July 2008

A couple of weeks ago, Bobby Hammonds, owner of Southern Star Display Cases, his brother Danny and myself set out for a day of river hunting.  I typically do not hunt in the summer, mostly for the reasons of ticks, poison ivy, and snakes, not to mention the heat.  But this was one digging trip I could not pass up.  We hunted a river that was used by soldiers during the Tullahoma Campaign in Middle Tennessee, both sides of the river providing camping areas for the soldiers.  There was plenty of fighting nearby, so we had a chance of finding overshots as well.  Setting out early that morning, the water was only shin deep.  I thought "I can handle this" but by the time we reached the end of our expedition, which was 3 1/2 miles downstream, the water was well above our heads and we had to paddle our boat the last 500 feet to the truck.  I have to tell you though, I was hooked since I didn't even break a sweat once.  The water was cool, clean and best yet, we actually found stuff.  An old pitch fork, cell phone, camera, a couple of fishing poles (most likely thrown in a fit of fury over a fish that got away), golf balls, steel trap, AND..... 4 fired 3 ringers, 1 dropped 3 ringer, and a perfectly intact ration can.  Bobby and his brother have found much more in this river over the last couple of years, including a carbine barrel, but due to the water level being unusually high, we didn't have as much luck.  But don't worry, we'll be hitting it again when the water drops.  I'm hooked on water hunting!!

    Ration can found by         Bobby Hammonds

My only bullet. A fired 3 Ringer!  Notice how there's no white powdered patina since found in the water.

January-February  2008

People have been emailing wanting to know if we've been digging lately. We'll it just so happens Nikki and I have been taking advantage of the cold weather over the last four months. I've included some pics above of some of the bigger digs we've been on. Click on the images to see more from these hunts.

December 2007

Nikki spent a couple of days this last week digging while the weather was nice.  Check out the Dimick sharpshooter bullets at the bottom and the crumpled canister top plates in the center. 

Various Dimick from the 66th Illinois Sharpshooters "Birge's Sharpshooters"

Almost complete musket recovered by Dennis Nunnery. Cool part is that he eyeballed the butt plate, can't believe it.

Feb 2007

Some of the finds that have been coming out of the ground this month. These finds represent a lot of digging hours. However, this is definitely what is still out there if your willing to dig through the trash!

Dennis Nunnery Strikes again!!!! If you knew where & what he dug under to get this, you wouldn't believe it.

No Archers for me, however, I love digging those Dimicks!! These are going into the display!!

Nikki has turned into a diggin fool lately. Some digger left the fuse at the top laying right on top of the ground near a tree; She totally eyeballed it! Cool thing was she dug the 3.67 Hotchkiss nose in the ravine below it. It fits the frag perfectly.

Thought it was worth putting back on the top. We got the Parrot cleaned up and Robin was busy diggin again.

12/31/06

There is still a shell to be found. Robin, who lives here in Dover, found a 10pdr Parrot right in her back yard!

Haven't posted any finds in awhile. We have been hitting the woods lately and have been having some good luck. We have hit a few new spots that are producing regularly. None the less, we have had a lot of fun getting back out in the woods. Here are some of the finds from the last couple trips out.

Here is a brass bell found the other day. These are listed as Cavalry bells. I know these to come out of Union & Confederate camps. This particular one came out of a Confederate line.

We found several spent bullets and a buckle with some leather still attached. Most all of the bullets we found were shot from this area.

This area we didn't expect to do this good. My friend, Dwayne Davis pulled out an eagle button and a 2-cent piece. We have pulled out several round balls, .69 Minnies. There has also been some Kerrs been found as well.

This is one of Nikki's quick outings. She went for a couple hours and stumbled into a small area and found a really nice dropped Suhl.

2/25/06

The weekend ended up being productive for relic hunting. On the left my friend Dennis Nunnery dug this Model 1816 triangular bayonet on Saturday in Dover. It was in the trashiest of places, but if it had been any shallower he would have tripped over it. Great find. My finds for this weekend are accumulative from Dover and Central Tennessee. Most all of the bullets are from Dover area, the brass items and lockplate from Middle Tennessee. The button is Indian war era as we were hunting a house site which served as a Confederate picket/camp. That particular area has given up relics from  the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and now Indian War. We had some other good finds by some of our other friends, but didn't get pictures of them. Were trying to hit it hard as it won't be long before the tick's and snakes are out!!

2/23/06

Just got these home a couple hours ago. Nikki and I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather today as well as the last few weeks as a couple before becoming parents.

(48)-69FatBoys; (5)-44cal colts; (4)-Eagle Buttons; Half of a soldier's looking glass; knife, fork, and a utensil handle with the wood left on it. Few carved and a canteen stopper.

This was the most peculiar thing I found, two sets of .69cal fused together. They came out of the same hole and they appeared to be purposely done this way.

Its been awhile since an update on the latest finds page. Here is that last several hunts up here around Dover.

12/10/05:   Dennis Nunnery & I got out this afternoon for a few hours, however it didn't take Dennis but 10minutes to pop out this beautiful breastplate w/loops intact. Its rare that a plate this great comes out of the ground these days, but its even rarer to pop one out around Dover. I know guys who have hunted years around here and have never found one. The James fragment is a nice one and most probably came from Dresser's Battery which had two James rifles. Round balls, couple Sharps, Suhl, and a 3-ring Kerr.

(Left Top) One days dig produced several dropped and fired bullets. A nice ringtail sharps, fired Kerr and some round balls. I had also dug a nice 8" or 10" Fragment.

(Left Bottom) The next day we went to a different place we had learned about and were able to unearth this nice grouping. Along with probably the coolest relic I have dug so far, (Bottom Right) a tompion which was bullet struck as a result of the soldier not removing it from the end of the muzzle. 

A quick note on the Dimick bullet (Swiss Chauser Bullet). These were originally thought to be Confederate, however are now known to be made & utilized specifically for the Dimick sporting or hunting rifle. Horace E. Dimick originally supplied 150 of these rifles along with bullet molds. These would range from .33cal to .69cal (the rarest). He completed this contract in 1862. These weapons were specifically issued to "Birge's Western Sharpshooters" officially known as the 66th Illinois Infantry. By '63 however, they were rearming with the Henry Repeating Rifle. . 

Early in the war, this regiment fought at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, & Corinth. Which incidentally is where this bullet has only known to be found. (I have recently found that these have come from Fort Heinman as well.)

Although various caliber's have been found, they characteristically have one ring. However the base maybe solid, cone, hollow base without or with a small, medium, and large teat. 

This is the latest trip Nikki and I made. We found a few nice dropped Suhls. Nikki found a nice lead finial and I happened across a nice Eagle I. 

Bottom Left: Pistol ball carved either as a bead or for a fish weight. 

Bottom Right: A dropped Suhl and to top off the evening a nice Confederate Kerr sharpshooter's bullet, .45cal 

Nikki & I had a very Good Friday evening considering it was a last minute decision to go hunting for 2.5hours. We were in an area that had been hit hard for several years. However Nikki had stumbled into a Confederate picket post just before dark and the fun began. Now I know digging bullets may not be that exciting to read about, but anyone who has dug in or around Dover knows that the pickings are thin these days. 

Nikki dug the first two bullets: A nice Suhl Carbine and a Low Base .69 

Not long after that we got two more signals: A nice dropped round ball along with a .54 cal three ringer. 

Nikki dug 3 nice country or picket rifle bullets. 

We thought they were carved at first, but after we got homed and cleaned them we could see the mold seams. 

To top it off, I dug an Indian Head Penny dated 1860. 

Right: A nice 12# Bormann fused shell dug in Mississippi. This will sit on the shelf next to the CS Baby Reed & Archer shell (Dug out of the same hole), which was also dug earlier this month.

Above: Mr. Griggs of Dover brought in some relics from his latest digs: Toe tap, Heel Plate, poncho grommets, carved round ball, & a  Confederate Suhl Carbine bullet just to name a few. 

Right: Mr. Griggs with a nice stirrup. 

Coin button, part of a small rasp, & an un cut round ball. 

Pictured above: Dennis Nunnery (left) displays the 12pound exploding shell dug 40min prior & a friend of his Shannon Snider (right) displays the 32pound naval shell found last September. You can see Dennis's article in the latest issue of North/South Trader Vol. 30 No. 5/ 2004