First Confederate Relic!!!

I got a call earlier in the week from Jack McGill, a fellow relic hunter and good friend of my father-in-law, Phil Amsler. He and I have relic hunted a few times in the past, and we ususally get together at some point in January or February for a few hours of detecting every year. Jack asked me to join him this weekend for some good old fashioned relic hunting, and of course, I obliged! We had prepared to search several sites, but due to the cold weather (30 degrees), we decided to stay close to Jack's home on Lady's Island in Beaufort and search a Yankee camp site that Jack had recieved the landowner's permission to hunt. We have hunted there several times throughout the years and I have always found a few campsite relics, but never anything too substantial.

Anyway, we got started late due to the weather, and began swinging our detectors around 11am or so. I searched for a good hour without much activity, when BAM! A good signal, and once I dug it out, there I had it: my first button of any kind, a fully intact Eagle Coat button! A few minutes later, I had dug a couple of roundball bullets. Before lunch I had dug several other camp related artifacts and one nice .69 caliber Minnie Ball bullet, but no other buttons. Jack had located an Eagle button as well. Unfortunately for me, I forgot my shovel at home, so I had to borrow one of Jack's old ones. And wouldn't you know it, it broke! It's hard to dig without a shovel!

We took off for lunch(and to purchase another shovel for yours truly!), and after all that I only had time for about 45 more minutes of digging before I had to get back home. Well I started digging and got a great little signal. I dug out the hole and couldn't find anything. For about five minutes, I searched that little pactch of dirt, kept getting a signal but couldn't find the target. I kept sifting the dirt, and was just about to move on, when I noticed the target: a small button that had fallen through the dirt pile into the grass. I grabbed it, cleaned it off, and then realized what I had just found: in the middle of a Yankee Campsite, I had just found a Confederate South Carolina uniform cuff button! It is in almost perfect dug condition, has a good amount of Gilt left, and is fully intact! Jack was beside himself, and so was I. This was an incredible find, and in a Yankee camp of all places! It just goes to show you you never know where you will find a true treasure! This was by far my best relic hunting effort to date!

Good Looking Relics: Roundball bullets, .69 Cal Minnie Ball Bullet, two buttons

Union Eagle Coat Button

South Carolina Confederate Cuff Button