, mend uniforms, etc. (Old buttons off uniforms can be quite a find if you discover a rarer one.)
And if possible,, look for metal detecting clubs locally to you. Members are always welcoming new folks. And,, they can be a wealth of information on equipment, detector settings, and even some places to try & hunt.

And as I often told many new detectorists; "Be prepared to dig a lot of junk before you find one piece of good stuff."
Another way I also framed this; "You'll dig 1000 aluminum pull tabs to get 1 gold ring."

What I didn't teach right away was that there are ways to reduce the odds on some stuff,, but research,, and work are the keys here.

[Winger Ed.]

Old homesteads are good places to look.
But don't be discouraged by finding lots of rusty nails and pieces of wire.

Old battlefields are good, but if you can find where the units camped, there's all sort of discarded and lost things too.
As a kid, we went on a Boy Scout campout to a property in North Texas where Gen. Custer and 7th Calvary had camped
for awhile one winter before they headed back up North.

The owner had a cabin with one wall just covered with various pieces of Calvary hardware.
Broken bridle bits, rings and buckles from saddles, buttons he'd picked up on the ground.

While at Quantico, a buddy used to borrow one of those really, really good mine detectors from the Combat Engineers
over the weekends. We found all sorts of stuff from Civil War troops that had wintered there, buttons, a few belt buckles, and coins,
and lots of rusty tin cans left from training WWI Marines in trench warfare there.

[TyGuy]

When I was in 8th or 9th grade I happened across a crusty old lead round ball in Salem MO. I was walking to school and crossing though a little patch of woods. It was raining hard that day and it must have gotten washed to the surface. No idea where it came from but I always liked to imagine it had an interesting story. For all I know, some kid may have been out playing with a slingshot… I wonder if I still have it stashed away somewhere.

[WinchesterM1]

Look up Aqua Chigger on YouTube He got me into detectoring with my AT Pro I have found a lot of stuff

[Bmi48219]

NEVER,,,, EVER,,, try & hunt ANY known State Park or National Park property for such things.

contender1, this may sound dumb but why not? Is it illegal?
What about the legality of finding & keeping things on the (ocean) beach? People in this area have found Spanish wreck stuff after a big storm blows through.

[Winger Ed.]

contender1, this may sound dumb but why not? Is it illegal?

Very.
Possession of any sort of underground detector in a national park is a felony.
They don't have to catch you using it either.

Some state parks won't allow them either.
In Texas, you can't use one or even do random digging.
Any! artifact you find in the park is govt. property, and they don't want it disturbed.

Searching or recovering stuff from the ocean has its own set of laws, permits, etc. in territorial waters.
It's real hard to get permission, and if you are caught recovering anything of value--- forgiveness is out of the question.

[GregLaROCHE]

When I was a kid the class trip went to Gettysburg. They had buckets of recovered boolits for sale as souvenirs for almost nothing. I bought one (about the cheapest thing there). Maybe it was 25 cents. I don’t know whatever happened to it.

[jdfoxinc]

My dad's family had a farm in Mo. he would visit during plowing season and found lots of spent ball and mini ball.

[MrWolf]

Used to love walking the beach first thing in the morning detecting. Just a beautiful place to be. Went one time to an old lake that was drained from the 20's that was a kinda resort. Was kinda dark when I went , found an old life guard whistle and then spent about 20 minutes trying to extract myself from some pretty deep mud. Thought I was gonna be in trouble but got out. Wish my back would allow me to detect, it was very relaxing. Good luck folks.
Ron

[GregLaROCHE]

A few years ago my wife lost a diamond earning. I thought it was a good excuse to buy a metal detector that I had always wanted. We new within four feet where it fell, but could never find it. The detector worked fine, but this area has been farmed for hundreds of years and there are so many tiny pieces of steel and iron in the ground, that it just kept going off all the time. What I was searching for was tiny so I couldn’t turn down the sensitivity. I dug up stuff size of a staple as well as lots of cow and oxen shoes. No horseshoes. They only used cows and oxen to plow. The old timers said if you used your cow to plow, you wouldn’t get your milk that night.

[contender1]

As noted above,, it's illegal to remove anything from National parks. And having a detector in your possession can get you charged with crimes. And yes,, State parks can be the same way,, but there are minor exceptions in some places. (Example; If a person was using a public beach, in a specified recreational area, and lost their wedding ring. They can apply to the Park to get to hunt for it, using a detector, WHILE SUPERVISED BY A RANGER, and can only keep the item they are seeking.)

Beach hunting;
A LOT depends upon the location, and the local/state laws. In Florida,, for example, you can hunt with a detector on a beach,, but the water hunting rights may be leased to a state approved salvage company & they have "boundaries" of where they "own" these rights. Take a detector & walk into the water, wading,, and it's most often legal. But put on a scuba outfit,, and you'll likely get arrested.
This goes back to RESEARCH & KNOW THE LAWS.
Also, some towns & cities have local ordinances that govern where a person can or can not use a metal detector.

For civil war artifacts,, quite often,, a recently plowed field,, after a rain,, in a known area of activity can yield good items. Just make friends with the farmer,, get permission & by all means ONLY hunt it when it's not planted.

Metal detecting is one hobby that can pay for it's own equipment. It won't (usually) pay you for your time,, but remember,, it's a hobby. When I first started,, I borrowed a detector from a local club member. I wanted to "try it out." Well, I spent the month between club meetings hunting several places. I found a lot of "spare change" of common coinage. Almost $40 worth that month. At the next meeting,, I cornered the owner of the machine,, who was also a dealer, and said; "This machine is a used machine, and I appreciate you letting me borrow it. I want to buy it. BUT,, I want to see if I can get it to pay for itself. It found me about $38 in change,, and I want to double the amount I find each month,, and pay you on a payment plan. Donnie agreed, and it only took a few months of hunting to meet my goal & have it paid for. And a few months later,, I had recovered my investment.
Since then,, I've owned 9 machines. I currently own 2. And I'm also still a member of that club,, as well as help with the annual club hunt. And I still find a lot of goodies. The stuff I just found,, I spent about 2 hours hunting,, for a total of 6 rings,, (2 sterling,) a necklace or bracelet pendant, 27 coins that totaled $3.21. I also found about 45 pieces of junk. Aluminum foil, pull tabs, bobby pins, bread bag tie wraps, 3 cheap earrings, rusty nails & bolts, a paperclip, sunglasses arms & a broken pair, just to name a few items.
But I truly ENJOYED myself!
It's never about the money,, but it is a hobby that can be very rewarding.
And yes,, when you do find an expensive piece of jewelry,, or that rare button, or a fired projectile, or a rare coin,, it's immensely satisfying. I have been fortunate to having swung my detector over some NICE stuff & recovered it.
But,, the best reward is finding a lost item AND returning it to the person who lost it.
I have been able to do that on several occasions. Some class rings,, and a few wedding rings. Heck, I found a man's wedding band twice,, at two different homes he & his wife owned. Or the couple who couldn't afford a nice diamond ring when they married, and after 8 years hubby bought her one. She lost it & I was able to recover it. Or the guy who asked me; "Please get me out of the doghouse. I was throwing a football & threw my ring off my hand." His wife hugged my neck & INSISTED he buy my dinner. (I had declined any reward.)
In 1996,, I started in January saving all the common change I found,, cashing it in occasionally. I also would sell any jewelry or other items I found. All the money went into a jar for that year. In November that year,, that jar paid most of my expenses on a DIY public land elk hunt. And when I returned,, a store that helped me sell my stuff gave me a bit over $150. My expenses that trip were about $2000.

And the OP mentioned Civil war ordinance. I have a small cannonball sitting on my table beside my couch where we sit & watch TV. My wife has enjoyed a few of the jewelry pieces I've found.

It's out there,, and it's findable,, but it requires; Abiding by the laws, research, permission, time spent in the field, research, and time in the field.

[CastingFool]

I have a Garrett, and have used to find spent brass (that misses the tarp) in my backyard. The first time I fired my AR, I sort of knew where the 1st empty landed, but couldn't find it in the grass. 3 years later, when I bought the detector, took me about 10 minutes to find that particular piece of brass. I was pretty happy about that. I do need to learn how to speak "detector"

[Ithaca Gunner]

I never went looking for stuff. I was pretty lucky in just finding it in odd places. As a young kid I pulled a canister ball from the creek while swimming one day. The location was almost a mile from a known small action from the Gettysburg Campaign. Several miles down stream where the creek flows into the river near Harrisburg there was a nail factory which operated from the 1830's to 1911 where I spent several days poking around the overgrown remains. At one place along the creek I found thousands of rusty nails of all sizes, naturally I grabbed a bunch and was turning around and saw something sticking out of the mud which didn't look like it belonged there. Pulling it out, to my delight it was the shank stub of a Civil War Enfield bayonet about 6'' long. No battle fought there, however Camp Curtain, a major Union training camp was almost directly across the river, and Ft. Washington, the militia defense line for Harrisburg during the Gettysburg Campaign began on the heights across the creek. Some of the trenches are still there farther down the river on the heights above the town of Wormleysburg.

A good friend and fellow N-SSA team member of mine, a retired NP law enforcement ranger gave this advice, (the jist of it here) ''Battlefields are also grave sites. At Gettysburg there are between 600 to over 1,000 unmarked and unknown graves still scattered over the 25 square miles of the battle field. Unless nature bares these dead, we want to protect these graves and leave them undisturbed. These men were buried in shallow graves with some metal objects on their bodies, mainly buttons, sometimes the projectile that killed them. That's why we enforce no relic hunting so diligently.'' There still is a lot of private property and non-National Military Park public property on the battlefield, the Gettysburg High School sits on ground where Confederate troops made a major assault against Cemetery Hill on the evening of July 2, 1863. I imagine quite a few relics were uncovered when it was built. The Walmart was built on part of the site of Camp Letterman, the general hospital where wounded from both sides were gathered together from Corps and Division hospitals scattered across the battlefield. Housing developments and commercial buildings stand on or very near the Confederate left flank of ''Picket's Charge''. The Park Service buys land as it becomes available in tracts large enough to warrant purchase to restore and preserve, meaning what was huntable for relics at one time may no longer be. The National Park system has made major strides in the last few decades in procuring and preserving land, including it's own Visitor Center and Cyclorama which they tore down and moved to more suitable land where there was no actual fighting, hospitals, or graves.

Think the Rangers aren't watching? Think again...They live on the park, they're housed there on many of the historic farms and houses on the Battlefield, plus they have volunteers who patrol the park day and night that are on watch for thieves and low-lifes like antifa and blm who would desecrate any monument, memorial, or statue. Even the rocks are protected, don't even try to grab a rock or stone as a souvenir from a National Park. Many of the stone fences at Gettysburg were much higher then, than they are now thanks to the pilfering of those stones as ''keepsakes'' by tourists. The troops left at Gettysburg to gather equipment, bury the dead, and tend to the wounded arrested many ''souvenir'' hunters right after the battle. Those caught were usually sentenced on the spot in front of an officer to gather and bury/burn dead horses for a day, even a judge was caught and so sentenced for trying to make off with a musket right after the battle.

You're also welcome leave certain things on the battlefield, flowers are welcome about anywhere you choose. One memorial, that of the 11th. PA. Infantry on the first day's field welcomes flowers, coins, and dog treats in memory of their beloved mascot dog, ''Sallie'' who has her own likeness in bronze at the base of the monument. The park service stops every morning at the 11th. PA Monument and gathers the coins and treats to donate to the local animal shelter, maybe not regulation, but it's become a tradition the park service takes part in.

As to camp sites, redoubts, routes of march, many are open to relic hunting. You just have to find them, which isn't always obvious as roads changed sometimes, (which can be of benefit) usually parallel and close to the new road, but not clearly noted at first glance. Camp sites for the large armies could spread out over a vast area with each corps designated a certain place, possibly miles from the next.

[bedbugbilly]

Years ago, our Battery was invited by the State of North Carolina to come down to participate in the 125th Anniversary of Bentonville as the original battery we portrayed had been there. One of the guys had a friend - who had a friend who wanted to participate in the worst way so we invited him to join us and we got him all outfitted in a uniform to join in. It turned out the fellow was an active Army Major and a graduate of West Point IIRC. While at the Academy, he had to pick a Civil War battle to study and learn all about the tactics, used, etc. - so he had visited the battlefield many times. We had a spare morning so he acted as our "guide" and we all climbed on the trailer we hauled our Parrott Rifles on and he took us all around the battfield to show us specific ares of interest - he gave a great tour. Near the end, he had us stop at a small farm and we waited on the trailer as he went up and knocked om the door. He had met the owner during his many visits to the battlefield. The old gentleman came out on the porch and they talked, then he went back inside and came out wearing a
Confederat kepi and our guide brought him over and introduce us to him. He was a very nice fellow and seemed happy to meet all of us.

The farm had been his wife's grandfather's IIRC, and as a kid, he was the "hired boy" that helped the grandfather. He told about doing the plowing with a mule and a single bottom plow and every so often, he would have too top and pick up the remnants of quite a few old muskets - barrels, parts and rotted stocks - and he would cradle them in his arms and go dump them in the fencerow and then keep plowing. He and his wife eventually married and she inherited the farm and they had lived there for many years.

He told about a friend tho had come to visit them and the fellow wanted to find an Enfield bullet and a Confederate belt buckle - that was his dream. The first night the company was there, after dinner, he and the fellow walked the fields and the fellow showed him areas to look at for relics. he said that they were standing in a fence row corner - the plowing had just been done recently - and the guy looked down and there was an unfired Enfield bullet. They dug around dwithther hands and brefofre they got done they had recovered I believe 38 or 39 - probably from a cartridge box that had rotted down. They took the bullets back to the house and then he took him to the hog lot where they walked around. During the walk, the guy kicked at a big club of dirt and what should fall out but a nice Confederate belt buckle. The old fellow excused himself for a few minutes and told us to wait for him and we watched him walk back and go out to the barn. He came back to the trailer carrying his kepi upside down and he gave each of us a recovered minie ball and a piece of cannon shell shrapnel. He invited us to come back any time and we could look for relics with the only stipulation being that all holes had to be filled in and we had to show him what we found. There was one place on the farm that he said he never allowed anyone to relic hunt and that was an area where there had been some entrenchments dug. We didn't get to see them but he said that he didn't want anyone digging there as over time it would change the profile of the ground and they wanted to preserve it.

All of us really enjoyed meeting with him and across the road was his property as well. It was also the location of where our original Battery was positioned at one point in the battle. It had been plowed but not planted so he told us we should go over and walk the field if we would like to. I found a redlly rusted and wised piece of what looked like metal strapping from a wagon of some sort. I showed it to him and he seemed to think that it may have been from a horse drawn ambulance - a piece of metal strapping reinforcement from the wagon box. No way of knowing for sure though.

[Rapidrob]

In the late 60's I was a teenager and was working at the 1ST Army Museum at Fort George G. Meade,MD. I asked permission to recover some bullets from a battle field in MD or PA as it had been 100 years since the Civil War and was allowed to do so. I had a letter of introduction from James J. Bush the then curator of the 1ST Army museum.
I had modified a transistor radio into a metal detector. ( Popular Science magazine) It worked well and would go down to 10" in damp soil.
I then drove from Maryland to Gettysburg PA to the Battlefield and asked the Park Rangers if I could look fro dropped bullets for a display for High School.
They were not too keen on allowing me to do this until I showed them I would not leave "gopher holes" all through the battle field. Many of today's metal detecting folks are complete *******s when it comes to this and have caused others to be banned from ever looking for relics. I made sure you could not see where I dug a hole when done.
I was allowed to spend several days roaming the fields and found a nice assortment of Dropped Bullets, shell fragments and a couple of damaged buttons and belt strap clips/buckles.
Of course fired bullets were found and I turned them into the museum to be put on display. I was good at marking on a map where each bullet was found along with buttons,buckles and the like.
Most of the articles other than bullets were badly eroded and useless for a display.
All of the bullets I kept were covered in lead oxide and well preserved. All being dropped from the soldiers carrying them.
Any cannon balls found were to be marked and left in place for EOD to remove. I found none,but did find grape shot. which I had to turn into the museum. I was only allowed bullets and a couple of buckles.
I used a bulb-planter to core the field and retrieve the bullets. Most were 4-8 inches under the ground, only a few required an entrenching tool to extract. Those were in the lower wet lands.
I had to carry a permission slip from the curator of the museum as well as many 9 volt batteries. The converted radio and hand wound coil really ate up the 9 volt batteries. If I had had the metal detectors from today I would not have been able to carry the artifacts I may have found.
Not too many trash items were found in the fields. Some nails and wire fragments were found. I stayed away from where tourist would have been dropping things.
Many of the camp sites and marshaling points had been gone over by the Army Corps of Engineers and the like from the Government to find artifacts for the museum (s)
My nephews have the artifacts other than the bullet board I made way back when. My Mother did the ID cards as she had been a Draftsman for the U.S. Army. It took me several weeks to ID the dropped bullets. The books at the 1ST Army Museum really helped a lot.
The home made metal detector is long gone. I have no idea what ever happened to it all those years ago.
It was fun and I learned a lot about hunting for artifacts and conservation of our National Historic Sites. The bullet board has hung on my den walls all these years.

[Brokenbear]

Hey folks ..thanks for the great responses ..great info as well as insights ..it is a fascinating time era to study as well as !

Bear

[beezapilot]

I've a friend who is in a metal detecting club, two things worth mentioning. First the club has a good rep and gets permission to detect some interesting sites (no, no civil war parks) that an unknown person may not get to explore. Second, most of them comb the beach on a regular basis, they find an awful lot of sinkers for every gold / silver coin, ring, piece of jewlery of value. I go to the meetings once a month and I pay them .50 a pound, most guys just give it to me.