Weekend hunt in the woods

[silver star]

Saturday meet with couple friends and we detected new place in the woods. My finds on Saturday 1943S war nickel, couple wheats,knife and CSA button (any info on button would greatly be apriciated). Sunday meet with few friends back to my favorite spot in the woods and hunted for couple hours before rain kick us out. Finds for Sunday hunt 1900 Barber dime, 1898 V-Nickel, couple wheats and some relics. Thanks for looking and HH. Mike

[Jamflicker]

Congrats on the great finds!

[OZARKS]

Not a bad day at all, congrats!!!

[Keith K]

This forum is crazy..you have ninty looks and only two people comment..WTHell? You had a great hunt MAN. The CSA Button..wow. How many of us ever found one..FEW. That Barber..wow..very nice find. I'd be happy to hunt with you and your bud's, anytime.

[Dubay420]

Amazing hunt, i am very intrigued by that Confederate button.. especially since you are in Illinois

[MetalheadHorror]

DANG! Awesome button and coins. Always enjoy seein whatcha pull outta the woods.

[Laura]

Great finds with lots of history. Congratuations!!!!!

[FiremanSoFL]

Congrats on the awesome finds. I really want to find some silver.

[Matthew H]

Originally Posted by silver star

...CSA button (any info on button would greatly be apriciated).

Hi Mike,

Let me talk about the history of that area and then give you my thoughts on that button. If it's real, I'm guessing that button came from a captured Confederate soldier en route to or from one of the POW camps in the area during the Civil War. It could also be a reproduction. Let me explain my reasoning below.

About the area, no Civil War battles were fought in Illinois. However, Camp Douglas, located near Chicago, was one of the largest training camps for Union troops, as well as Camp Butler near Springfield. Also, both served as leading prisoner-of-war (POW) camps for captive Confederates. Another significant POW camp was located at Rock Island. Alton Penitentiary was another. Escapes were not uncommon from Alton. Specific to Camp Douglas, clothing such as coats was confiscated.

Overall, several thousand Confederates died while in custody in Illinois prison camps and are buried in a series of nearby cemeteries. One such graveyard is Oak Mound Cemetery in Somonauk, IL. There's a monument to the dead buried there. Link below.

Specific to the button, it's a Confederate general service button. Either real or a reproduction from the '60s. If it's real, I would lean towards it coming from an enlisted man. Depending on it's size, either from his coat or hat. This as it has a plain background. Especially if it was found near one of the known POW camps. However, in the 1960's, S Buckley in England did a re-issue of these buttons for the Civil War centennial.

How big is the button? The button website below would have pictures that you can compare your find to. Hope this helps!

Source: Wiki, Google Maps

IL Civil War POW information
http://www.illinoiscivilwar.org/cwprisons.html

Oak Mound Cemetery website
http://graveyards.com/IL/Cook/oakwoo...federate2.html

Civil War button site with pictures. Look at "B6155".
http://www.relicman.com/buttons/zArc...GenService.htm

[greginwv]

man i would love to find one of those buttons nice digs!