✅ SOLVED CW Rifle Butt Plate

[Mgortel7]

Found off the coast of South Carolina on a CW ship wreck. Any idea what rifle this butt plate came from? I need to clean thorou ghly but I do see the following letters “25MA” on large portion.

 

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[Retired Sarge]

Pattern 1853 Enfield......Also 25 MA is most likely 25 MASS. The 25th MASS did serve in Viginia and North Carolina during the American Civil War.

Here's a picture of 23D MASS marked Enfield buttplate. Plus a picture of my P1853 Enfield buttplate.

 

[cmthunder]

Awesome find and id by ffuries

 

[Retired Sarge]

As an added note, if mine I would research how to clean and preserve the buttplate. It will allow it to last a lot longer and it might make the inscription more legible.

Once you can read the inscription and confirm what it says, do some research there aren't a ton of unit marked Civil War rifles out there, just the buttplate alone might be worth some serious money to the right collector.

 

[Tony in SC]

Cool find, great ID!!!

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

I also see "25MASS"... congrats on your find and to Mike for his I.D.!

Welcome to Tnet from Toronto

Dave

 

[Mgortel7]

Awesome! Thank you all for the ID and feedback!!

I was told that muriatic acid will remove the crustaceans and not effect the brass. Any feedback on that?

 

[HuntinDog]

That's an AWESOME find...

 

[Georgivs]

That's awesome! any other finds that day?

 

[Retired Sarge]

Awesome! Thank you all for the ID and feedback!!

I was told by fellow divers that muriatic acid will remove the crustaceans and not effect the brass. Any feedback on that?

I don't know enough on that subject to give you a good answer. That said right here on tnet there is a cleaning and preservation section, you could ask there for advice and tips.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/cleaning-preservation/

 

[Mgortel7]

Yes! The tip of a bayonet scabbard, a full and partial spike, a piece of coal and a piece of Leather strap with a brass rivet. NYS Belt Buckle, another found bullets and grapeshot ...around 20 mini balls and grapeshot. My girlfriend found something encased in crustacean that looks the shape of a door knob. Working on cleaning up.

 

[Retired Sarge]

Yes! The tip of a bayonet scabbard, a full and partial spike used to hold ship planks together, a piece of coal (it was a steam powered paddle wheel ship), and a piece of Leather strap with a brass rivet. One of the divers found a NYS Belt Buckle, another found a crate of bullets and grapeshot but he ran out of bottom time and had to come up with just a handful....around 20 mini balls and grapeshot. Same guy also found a piece of cannon ball with grapeshot stuck to inside still. My girlfriend found something encased in crustacean that looks the shape of a door knob but it may be boiler tube with something on end. Working on cleaning up. View attachment 1844456

Damn what a haul. These finds ooze history that's for sure.

 

[Mgortel7]

Follow up

Found an “F” and “57” stamped also. See pic. On opposite side there is 2 letters. One is clearly a “W” the one next to it hard to make out. Pic will not take clearly.

 

[Retired Sarge]

Found an “F” and “57” stamped also. See pic. On opposite side there is 2 letters. One is clearly a “W” the one next to it hard to make out. Pic will not take clearly.

View attachment 1844457

For Massachusetts the following information was mandated to be stamped on the rifles.

The state directed that the arms were to be marked, by the regiment, with the regimental number, company letter and soldier number. There are instances of rifles being reissued, and marked with a new soldiers number.

So 25th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, Company F, Soldier 57.

Interesting tidbit for you regarding F Company.

Corporal Orlando Phidelio Boss, Company F – Medal of Honor recipient for action at the Battle of Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864.

 

[Mgortel7]

Wow!!! Outstanding information. So cool. Gives me chills! Really makes the item personable...be cool to figure out who “Soldier 57” may have been or “Soldiers”. Thank you so much Mike!!

 

[Retired Sarge]

Wow!!! Outstanding information. So cool. Gives me chills! Really makes the item personable...be cool to figure out who “Soldier 57” may have been or “Soldiers”. Thank you so much Mike!!

There were documents produced at the time that listed this information. Don't know if they survived or not. It was basically the company descriptive book, and was amended as new troops joined and old ones were killed, disabled beyond the ability to continue to serving.

If there are additional letters on it, they COULD be the soldiers initials. There are rosters for the Massachusetts regiments, and you could possibly narrow it down some, but you'll never know with 100% certainty.

If this is from a known wreck, and the date sunk is known, you can eliminate troops that enlisted after that time. Which narrows the research window down some.

It's a labour of love, and tedious research, but you never know what you'll discover and turn up.

Thank you for posting this find, I have a love of military history and this is just awesome beyond words for me. Good luck with your research and by all means keep us posted and updated.

 

[Mgortel7]

Thanks Mike. I did identify “WJ” on stock side of the narrow tang piece. Maybe initials. Going to definitely dig into this further. Keep you guys updated.

-Mike

 

[Retired Sarge]

Thanks Mike. I did identify “WJ” on stock side of the narrow tang piece. Maybe initials. Going to definitely dig into this further. Keep you guys updated.

-Mike

If it's in First name Last name format, I found one WJ on the 25th MASS roster, after a quick search.

Name: William Jones
Side: Union
Location: Massachusetts
Battle Unit: 25th Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry
Function: Infantry

Here's the link for the 25th MASS roster, if you want to peruse it, oh and it's not in alphabetical order. Copy and paste the below link, for some reason it doesn't link correctly. The list seems short, but as you scroll down to the end it will expand over and over again. Took me around 15 minutes to go through it and I did it fast.

https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers.htm#q="25th Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry"

 

[Mgortel7]

Sweet! I will check it out. Thanks Mike!

 

[Retired Sarge]

Oh and where are my manners......? Welcome to TNet Mike, there are some highly knowledgeable members on here, who will surprise you with how much they know.

Hope you stick around and continue to share your finds with us, I definitely look forward to seeing what else yall bring up.