VTColonialDigger
Hero Member
Hey Tnet folks
I've been incredibly busy lately and haven't had much time to get out digging, however I finally had a day off yesterday, (April 12th). I went digging with my best friend at a permission he had just attained where there was a decent amount of Revolutionary War activity. We had no idea what were going to find.
After arriving at the site and digging a little while, my first period find was a fired musket ball. This was an incredibly exciting find as before yesterday I had never found anything of Revolutionary War significance.
After finding this, my friend and I became very excited for what else the day would hold. That excitement grew as we each began to find a few musket balls.
After searching where we had been for a while more, I noticed a slight rise in the terrain that looked like the kind of place where a camp might have been. I shared this observation with my friend and we both agreed to head that way in search of relics. On our way over, we dug a couple of musket balls that were quite spread out. Upon arriving at the rise, the concentration of musket balls picked up considerably, and we also began finding melted lead. The concentration was also grouped fairly tight. We noticed as well that a small stream was running right next to where were were searching, and we began to wonder if there might have been some sort of picket or small encampment or soldiers where we were searching.
Soon after this, I got a signal that was ringing slightly lower than what the musket balls had been. Upon flipping the plug back I, was absolutely shocked to see a pewter button with a mold line staring back at me! I quickly called my friend over and carefully removed the button from the plug and wiped the dirt off of the face. I let out a whoop of excitement after I saw this!:
My friend and I just about went crazy! I must admit it was quite a thrill to know I had just dug my first Revolutionary War regimental! After calming myself down, I did a quick search on my phone and found out my button is an enlisted man's pattern from the British 10th Regiment of Foot!! I was in disbelief that I had found such a piece of history!
It was a little while before I was able to detect again, as I wanted to savor the moment. In the meantime my friend pulled two pewter buttons with beautiful designs on them that, while not regimentals, were almost certainly worn by soldiers.
After these exhilarating finds we still continued to find musket balls:
These are just some of mine. Due to the buttons and number of musket balls in one small area, there was definitely something going on where we were searching, however, due to the lack of relics other than buttons and musket balls, we are a bit perplexed as to what might have been going on. I still need to take a diameter of the musket balls, however they all had casting lines and sprue marks, which I believe means that they are American, as I have read the the British made theirs with shot towers that resulted in a smooth finish without a mold line. Due to this fact my theory is that the button I found was a captured British coat worn by a Patriot.
After finding a few more muaketballs, the sun began to set and it was time to be heading home.
In total I found eleven musketballs and pieces of buckshot and my friend found 32, putting us at 43 musket balls found!
After arriving home, I cleaned up my finds. The button cleaned up very nice and I used mod-podge, which is a thin glue/sealer to seal the button to ensure it did not flake.
Cleaned up 10th Regt. button:
I'll post some more photos of the button as well as some of my friend's finds.
After cleaning the musket balls, I put this little display together:
Discovering these pieces of history was one of the most exciting yet humbling things I have done in my time spent metal detecting. It's just mind-boggling for me to think that I'm digging up and handling things that soldiers fighting for the United States' independence also handled. It is truly an honor to dig up these kinds of things and I am blessed to be able to do so.
VTColonialDigger
Updated
Better Photos:
I've been incredibly busy lately and haven't had much time to get out digging, however I finally had a day off yesterday, (April 12th). I went digging with my best friend at a permission he had just attained where there was a decent amount of Revolutionary War activity. We had no idea what were going to find.
After arriving at the site and digging a little while, my first period find was a fired musket ball. This was an incredibly exciting find as before yesterday I had never found anything of Revolutionary War significance.
After finding this, my friend and I became very excited for what else the day would hold. That excitement grew as we each began to find a few musket balls.
After searching where we had been for a while more, I noticed a slight rise in the terrain that looked like the kind of place where a camp might have been. I shared this observation with my friend and we both agreed to head that way in search of relics. On our way over, we dug a couple of musket balls that were quite spread out. Upon arriving at the rise, the concentration of musket balls picked up considerably, and we also began finding melted lead. The concentration was also grouped fairly tight. We noticed as well that a small stream was running right next to where were were searching, and we began to wonder if there might have been some sort of picket or small encampment or soldiers where we were searching.
Soon after this, I got a signal that was ringing slightly lower than what the musket balls had been. Upon flipping the plug back I, was absolutely shocked to see a pewter button with a mold line staring back at me! I quickly called my friend over and carefully removed the button from the plug and wiped the dirt off of the face. I let out a whoop of excitement after I saw this!:
My friend and I just about went crazy! I must admit it was quite a thrill to know I had just dug my first Revolutionary War regimental! After calming myself down, I did a quick search on my phone and found out my button is an enlisted man's pattern from the British 10th Regiment of Foot!! I was in disbelief that I had found such a piece of history!
It was a little while before I was able to detect again, as I wanted to savor the moment. In the meantime my friend pulled two pewter buttons with beautiful designs on them that, while not regimentals, were almost certainly worn by soldiers.
After these exhilarating finds we still continued to find musket balls:
These are just some of mine. Due to the buttons and number of musket balls in one small area, there was definitely something going on where we were searching, however, due to the lack of relics other than buttons and musket balls, we are a bit perplexed as to what might have been going on. I still need to take a diameter of the musket balls, however they all had casting lines and sprue marks, which I believe means that they are American, as I have read the the British made theirs with shot towers that resulted in a smooth finish without a mold line. Due to this fact my theory is that the button I found was a captured British coat worn by a Patriot.
After finding a few more muaketballs, the sun began to set and it was time to be heading home.
In total I found eleven musketballs and pieces of buckshot and my friend found 32, putting us at 43 musket balls found!
After arriving home, I cleaned up my finds. The button cleaned up very nice and I used mod-podge, which is a thin glue/sealer to seal the button to ensure it did not flake.
Cleaned up 10th Regt. button:
I'll post some more photos of the button as well as some of my friend's finds.
After cleaning the musket balls, I put this little display together:
Discovering these pieces of history was one of the most exciting yet humbling things I have done in my time spent metal detecting. It's just mind-boggling for me to think that I'm digging up and handling things that soldiers fighting for the United States' independence also handled. It is truly an honor to dig up these kinds of things and I am blessed to be able to do so.
VTColonialDigger
Updated
Better Photos:
Last edited:
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