Civil War Buckle

[drivebyandy]

All last year I found one mercury dime and only a handful of wheat pennies.

Now this year (today!) look what I found.

[attachment 309924 10289797_10153185796644834_3785587079957277140_n.jpg]

[attachment 309925 1797325_10153185796449834_8213358416273357063_n.jpg]

[attachment 309926 11066797_10153185796524834_4992511115677537778_n.jpg]

I would have never expected to find this where I was. Even more so, it seems weird to find these at all in Michigan, maybe I'm wrong on that?

Does anyone have any web sites that have a real good history of these? I can't seem to find anything that gives me a good run down on them or anything. Maybe a civil war buckle is a civil war buckle without much variation?

Last week about 20 yards from here I found an 1883 indian head too. It's been a great year in my book already.

 

[drivebyandy]

Oops. blank message. Was trying to figure out how to follow this. Now I see it up at the top. *doh*

 

[wasp]

Congratulations! That's an awesome find.

 

[drivebyandy]

Thank you! I know I'm still really excited about finding it.

 

[gitterdug]

Nice save Andy. They show up in places one would not expect, such as where I live, west of Fort Worth, far from any civil war activity. But if you think about it, after the civil war, former soldiers from both sides returned to their homes, or migrated to new homes in the West, carrying the accoutrements they had in the war, such as your buckle, or whatever. In those days, they were functional, not collectible. When they broke, or the belt broke, they were likely just an old buckle to them.

Nowadays, I would LOVE to have more of them. When I was a boy, I actually was given a civil war sword, along with some confederate cash, which was still seen around and considered junk. The sword was not a great sword, and I cut it off with a saw. At 12 I wanted a shorter version/giant knife to play with. It took me a few days with a hacksaw to cut it up.

Regardless.....you got yourself a great prize, to be treasured!

HH

Dennis

 

[dave5710]

I found one here in Central Illinois a few years ago. The area where you found that might been used for training prior to going to the war. Or perhaps it was lost at a G.A.R. event after the war. Or maybe some grandfather gave it to his grandson who lost it shortly afterwards. What I really don't understand is how you could lose your belt and not realize it, especially if you were wearing a wool uniform.

 

[chuck ky]

don't know much about the civil war when it comes to buttons and buckles. did the federal troops use the us buckle before and after the war or was it created just for the war. great find any way

 

[Dig This]

Sweet!

 

[drivebyandy]

Thanks for all the comments, guys! Another one of those items where you'll never know the full story, but it sure is fun thinking of all the possibilities. This was actually on my grandparent's property right next door. I have old plat maps with a couple names back through 1837 and tried to see if I could match any of those names up with civil war records I found online from Michigan. No luck directly connecting it with anyone that used to live there, but unfortunately that doesn't mean much either. Maybe I just didn't find the right info.

It's so funny because, being right next door, I hit this ground a lot and even though it is easily traced back to at least a mid 1800's homestead I haven't found a whole lot until recently. Lot of junk iron in the ground too though.

 

[mudpuppy]

Great find and really great research!
Mud

 

[senda]

great find !!
You have to be very happy...

 

[nalc472]

Great find. I would @hit my pants to find that.

 

[Crash67]

Nice find congrats

 

[Digger70pa]

Nice find. Those are what im after every time I go out.

 

[rme]

Nice Find - not much of that around here

 

[choppadude]

Great find! Years ago a buddy of mine found a CS buckle right here in NY. WE were perplexed as to how it got here but then remembered that one of the biggest Confederate prison camps is right here in our own backyard so to speak.