"Firestorm at Gettysburg"

[Moonshine]

Just got done with what I thought was a good read: "Firestorm at Gettysburg: Civilian Voices" by Slade & Alexander and was amazed at something which previously I had never read or crossed my mind and that is - relic / souvenir hunters.

It states that people were coming around for a while after the battle looking for souveniers and were willing to pay for anything and that some of the ordnance recovered was detonating when it was picked up. I got to thinking, up to when were relics of this battle being found??? I would've thought most of the items that could be recovered would've been especially if people were willing to pay for such items. It also states that bodies were found months later and that these men mustv'e crawled to find water or help and then died.

Anyone have any interesting stories of relics or remains being found from Gettysburg? Anything that would be from say the 1960's - 2000?

It's neat to think that some of that stuff was still laying around years later.

Just curious.

[Joe Walker]

Re: "Firestorm at Gettysburg"

James-

I suggest you look up the articles and books written by Greg Cocco. He has studied the aftermath of the battle and the disposal of the dead, mainly Confederate troops. (one good one is "Wasted Valor" which is from Thomas Publlications) There are many relics at the Gburg museum from the old Rosensteel collection that were picked up by locals. The US Army had to close off the roads into Gburg and search wagons leaving for war materials and such. There are also accounts of union soldiers sending CS relics home to friends as curiosities.......especially wood canteens.

Joe Walker

[John-Owen Kline]

Re: "Firestorm at Gettysburg"

Talk about a modern collecting niche. There is an attorney here that collects Gettysburg battlefield souvenirs scavenge soon after the battle or at early reunions. It isn’t a large inventory but boy it’s impressive; especially an inscribed, shell damaged Enfield picked up at a 11th VA position.

I’m told George Lower in Biglerville PA was a good contemporary source for years

[65thgainf]

Re: "Firestorm at Gettysburg"

It happened with all the battles. I read a Union veteran's story about travelling back through Resaca GA, a few years after the battle. He stopped in at a store in town. He said there was "bushell barrel's" of lead bullet's being sold as souvineers in the store. I have also heard from various modern day relic hunters about "eyeballing" relics up into the 1990's. Items that had fallen down in amongst large rocks, or lying just an inch or so in the ground.

[Kace]

Re: "Firestorm at Gettysburg"

Along the same line....

I am in the process of reading Robert Sneden's "Eye of the Storm". He is often complaining of relic hunters looting architectural details from buildings/graveyards that he seems to have the leisure time to go and visit during the McClellan's aborted march on Richmond in 1862. I am assuming that he is for the most part refering to fellow Federal soldiers.

Kace

[Becky Morgan]

Re: "Firestorm at Gettysburg"

I have also heard from various modern day relic hunters about "eyeballing" relics up into the 1990's.

This is entirely plausible, because the 1790s action at Captina Creek took place on what is now a local golf course and it is still possible to find arrowheads there. They work out of the ground when the course is aerated and whatnot. Hard rains also was relics from the higher parts of battlefields to the lower, so local creeks often yield arrowhead. If they're still there after a small battle during the Revolution, there are surely still Civil War relics surfacing, even at a heavily searched area like Gettysburg. Consider the sheer volume involved.

[Joe Walker]

Re: "Firestorm at Gettysburg"

As a kid, I "eyeballed" several items in my yard, like many have in areas where battles took place. I picked up several mini's but friends found such items on top of the ground like bayonets, gun parts, etc. Once in Kennesaw, Georgia about 20 years ago an old timer told me about when indoor plumbing came to Kennesaw. He said that they leaded in plumbing with plowed up mini balls. The key to finding the mini's was after a rain, then look for white rocks with rings on them. I am sure this same story could be told about many towns nearby battlefields, especially Gburg.

Joe Walker

[Carolann Schmitt]

Re: "Firestorm at Gettysburg"

I got to thinking, up to when were relics of this battle being found??? I would've thought most of the items that could be recovered would've been especially if people were willing to pay for such items. It also states that bodies were found months later and that these men mustv'e crawled to find water or help and then died.

The most recent set of remains were found along the railroad cut in 1997. An on-line search will lead to several articles about the discovery and their internment.

The most recent discovery of relics? Probably some time within the last month if not more recently. Seriously, relics are uncovered regularly by a variety of people in the area - farmers, construction workers, individuals walking on or adjacent to the battlefield, etc. And that doesn't include those that still do relic hunting - legally and illegally - in the area.

[Jim Mayo]

Re: "Firestorm at Gettysburg"

James-

I suggest you look up the articles and books written by Greg Cocco. He has studied the aftermath of the battle and the disposal of the dead, mainly Confederate troops. (one good one is "Wasted Valor" which is from Thomas Publlications) There are many relics at the Gburg museum from the old Rosensteel collection that were picked up by locals. The US Army had to close off the roads into Gburg and search wagons leaving for war materials and such. There are also accounts of union soldiers sending CS relics home to friends as curiosities.......especially wood canteens.

Joe Walker

The other book written by Cocco is "A Strange and Blighted Land" which only deals with the aftermath of the battle. After reading this book you will never look at the Battlefield in quite the same way.

[maineman]

Re: "Firestorm at Gettysburg"

Ed Shaw of Savannah, TN made quite a good living at relic hunting before it became illegal on both still privately owned and public parts of Shiloh. His "Back Porch" restaurant was a famous museum and eatery.

[Joe Walker]

Re: "Firestorm at Gettysburg"

Is Ed Shaw's history now? I have spent a few nights drinking coffie in his joint, waiting for the war to start.

Joe Walker

[TheRegularsDrummerCo.H]

Re: "Firestorm at Gettysburg"

Hey

I was reading this one website today and it said during the Battle of Gettysburg, specifically Picketts Charge the battle was heard in Pittsburgh PA, which is where I live. It is 185 miles to the west. Do you think thats possible.
the website is www.brotherswar.com go to perspective then click on Cannon Ball Damage

Adam Ward

[hendrickms24]

Re: "Firestorm at Gettysburg"

Hey

I was reading this one website today and it said during the Battle of Gettysburg, specifically Picketts Charge the battle was heard in Pittsburgh PA, which is where I live. It is 185 miles to the west. Do you think thats possible.
the website is www.brotherswar.com go to perspective then click on Cannon Ball Damage

Adam Ward

The Baltimore Sun will print special copies of their newspaper from the Civil War era. In one of the articles, that I read from July 1863 period mentions that the roar of cannon fire heard in Baltimore City was from the Battle of Gettysburg. The distance from Gettysburg to Baltimore is 56.8 miles.

[Jeff Prechtel]

Re: "Firestorm at Gettysburg"

There's several accounts of the provosts putting people
to work digging graves & etc at Gettysburg after the battle,
when they were caught "souvenir hunting" on the battlefield.
I believe one account states that there were some senators,
and/or other prominent citizens who were put to work for doing that.


When I visited there in thew mid '80s, Mark Nesbitt was taking
my dad & I around on a tour of the battle field and he pointed out
to us that during the fight in the peach orchard(?) There was a
company of Federal infantry armed with explosive cartridges
and one of the men took a shrapnel round through the side, which
drove quite a few of the rounds in his cartidge box into his body,
which lay on the grouynd twitching for several minutes as the
explosive rounds went off inside him. He told us that many of the
men in the ranks proceeded to dump theirs out. Suposedy these
explosive rounds are worth quite a bit more, compared the regular
rounds that people find. I've never read anymore about that particular
piece of small arms ordinance, so I'm not sure if that's true or just
one of the myriad of the battlefield lore that keeps getting retold.

[missourirelics]

Re: "Firestorm at Gettysburg"

My dad went to Andersonville in the early 80s, after asking the park ranger if you could keep anything he found, the ranger said his odds were slim to none, because thousands had walked out there. Dad chuckled with the ranger, walked thirty yards and eye-balled an eagle button (still has it on his wall). Some of him finding it may have had to do with him rock hunting for indian bullets in the 60s. He has over 5000 points. He doesn't hear well, but can spot a relic on top of the ground a mile away. I enjoy hunting with him today, he's still good.

Paul Arnold
Wretched Mess