Need your CW relic expert advice

captain Jack

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Sep 26, 2006
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Richmond, Va
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I got into this hobby with the hope of finding civil war relics. I am slowly compiling research to hopefully eventually come up with a spot. (I think I'm a bad researcher).

But on to the real question. I FINALLY caught the relic hunting episode of that show cash and treasures and watched them dig a CW button out of a 3 foot deep hole. Are all CW relics that deep? or I guess I am now wondering what the common depth would be? I am hoping that since they were near the river that floods buried that button extremely deep. I was thinking that these would be closer to around 1 foot deep. If I am wrong...cool, but I'm gonna need a bigger shovel!

any consensus?
 

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They were digging hut sites. Most of the relics that I have found are only a few inches deep. It depends on the site itself. Is it a farm field that gets cultivated yearly? If so, relics can be on the surface or a foot down. I recently dug in a pasture that has been such since the war and some minies were only 2-3 inches down but the ground was so hard that I bent my shovel. Research the area and you can get an idea of what is in store for your digging. HH!
Mike
 

I'm pretty new to relic hunting, too. But I found two bullets at 5 - 6 inches - less than 1/4 mile from my house! Also found two buttons (coin button and "sunburst" cuff button) but they are not yet confirmed as CW military relics. I've found a number of horse tack items that could be civilian or military. I'm hoping to find something to confirm this area was an encampment.

The area was a farm field and pasture for many years. It is along a pre-CW era road and about 4 miles from a small battlefield. I'm told there was a creek nearby before the housing developement was built in the late 70's. I believe that makes it a good candidate for an encampment area.

Good luck with your research!

DCMatt
 

Trench warfare was the norm back then. Remember the story of the md'r who found a rifle that was buried vertical in a trench, near G-burg or in VA I'm not sure.

Chuck
 

most relics are in the 3 to 6 inch range.I've eyeballed some laying right on the ground and duge 3 feet for others,but the majority are not deep.
 

No, they aren't that deep typically. They were looking for deep iron signals, then digging down looking for what may have been left behind in hut sites.
 

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