About 40 years ago (December 28, 1976), I drove from Atlanta to the civil war siege battlefield at Port Hudson LA, to go relic-digging with some friends. On that trip I dug a .36 Colt Navy revolver, whose brass backstrap was engraved "Capt. W.B. Seawell 7th La. H.A." (H.A. being the abbreviation for Heavy Artillery.) Research showed he was in command of a battery of Heavy Artillery cannons in the defenses of Port Hudson, on the Mississippi River side. When the Confederate Garrison was surrendered, Capt. Seawell and a CS cavalry officer put their revolvers, their swords, an 1855 Harpers Ferry Pistol-Carbine, and a solid-silver hilted fighting knife into a wooden rifle crate and buried it, to spare their weapons the dishonor of being handed over to the yankees. They were wrapped in Capt. Seawells uniform coat. When I dug them up, I found bits of grey cloth stuck to them, along with a bunch of Louisiana State Seal buttons.
About 30 years later I came across this photo of the handsome young Captain Seawell at age 20 in his Confederate Artillery uniform.
Possibly wearing the Coat & Buttons TCBG Unearthed.
