A good indicator for Civil War period site's

A lot of sites you hunt will not be old enough to prodcue Civil War item's even though the deep wood's site looks ancient....

But one good indicator I have used to gauge a site that is pretty accurate is Shoe Plate's....they are made of Brass and were in demand for the Civil War soldier whos sometimes marched 20-30 miles a day....these plates went on the toe of the sole of the shoe to cut down wear..They used an iron horse shoe looking piece on the heel... If you were really fancy you would get a brass heel plate to cover the whole heel...They were usually reserved to the flamboyant Cavalry men though since the heel plates often had designs cut into them that left the mark's in the dirt ...designs like clover's, heart's, diamond's, etc...

But the common infantry man with the brogan shoe required the toe tap's made of brass..

It's been my experience that the sites that have the brass toe plates will also hold some sort of Civil War relics...I have probably found close to 400 in my life time of relic hunting and they are excellent indicator's that a Civil War relic is possible in this site...Flat buttons are nice too but sometimes they are hit and miss...Confederates liked flat buttons for uniform's but civilians used them more...a house site with flat buttons while old will sometimes be too old for civil war relics even though it's right in the middle of a campaign area..

Of course if you find bullet's or buttons right off the bat then dont worry about the toe taps...but some sites will produce these first and some times seem relic void...but keep it in your mind if these are in the site there is a pretty good chance a Civil War relic is lurking...



Keith

Keith, I didn't know they were Civil War era, I dig those up here and thought they were 1900 time

Thanks for the tip Keith!

Many toe taps have patent dates embossed into them.

Very interesting Keith.---Thanks for making that informational post.--------Del

I have dug them with an 1858 Patent date...

Not sure how long they were in existence..but as better materials were made for shoes and they got away from leather bottom's they were less needed..

the 1900's type were usually iron like the cloggig type sort of...

I have always thought they went out of use bye 1880's came into use about 1850's...Maybe earlier in other form's/Styles...

If you live in a area where thwey were available I am sure civilians used them up till 1880's...Here in my area they were not availabe from what in can tell except wen associated with Civil war soldier's...

Rubber really took off after the war and lots of shoes did not need the taps anymore...

Pinning down the history of the toe taps is tough..I just know what I see from the field...But they are always on civil war sites especially infantry site's..

Keith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/19/2012 04:21AM by Keith Southern.

I've always wondered why the civil war reinactors footsteps on cement sounded "metallic", even though their wearing old worn leather boots.
Now I know...
Thanks again Keith.

Great post Keith Southern!!!! And well timed. This morning. while it is barely getting lite outside, am waiting for a detector friend (whom I talked into buying an F75SE with extr 5in coil) and that is the exact unit that I will be using. We will be hunting a farm that borders Shiloh, on which we have written permission. I have never carried an F75 there but I should REALLY BE in it's element, especially if I use Zero DISC, BP or JE mode (JE mode on mine is actually a tad stouter????? we'll have to talk about that sometime, or maybe Tom will calibrate mine for a fee that I will be glad to pay).
The morning is cool. The thread that you have posted, appropriate, but I am coming dangerously close to hi-jacking it. So I will add this: I have several of those toe taps and heel taps. But nowhere near as many as you have in the pic. Most of mine are twisted up a bit. A couple of them came out of the ground in perfect shape, and even had an iron tack or two still in the holes. Great post.

"TAPS"