Regiment of Riflemen Buttons w/ Bergie

Carolina Tom

Gold Member
Apr 4, 2014
10,059
17,064
Charlotte
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
XP Deus V3.2 9" & 11" Coils, AT Pro, ProPointer AT, Lesche 55, 75 & 80LT
Primary Interest:
Other
I left early on Thursday morning to meet TNet member:Bergie. I can’t thank him enough for the invite.

On our previous adventures, he has been kind enough to flaunt his exceptional collection of War of 1812 buttons, in front of me. I especially envied the Regiment of Riflemen buttons, he was watching me like a hawk, so I was unable to slip one in my pocket.

The time had finally come for me to visit the site. I won’t go into the details, but we only hunted there about 5 hours. Permission issues. It was a spectacular place to hunt. The tidal river causes erosion, all sorts of “stuff” was eroding out, and onto this little beach.

E9AD5652-44FF-4173-913A-5E8E5FD18DF1.jpg

First thing I saw was a black glass bottle neck sticking out.

462EE744-E5CD-49CF-9FDC-58D718C0FED8.jpeg

I believe it’s an onion bottle from the 1700s. But would like input on that. The lip is way out of round, dark green glass with bubbles in it.

C9782940-6C15-44DB-AED5-3FC1EC0CFE56.jpegC5FD2DD1-8E65-4C84-B36E-91F4347DE0A9.jpeg

C5C75A37-08D7-470C-B7C4-1CD5D6D171C8.jpeg

The place had a giant patch of octopus stinkhorn mushrooms, also known as devils fingers. They have a putrid flesh smell. Between the smell and the bitting gnats, it was tough, but not that tough.

9187298D-1B28-4F25-9B5D-F12C5DE98013.jpeg784C924A-3EB3-4C71-A7F1-2CA5FEC83361.jpg

They erupt from little white “eggs”.

139BD598-A7E2-4A61-9034-CBA5CDA70FF1.jpeg6CEA02B9-6FED-4094-82CA-E1540CDA2C41.jpg

I found this rimfire brass. I think it might be a CW era Spencer. It’s really stubby, only about 1” long, but fat at .58” in diameter. Any idea?

697DB7A1-DEAA-4CC9-9981-9EAA895CF66A.jpeg04BA6A64-9170-4C75-ADD2-2514332E0F92.jpeg

6718AC53-1897-428B-BD3B-E8AECB722FEB.jpeg96CE7658-C7E0-43B2-8079-2D1134A6452D.jpeg

OK, here is the good stuff. The beach yielded a couple of US pewter cuff buttons.

27B662E9-122A-45B9-9243-A05E49507D7C.jpeg

This would have been plenty, but I really wanted one of those Regiment of Riflemen buttons. Whilst digging through the nails, I stumbled upon a shankless green disc. I quickly brushed it off, and was thrilled to see the RR that I’ve been thinking about for a year and a half.

520D983F-4EB7-4270-B0AB-A71E5841DB55.jpeg

I continued on thrilled, shortly thereafter I stumbled upon a RR cuff button. We left after about 3 hours, fully expecting 2 more full days on this site.

Friday dawned chilly and clear. We were at the site by 9:00AM. I took to the flat grassy area that had been hunted out. Within about an hour and a half, I managed to find another RR coat button, as well as a RR cuff button. Then the show abruptly ended.

Bergie informed me that he might have another spot and after a couple of calls, we headed to a beautiful waterfront property. Here is a pic of one of the giant live oak trees that dotted the second site.

F6CC9DA3-9753-4DEF-B7DA-145E81D55E63.jpeg

We dug some trash, and hand fulls of shotgun butts, in the hopes that something good would appear. I couldn’t believe it when 8” from a shotgun butt, a third RR coat button appeared. I could hardly have been happier.

Here’s a link on the Regiment.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regiment_of_Riflemen

Without further ado.

1E75D13D-4428-49C3-8445-53DA0EFB8789.jpeg90637BAF-3944-43B3-B15A-7F8680772002.jpeg

F7934EDD-4B38-4473-A878-C4D72B9D74AE.jpeg

I ended up with 5 RR buttons and 2 US pewters from the War of 1812. Here is a pic of them all together. 54 hours door to door, 2 nights at the Red Roof Inn, 700 miles of driving, 1 heck of a good time.

F2B5DC44-2EB8-4861-B8A7-51E8364C4366.jpeg

I can’t thank Bergie enough for the invite and fellowship.

Thanks for looking and good luck on your hunts!
 

Last edited:
Upvote 45
not only one heck of a hunt with spectacular finds but another friendship miles away like that is awesome in itself. one never is certain as to what a trip may hold in store for you but that would qualify as one to remember. congrats Mr Tom
 

Beautiful buttons! :occasion14:
 

Awesome hunt and finds. Congratulations :notworthy:
 

Tom, those are truly awesome relics and the condition of them appears to be excellent, considering how long they've been hiding in the dirt. Sorry to hear about the permission issues, as Bergie mentioned that site is constantly changing, exposing new and exciting relics. At least you got some quality swing time in there and Bergie had a great backup site. Congrats to you both..Ddf.
 

Tom, those are truly awesome relics and the condition of them appears to be excellent, considering how long they've been hiding in the dirt. Sorry to hear about the permission issues, as Bergie mentioned that site is constantly changing, exposing new and exciting relics. At least you got some quality swing time in there and Bergie had a great backup site. Congrats to you both..Ddf.

Thanks DDF. It was nice to hang out with Bergie for a couple of days. He is very nice. I am very happy with the buttons too, I rarely find what I’m looking for so, this was a great change of pace.

The sandy soil keeps the buttons much nicer than other places I’ve hunted. Dang shame that we couldn’t save some more of them. So much history just being washed away forever.
 

You really nailed it, Tom. Great finds and glad you made it just under the wire for permission. If we win lottery will have to go back and buy permission. Fun trip all around. Catch up next time.
 

Wow, Tom. I told you this already, but that is a stellar hunt. That site is amazing. Great job with the Deus! Great job switching from coin shooting to relic hunting!
 

You really nailed it, Tom. Great finds and glad you made it just under the wire for permission. If we win lottery will have to go back and buy permission. Fun trip all around. Catch up next time.

You know how much I appreciate the invite. That really was a dream come true. I have been thinking about it every since I saw your finds. Glad we got to spend some time together, sorry about Matthew and Bobbi crashing the party!
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top