Talking about the Civil War with my grandfather one day back in the early 1970's, he told me he found alot of those minnie balls in a field he was plowing one time. He remembered exactly where it was! My uncle and I were able to obtain permission from the landowner since he was the same man my grandfather had worked for so many years ago. This is the way it looked that first day.
We walked to the top of the hill and turned on our MetroTecs. This camp was apparently "virgin" except for the few bullets my grandfather and other farmers had picked up. The ground was full of signals. My uncle and I spent most of our free time for the next several months in this camp, not telling anyone where we were digging. We dug thousands of sharps and burnside carbine bullets along with alot of .44 pistol bullets. Eagle buttons were badly eaten up by the fertilizer that had been put on the cornfield for decades, but the buckles were beautiful. I found fourteen swordbelt plates. Don't remember how many rifleman's sling buckles I found.
My uncle found two swordbelt plates, a US boxplate and many rifleman's sling buckles. After we felt we had dug all the good stuff, we told a couple of friends about the spot. Needless to say we had missed a few relics. Nine more swordplates were found including one rare leadfilled gold plated buckle. Now, everybody and his brother knows about the spot. I was there one day recently just for old times sake and a guy saw me from the road and came up where I was. He said "you won't find anything here, I dug it out years ago" I didn't tell him I had 11 bullets and a sling buckle tip in my pocket. My son likes the spot since you can always dig a few bullets when nowhere else is producing. Every time I go there I think of my grandfather and my uncle Mel now both gone. This camp will also soon be gone. The old man my grandfather worked for died a few years ago and his heirs have the property for sale. Be a nice spot for another bank or mall maybe. Just glad we got most of the relics out first.
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