Why I carry a Pre-Civil War Silver 1844 Seated Liberty Quarter with me

wlb42

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Dec 4, 2011
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I carry an 1844 U.S. silver Seated Quarter that I found 3/27/2015 with a metal detector in Georgia. It is a typical coin that would have been carried by a Union or even a Confederate Soldier during the Civil War 1861-1865. And in the beginning also how the Soldiers were paid & been carrying, before they started paying in the "fiat" paper currency, and history tells us, which many soldiers didn't like the paper & didn't trust (for some of us Life doesn't change).


An enlisted Union soldier would have been paid about 50-cents a day ($13 a month), and would have been paid & been carrying $1 Seated Dollars, 50-cent Seated Halfs & Seated quarters & dimes. And an Officer, 1st & 2nd Lieutenant was paid a little over $25 a week ($105.50 per month) and paid usually in a combination of Gold coins, $20-$10-$5 and even $2.50 & $1.00 gold coins in circulation at that time. Officers liked GOLD.


In the Union infantry and artillery, officer's pay was as follows, at the start of the war: Colonels, $212; Lieutenant Colonels, $181; Majors, $169; Captains, $115.50; and Lieutenants, $105.50 as mentioned above. Other line and staff officers drew an average of about $15 per month more. Pay for one, two, and three star Generals was $315, $457, and $758, respectively.


The Confederate pay structure was modeled after that of the US Army. Privates continued to be paid at the prewar rate of $11 per month until June '64, when the pay of all enlisted men was raised $7 per month. Confederate officer's pay was a few dollars lower than that of the their Union counterparts. A Southern BG for example, drew $301 instead of $315 per month; Confederate Colonels of the infantry received $195, and those of artillery, engineers, and cavalry was $210.


YES, my silver pocket piece reminds me of a lot of HISTORY and the hobby of Numismatics (coin collecting) which I love. Here is a link below & picture of my coin and information how I found it:

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/t...ter-found-today-brief-hunt-my-whites-mx5.html
 

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I've dug several seated coins - Half dimes and dimes but never a quarter. That's a nice one!
 

This would be a Great Good Luck Charm to digging more History. Great find for sure.
 

If the soldiers carried all these coins, why are coins so scarce on Civil War sites? Gary

I think the Sutlers got most of them. I have personally dug 3 silvers and a IH(62') in one small field at Antietam.
 

I think the Sutlers got most of them. I have personally dug 3 silvers and a IH(62') in one small field at Antietam.

HaHa! That makes sense. Even though you're far from anywhere and in a war, there is someone standing there willing to sell you something and take your money! Gary
 

ToddsPoint asked:
> If the soldiers carried all these coins, why are coins so scarce on Civil War sites?

Today, coins have so little value that many Americans don't bother to stop and pick up one they dropped. But at the time of the civil war, even a penny would buy far-far more than it does today. Also, as wlb42 mentioned, a yankee Enlisted-man's daily pay was 43 cents. So, a dime represented about 6 hours' pay. If you lost your wallet with 6 hours cash pay in it, how much effort would you put into hunting for it? Thus, coins are scarce on civil war sites because a soldier viewed even a lost silver 3-cent coin as a serious chunk of money. I should mention, there's a Bible verse which tells about a woman who has lost a coin, lights a lamp to search for it in the dark, and "rejoices" when she finds it. As I said, in the past a coin would buy far-far more than one does today, so people would put a great deal of effort into hunting for one they dropped.
 

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