🥇 BANNER KILLER CIRCA 1850S MILITIA BELT PLATE!!

[Steve in PA]

Saturday I wanted to get out for a while, but my options are limited this time of year. I drove down to a circa 1790-1815 house site hoping that the farmer had cut the hay. He had cut it, but he hadn’t bailed it yet, so that field was unhuntable. So I drove over to another of his farms that has a standing, but abandoned, house on it that looks like it could date to the 1830s. I call this place the buckle graveyard because all I ever find here is horse tack buckles. I have dug about two dozen horse tack buckles here, but I have never found anything good, not even an Indian Head penny.

I had only been detecting a few minutes when I got a sweet signal on the Deus, dug down about 6 inches, and pulled out a modern bullet. I thought this can’t be what I was hearing, so I checked the hole again and the sweet signal was still there. I dug a little deeper and still could not pick anything up with the pinpointer. Finally down about 13 inches, the pinpointer started going off. When I got to the target I thought it was probably a piece of junk as it was laying straight up and down and all I could see was an edge sticking up, When I pulled it out I was shocked to see a mid 19[SUP]th[/SUP] century militia plate. I had always wanted to dig one of these. This plate now ranks pretty high on my all-time favorite finds list.

Further research shows this property on the 1856 County Atlas as belonging to W. Allen. A search of militias from the county shows William Allen as a private in Company A of the Sixth Pennsylvania Militia, which mustered in on September 13[SUP]th[/SUP] 1862 for the defense of the State of Pennsylvania during the Antietam campaign. They marched as far east as Chambersburg, PA, encamped and awaited orders to move against the Confederates. They were mustered out on September 29[SUP]th[/SUP] 1862. William Allen died in 1881 and the names of other local residents appear on his will as executor and witnesses. Considering these facts, and the time frame when these buckles were popular, this is almost certainly William Allen’s militia uniform belt buckle.







Here is the plate in Michael J. O'Donnell's "American Military Belt Plates"


And here it is in it's new home


Thanks for looking and good luck out there!

 

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[sandchip]

Wow, what a beauty. Congrats on a great recovery!

 

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[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Congrats on your BANNER!!!!!!

 

[GB1]

Congrats on banner

 

[Steve in PA]

Congrats on your BANNER!!!!!!

You called it

 

[Steve in PA]

Banner vote. Amazing find! Congratulations!

Thank you for the vote Aureus!

Congrats on a truly awesome piece of history Steve!

Thanks John. I knew there had to be something good on that farm, but I didn't expect this!

That is nice find! Looks good in its new home.

She loves her new home

I love the design on that, nice job. Excellent work with your research too! Pretty neat to know exactly where it came from and the man who wore it.

Thanks DP! Pretty cool to tie it all together.

Didnt even know there were belt plates out there that didnt say US, CSA or had an eagle on them. Very nice find

There sure are! Some are plain, others have initials like VMM (Volunteer Maine Militia), SNY (State New York), and OVM (Ohio Volunteer Militia), and then there are those with 13 Stars.....

 

[Steve in PA]

Congratulations on an amazing find Steve and on achieving your 3rd BANNER!

amazes me the amount of detailed information you have access to from the Civil War.

Dave

Thanks Dave, it's been a while since my last Banner

 

[Valley Ranger]

Amazing find - great save!

 

[Davers]

WTG Steve

You keep trying & you never know what will pop-up.

Hope to dig similar someday.

 

[G.A.P.metal]

Steve
I got here to late to put in my vote... very glad you got a well deserved banner find with that beautiful 1850 plate...bet that brought a chill up your spine ...would mine... congrats!
Gary

 

[Steve in PA]

Steve
I got here to late to put in my vote... very glad you got a well deserved banner find with that beautiful 1850 plate...bet that brought a chill up your spine ...would mine... congrats!
Gary

When I finally got down to where I could read it with my pinpointer, all I could see was the short edge of the plate sticking up. At this point a plate was the last thing on my mind. Since I had dug so much junk previously on this farm, all I was expecting was another piece of junk. When I pulled it out and saw the star I was absolutely floored!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Congratualtions on the BANNER!

 

[glass half fool]

Great Find along with the story to understand how it was there . Congrats on the Banner

 

[JerryH]

That even gets my heart to racing.. Awesome find!

 

[billpa]

That's a great banner find you dug there Steve.

 

[A2coins]

That's treasure right there good job!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[tennessee digger]

Steve.....I was with a guy that dug the same, exact plate here in Nashville. If memory serves me correctly, he found a picture of it and it was attributed it to a Confederate soldier that brought it home after the war and he was in a unit called the Waco Guards from Texas. Congrats on the Banner!

 

[Steve in PA]

Steve.....I was with a guy that dug the same, exact plate here in Nashville. If memory serves me correctly, he found a picture of it and it was attributed it to a Confederate soldier that brought it home after the war and he was in a unit called the Waco Guards from Texas. Congrats on the Banner!

I have also seen this plate attributed to the Waco Guards, as well as the Texas Rangers. And I have no doubt that various pre-war Texas units would have outfitted with this plate. But they also turn up in the California gold fields, in northern states, as well as CW camps. I guess it was available for purchase by anyone as were the other panel plate patterns. I'm just thrilled to dig one!

 

[BigWaveDave]

Congratulations Steve....
That is an incredible piece of history.
Well deserved Banner recognition.
Maybe I could see that plate in person in a few months....

 

[Silver Tree Chaser]

Steve - I just had to join in the chorus of congratulatory replies on such a great belt plate find. I can tell by the excellent photos, your treatment in cleaning the plate, and the excellent narrative that this find means a lot to you - and why shouldn't it? It's an impressive plate in an excellent state of preservation. It's good that you have the photos as they will always provide a lucid connection to that moment when you saw the plate come out of the ground - recovery of such finds is always a mind-blowing experience. That's why we do what we do - all the research, the door knocking, the searching and digging - to have that experience.

 

[Steve in PA]

Congratulations Steve....
That is an incredible piece of history.
Well deserved Banner recognition.
Maybe I could see that plate in person in a few months....

Thanks Dave