Few field finds....need an ID...

[civilman1]

Few field find's....need an ID...

Went back out to the field next to the cellar I've been huntin'.Two guy's were already in the field about 300yd.'s from where I like to go...spent about three hour's in the field and came out with a couple round's,horseshoe's,some modern day slug's and a piece of iron I'm not sure of.The bullet on the right I tried to look up but didn't have any luck....any idea on the round and piece of iron?Thank's for lookin' and HH!!

 

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[Daniel in NC]

Re: Few field find's....need an ID...

Daniel, actually your cleaner-bullet is the same model of Williams' Cleaner bullet as civilman1's ...yours is just "eroded" by soil-acidity.

Civilman1, (and Daniel), in case you have any interest in learning more details about your bullet...
Its full proper name is the Williams' Patent Bore-Cleaner bullet. There were three "regular" models, each intended as an improvement over the previous model. A fourth model was only an experimental version and saw almost no combat-use. They're strictly yankee-manufactured bullets, though of course the Confederates did capture and fire some. The model you found is the Type 3 ...which made its first battlefield appearance in summer 1863 sites. (A few have been found at Gettysburg, but most of the Williams Cleaner bullets from there are Type One and Two.) By early 1864 it seems to have been the only Williams Cleaner version still being issued, so when we dig only the Type 3 model in a site it's a very strong indication we're onto an 1864 action. Records show they were issued with 3-ringers at a 1-to-10 (or 20) ratio ...yet we dig them at a greater ratio. Document-research has discovered the reason for that. It turns out the Type 3's "base-thumbtack" tended to frequently cause it to jame in the barrel ...so yankee troops reacted by tending to throw them away (unfired) in droves. Thus you sometimes dig almost as many Williams Cleaners on a site as you do 3-ringers.

Regards,
TheCannonballGuy (Pete George)

CannonballGuy,

Thanks for such good info on the bullets.

Great point Daniel! The last camp {Union} we found has produced around 750 to 800 bullets, with only 2 cleaners. That is one way we determined when the camp was being used. Great find Civil! Tsgman

I wish I could take credit...but CannonballGuy was the helpful one supplying the information on the William's Cleaner bullet.

 

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