Three Little Eagles sitting in a tree....not...in the GROUND!

[smokeythecat]

Oh what a pleasure it is working a "hunch" and finding a totally untouched site. That's what my buddy and I did today. Just a cut soybean field. Right off a big road. Found lots of stuff including a busted crotal bell, 1829 matron head cent, parts of early 19th century brass drawer pulls, a Rev War period musket ball, four colonial buttons, a small CW eagle button, lots of brass I still have to get out of the bucket and identify and two CW period shell casings, still have to measure them, but have found these on CW sites before. Plus these little guys. I thought at first they were Indian Wars, but finally pulled a backmark from one and the are definitely Civil War. Pottery pieces found place the place 1770-1830. The CW buttons date much later than anything else on the site.

 

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[dfallis1]

Those buttons look amazing! Another successful hunt.

 

[smokeythecat]

There was also so much iron in the ground, in a few places you couldn't move the loop without bumping into some. I did pull out two broken colonial horseshoes and a really neat little hand forged and well used wedge, the kind used for splitting wood, although it is on the small side.

 

[Wildcat1750]

Nice trio of eagle buttons!

 

[A2coins]

Wow I wish there was history like that here, great finds !!!!!Thanks for the post!!!

 

[smokeythecat]

Site was first settled before 1700.

 

[smokeythecat]

Started cleaning things up. Also got parts of four broken brass spoons, 19th century, a piece of an 18th century shoe buckle, four colonial flat buttons, the two brass rimfire cartridges which are VERY old, some glass, unidentified brass and from site #2 a nice brass skeleton key, three minies, and several quadzillion modern fired bullets. The second site is on a hilltop, and it was blowing really hard. Had to leave after awhile due to the wind.

 

[against the wind]

You think maybe a soldier hung his jacket on that tree,, so many years ago??
Congrats on some really nice finds.

 

[smokeythecat]

Yes, those are officer's buttons. All were found in the same general area. Right in what would have been in front of the old house. May have simply been tossed out, or the buttons taken off the coat and the coat reused, kind of like the vets do today, although I don't think that happened quite as much in the CW period. The buttons are identical and had to have been off the same coat. Found a smaller toasty one also. My buddy found 3 backs.

So until today, nobody in the whole world even knew there was house there, probably with children, animals, everything. All that's left is a handful of relics. Cemetery is probably on the back hill. Unmarked. Maybe these folks are on someone's genealogy tree. Will never know.

 

[trapperart]

Congrats on the buttons, would have liked to seen all the finds in the pics

 

[Scrappy]

Nice buttons Smokey

 

[relic nut]

Those buttons look great. Nice save.

HH, RN

 

[sprailroad]

I tell ya, "gut feeling" & "hunch" are two more tools we carry in our detecting equipment.

 

[SilverReciever]

Pleasant find! What unit does it belong to?

 

[smokeythecat]

No idea about a unit. And now that I have cleaned up some of the other stuff, I'm not sure what happened at that house. In the pile of goodies was a .32 rimfire Smith and Wesson cartridge and a .44 Henry cartridge. Somebody doing some bushwhacking? Confederates were nearby burning a rail line. Might have been related. We didn't find any other 1860's or later relics at the site.

 

[angelito1]

Outstanding finds.... just wondering did you obtain permission or did you just go on the field that had just been plowed?

 

[DownNDirty]

Great job following your hunch and locating a home site. Those are the most rewarding ones, and usually have never been detected if there are no above-ground signs of a house.

 

[mlutz]

Those are AWESOME!

 

[smokeythecat]

No, had permission and parked the car right in front of the owner's house. That's the ONLY way to do it. Never a need to look over your shoulder. I'll try to get more pics tonight or tomorrow. BTW this field was not disced last fall. It's got soybean stubble on it.