Diggin' for the first time....

[cobaltbot]

Jeez, no wonder you were an avid detectorist. Find any civil war stuff?

 

[kybluegrass]

Found quite a few minnie balls, one US box plate, a spur, various brass belt buckles and other hardware. Since this was a working farm since 1909, all the fields have been plowed dozens of times, mixing stuff up so I cant tell age by depth. I've found CW bullets at 2" and 12". I've got lots of lead round ball shot from the early 1800's too. I sure wish I could find where the dump from the CW camp was. I live close to the Ohio river, so that may have been their dump.....who knows?

 

[cobaltbot]

Nice! What are those things with the holes in them at the top of the tub?

 

[cc6pack]

Steve

They're rope tensioners for the soldiers tents.

Allan

Looks like you have a bunch of 58 Springfield's, and what looks like an Enfield, carved or chewed, and pistol bullets. What does the back of the plate look like? Your pics are a little fuzzy, the blue green bottle is a beer, turn of the century.

 

[kybluegrass]

Yep, tent rope tighteners! Some are from 1861, some are from 1908, they all look about the same. In 1908 there was a tent city here, housing troops before Ft. Knox was built. In 1861 the 1st Wisconsin Infantry was here for three weeks to assist in the building of Ft. Duffield here in West Point, KY.

The majority of the bullets you see here,(sorry about the bad pic), are 69 cal dropped "3 ringers" , the rest are 58 cal. Interestingly I have found 2 dropped CSA 58 cal Gardner bullets. This was a town that sympathized with the south and at the time was the place that the Union needed to establish a foothold to prevent the CSA from gaining control of the Ohio river and Salt river confluence. Just to the north is Louisville and they needed to keep the south out of there. Fort Duffield when it was built was impossible for the CSA to take or go around. It was built on a hill that was clear cut on all sides for miles. Cannons were ready to fire on all sides and any boat that came up the Ohio and Salt rivers had better be Union! No shots were ever fired here, because the CSA knew it would be fatal to attempt an assault on Ft. Duffield. Lots of troops died here though....of cholera, typhoid, and influenza.

The back of the US plate is lead filled and it was at one time on a cartrige box. I do have one carved 69cal bullet, it was carved into what looks like to me, a rocket(four fins). Those "chewed" bullets were chewed alright...chewed and eaten by hogs! This was a hog pen 50 years ago. Most of my bullets were scarred by plow or hog.[&o]

Here a few more relic I've found while detecting around the farm.

 

[RICKJJ59W]

Lex that looks like a dayum cave!! what the hell are you in??[]

 

[lexdigger]

Hey Rick, those are cisterns. Around here they are pretty big around and about as deep as they are wide. Usually eight to ten feet. You could make a nice little storm cellar out of one. The walls are mortar usually still in good condition.
Hey lobey, that's about how I look after going a few weeks without a good dig! LOL Chris

 

[RICKJJ59W]

lol