Latest at the musket ball camp

[Coilcop]

This is really unreal to me. I dug out another 36 of them today, and now have found 84 in 3 separate digs. There are so many, this is what happens. I pinpoint the target, set my towel down close by. I dig out about a 4-5" deep plug, and place it on the towel. I run the machine over the top, to see if I got it out, and it rings. I then go over the hole and it is still ringing. I realized in short order, the target was not in the plug on the towel, there is another one under the towel! There are so many of these, I have to detect an area to put the towel down, so I am sure there is nothing underneath it making the detector ring. That is just to give you some perspective on how many there are. I did find what looks like a partial knife blade, or tool top of some sort. It was shaped into a mushroom head at the top, and straight from there, but I only found the top part, the rest was broken off. If there is anyone in Connecticut here, that would like to dig some musket balls, I am not greedy, just e-mail me, and I'll share the site I found. I love coins, and can't part with my coins at any price, emotional attachment I guess, been collecting since I was 8. I have no emotional attachment to these, and I intend to sell all but a couple just to have a few from this tresure trove. I'm not sure how many more their are, but if I had to guess I would say 100s.

[bigbillinsc]

I would be more tha glad to come come by and help ya dig em all. WOW... did they manufacture them there?. that must have been one heck of a skirmish to have tha many balls.... let us know what the final tally is.... right now if ya let em go for just 5 bucks a piece your looking at over $400.00... i love those numbers. happy hunting and goood luck

ARE YOU STILL BORED
FINDING MUSKET BALLS?
CONGRATULATIONS
KEEP ON DIGGING THEM UP

I would take digging musket balls over pull tabs any day !!! Congrats !!!

[Winger Ed.]

That's cool.

If these musket balls are all one or maybe two different sizes--- it sounds like you're in a old military camp/target range.

Depending on how big the unit was, and how long they stayed, you may be on top of thousands of those old musket balls.

They'd line up in thier formations and practice 'volley fire'. That was the tactic of mass troop formations of the day. They practiced disipline, reloading quickly, and getting off another shot more so than accuracy like we do today.

Facing a volley like that, since the rifles weren't very accurate--- even if the shooter was calm & collected, it was deemed more important to get as many shots in the air at once than to try and teach basic marksmanship.
Those volleys were like one big huge shotgun blast.

I'd be sort of courious as to the calibres of your find. It could narrow down the types of rifles, who was there, and when.

.

[Coilcop]

I don't have a micrometer, but the sizes vary from what appears (the biggest), from my research of .69 caliber or just slightly larger than a marble, down to a few that are actually pea size. I think you are right in your assessment. I have found now 2 locations. One is about 10-15 sq. yds. and in front of that area, and just slightly to the right is another 10-15 sq. yd. area with just as many. I have also found many that are partials. Some are flatened on one side like they hit something. Others are fragmented, and a few are actually halved, or hollowed. Some with very sharp edges on them. From what I read, someone was doing a study on this. Their theory was they made these jagged edges so the balls would be more lethal, or perhaps to even draw clothing into the wounds as well. Apparently this is documented, and their study was looking for balls from a wide-spread area to determine how extensive this practice, or knowledge was. I still have no idea if these are from the Revolutionary War, or Civil War, any idea how I can make that determination? I would say overall, there are about 4 different sizes of balls I am finding. Some look like they were made with one of those hand held molders. Others look like they were the types made from molten lead dropped from a tower into a trough of water, as they are slightly out of round, and no markings on the top or bottom from the hand held device. I know there are hundreds of them still out there at least. The detector goes off constantly, and the beauty is, where I am digging these, there is no trash, so every dig, brings up a ball. They show up on the VDI in different ways. Most of the large ones register 77-81 like a penny or dime, some of the smaller ones, or fragments in the 30s-40s, and some others in the bottle-top range or 60s. Makes me wonder if they are composed of multiple metals, or different metals other than lead, although by sight, they all appear to be the same. Going to try and get some pictures up here, as soon as I figure out how to get my digital camera to take pictures small enough to post. I have a zoom lens, but not a lot of knowledge. What is the best way to take and post pictures here, any help will be appreciated. BigBill, your welcome to come and dig some out if your serious, like I said I'm not greedy, there are plenty! I know from doing this now, and how friendly the people are here, it feels like one big family, so anyone is welcome.

[Winger Ed.]

Sounds like a Union Civil War era camp.
That 15 yard square was probably behind the bullseye of their target.
I'd think it'd be a campsite rather than a battle or skirmish site due to the concentration of them in such a small area. If there had been any fighting going on, they'd be scattered over a huge area, and you'd also be finding lots of buttons, other hardware, and the ocassional coin.

The Union troops had both 'factory' ammo in the form of lead balls, and paper cartridges where the powder charge and ball were sort of pre-packed. Plus, they cast alot of thier own musket balls too. There was an amazing amount of developement and experimentation with musket ammunition going on then. The mini-ball, the maxi-ball, twin shot, mulitple shot that stacked like wafers or coins , all sorts of stuff. And they even had some hollow/exploding musket ammo-- but none of it really worked very well.

The Confederate forces pretty much had to make most of their own lead balls,
or they used captured supplies.

The smaller ones are probably grape shot. They used it like we would a buckshot load for a shotgun shell.

If the unit stayed there very long, you should still be able to see where their tents were pitched. It was common to dig a hole under the tent and build a mud fireplace at the back of it. I've seen rows of holes in platoon formations that look like a giant muffin tin on the ground. You'll find all manner of stuff in & around them. That's where the soldiers actually lived.

And, no garbage collection back then, so you should find a trash pit or piles somewhere.
They'll have all sorts of glass bottles and hardware in them. If undisturbed, a trash pit
will look like a hollow depression on the ground about 10' across and a couple feet deep.

Something you'll find near the tent sites is splashes of lead with dirt in it.
When they'd sit around casting musket balls--- usually in the same iron ware they ate out of-- you'd have to push the dirt and junk in the molten lead to the side of the pan, pour your ball, put it back on the fire, repeat..

After most of the good lead was used, they'd toss the crud out on the ground to 'clean' thier pan. These splash lumps are about half the size of your hand and all over the place if they camped there very long.

I don't know where you're at, but it sounds like it'd be worth researching out what Civil war unit was there and when. You may just be on the tip of a previously undiscovered and un-excavated iceberg made out of relics.

Ohh,, if there are any really old trees nearby, scan them.
They'll often have musket balls in them too if they were standing back then.
Ya can't really get them out, but its cool to find them in a tree.

.

[Coilcop]

Your right about the splashes of lead. I found a clump of lead, and was wondering what it was. This place I am at had become a farm, so I believe the ground was tilled over and over again. I find some of these as shallow as 1.5" in the ground, and others 6-8". The soil is very thick heavy clay. Thanks for all your input.

[crbhood]

I know you're a coin man,,,,,,,,but that's awesome!

[Coilcop]

Thanks, I don't want to sound unappreciative of what I found, it truly is a tresure, but honestly, I'd rather dig up old coins, with lesser value. In a way I wish someone that is really into that kind of stuff found them instead, he/she would have so much of a greater appreciation than I do. I look at pics of silver coins that have been dug, or older coins, and that makes me envious! My oldest coin so far is a 1916 wheatie, so haven't broken the 100 yr mark in coins. The irony of all this, I have broken the 200 yr. mark with these musket balls, and maybe more.