Cannonballguy heres the goods from yesterday

[Petrie502]

We did very well at this new site I gotta say! By the way the item I'm holding in my hand I believe is off the back of a spur but I'm not 100%! You can see where the blade on the back was!! Let me know what you all think

 

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[Petrie502]

Also any idea on the carved fishing weights and what they may have been carved from

 

[BosnMate]

I'm not Cannonballguy, but that doesn't look like part of a spur to me. And so you will know the next time, the "blade" on a spur is called a "rowel." I'm thinking that military spurs were brass which isn't to say someone wouldn't have worn their own spurs made of iron. I will also state I'm not a spur expert, and they come in many styles, of which in my life I've worn perhaps three or four different types. Also all military spurs didn't have a rowel. That said, just because I don't think it's a part of a spur doesn't mean it isn't.
This is a pair of Cavalry spurs dating to the Civil War. They are brass, and appear to be a very common type.
Here's a pair of military style that don't have a rowel.
This is NOT an antique spur, I'm just showing it for style. Note the buttons to attach the leather strap to.
I'm thinking that if you do have a spur part, it would be a part of an iron spur that looked something like this one.
Just my swag, put a couple of dollars with it and you might get a cup of coffee at Dutch Bros.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Correctly identifying small pieces of iron which are still heavily rust-encrusted can be difficult. Cleaning them by the Electrolysis rust-removal process is helpful. The long thin iron piece in your hand looks at least 3 inches long, so I think it is unlikely to be a spur's tang (which held the spinning rowel). EDIT: I see BosnMate posted some photos of spurs while I was typing this reply... you'll notice that the tang on each of those spurs is much shorter than 3 inches.

The long thick iron object to the left of the cannonball fragment resembles a broken piece of a horsegear snaffle-bit. I said "resembles" because that ID is uncertain until I can examine the piece after it gets cleaned.

I do not recognize the "branched" iron object.

I see you found some cuff-size yankee Enlisted-men's buttons.., and I'm sure you already know what those are. One appears to have some gold gilt on its front, OR it came out of wet ground and thus lacks the usual dark oxidation. Need to see a closeup photo of it to be sure what type it is.

The little disc which appears to be flat and have crossed-cannons on it doesn't seem to be a civil war (or earler) relic. Need to see closeup photos of its front and back.

Also need closeup photos of all the other brass-looking objects.

You asked about the "home-made" lead fishing weights. There's no way to know what flat ones were made from. You'd simply hammer any piece of lead flat, and pierce a little hole for the fishing-line.

About the lead bullets and balls:
The US and CS armies in Virginia were protecting their nations' capitals, so they were supplied with the most-modern equipment. The "western" US and CS armies which fought at your battlesite in Kentucky were supplied with a lot of obsolete roundball-firing smoothbore muskets, which explains the quantity of musketballs you are finding. But, as indicated in my previous reply about your Case-Shot cannonball fragment, some of the .56" and .67" lead balls you are finding are antipersonnel balls from artillery Case-Shot shells... and it can be difficult to tell a lead Case-Shot ball from a fired musketball.

About the tiny lead balls, I should mention for anybody here who doesn't already know, unfortunately there is no way to be sure whether buckshot-balls are from the millions of Civilian game-hunters long after the civil war, or from a civil war battle.

 

[Petrie502]

I thought the the rusted branch item was a broken stirrup!!

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

For most of the 19th-Century, US Military-issue stirrups were brass. The "branched" iron object could be part of a Civilian stirrup... which came in many-many shapes. I preferred not to even make a guess about that object because your photos of it are "faraway" shots. Also, they all show it from the same angle of view. And, you did not provide measurements of anything in your photos. No offense intended, but that info is often crucially needed in trying to correctly identify relics. You have the ability to hold the objects in your hand, view them from different angles, and can judge their size just from seeing them in your hand. We ID-helpers who must work only with somebody's posted photos are handicapped by lack of closeup photos, different-angle views, and precise size-measurements. That's what we will need in order to be more helpful to you.

 

[Petrie502]

Alright buddy ill start using the quarter next to things more for scale and weighing and measuring, ill post later today we hunted again yesterday and did very well! Anyhow thanks for all your help

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Thank you. Precise measurements are very important in relic ID, especially for bullets, buttons, buckles, and coins. So, I recommend that every relic-digger buy a Digital Caliper for precise measuring, which can be bought at Home Depot or Ebay or Harbor Freight Tools website for about $15. See photo below.

I would like to see closeup photos of the two "shiny-looking" buttons, the little disc with what looks like crossed-cannons, and the other two brass-looking objects.