This is a continuation of this post, and Papa Bears trip out east.
“Sunday saw me in the Fredericksburg area. Now here I will not divulge my location because I have been invited back to continue my relic hunting there.
My brother advised me that one of his co-workers owned and had access to property that was behind the Confederate lines during the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862. I jumped at this opportunity to hunt a known Confederate area and on Sunday I met the property owner, R.
After an introduction into the history of the property we set off. The hi-light of the hunt was the finding of two sets of Buck-n-Ball, a predominantly Confederate form of ammunition used in their smooth bore muskets. Here is a description of the buck n ball courtesy of The West Coast Civil War Collectors :
Designed solely for military use, the buck and ball cartridge has been around from as early as the Revolutionary War. During the War of 1812, it was the standard issue military round. The cartridge usually contained a .69 caliber round shot with three additional round buckshot, these being approximately .31 caliber. The cartridges were fabricated alternatively with the round ball against the powder, or held forward of the buckshot. In addition, approximately 110 grains of black powder was neatly packaged within the brown paper wrap. The larger shot was intended to strike the primary target, with the buckshot scattering and causing additional injury in the opposing lines. This ammunition was used with significant impact when fired at close range from a smoothbore musket. But at distances beyond 150 yards, accuracy declined and the smaller buckshot quickly lost energy.
During the Civil War, these cartridges were manufactured by the millions at seventeen Federal arsenals and numerous additional state facilities. At Watervliet Arsenal in West Troy, New York, nearly 2½ million buck and ball cartridges were fabricated in 1862 alone. Specimens of .69 caliber round shot and .31 caliber buckshot are found on virtually every Civil War battlefield.
A study conducted at Watervliet Arsenal in 1848 indicated that accuracy for both the round ball and the buckshot was increased when the ball was placed against the powder and used as a gas seal to push the buckshot down the barrel upon discharge.
Here is how the discovery came about…
I was swinging the coil on my metal detector near the tree stump and I got a “tick” in my earphones. This “tick” was associated with a solid signal in the 50′s range on the display of my machine with a depth of 8 inches. I told R that I was going to dig the signal. At about 6 inches down I pulled out one buckshot. I swung again in the area and about a foot away I got another “tick”. This produced another buckshot. By now I was getting just a little excited. I told R that if we found another buckshot, that we had part of a buck n ball cartridge. Low and behold, next to the stump again I found another buckshot.
Now we were standing on a slight slope. I stood up, looked down hill and advised R that if there was a ball to be found, then it was downhill due to it being heavier. A started swinging my coil down the slope and not two feet away….
Now we were standing on a slight slope. I stood up, looked down hill and advised R that if there was a ball to be found, then it was downhill due to it being heavier. A started swinging my coil down the slope and not two feet away….
I got a good signal in the 70 range on my machine. Out came a .69 Cal ball…..Okay now we could get excited!! We shook hands and congratulated each other as if we had just discovered water is wet. The amazing thing was that in the same area I found another buck n ball combination.
To think that at some point in 1862 a Confederate soldier had dropped two buck n ball cartridges in this location was quite a feeling. Both R and I were very pleased to have recovered them.
After the hunt, R left an open invitation for me to return anytime. I will be sure to take him up on that offer.
As for the two sets of buck n ball? I had also found some square nails while hunting the property and so I put them and one set of the buck n ball in a display case. My brother surprised R with it at work the next day. My brother advised that R was very surprised and please with it and talked about it all day.“~ PB
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