half-dollar hunch pays off!!

[gtoast99]

I have 5 half dollars in my collection. Four I told you about in the last thread. The last one was an eyeball find my wife made moving some dirt near a different cedar tree on the property, also a 1971.

So I was thinking... If there were 4 early 70's halves in one hole near one cedar, and another 71 near a different tree... maybe someone had a bunch of halves to hide, and use the cedars as marking places (find the cedar, go x feet towards y, dig.)

I decided to test my theory on the other cedars around the property with the half-hour of daylight after work. First one... nothin. Second... 76 penny. Third... skunked. It was allllmost dark, and I thought about going in, but decided to try one more. There I got a broken copper signal and dug it. Out pops medal-shaped object. I do a quick on-site cleaning and see the stars and bars staring up at me!

I rushed in to clean and inspect it. Turns out it's a 1927 United confederate Veterans reunion delegates medal!!! Below the picture of my dug medal is another picture of what it looks like in good shape.

But the coolest part of this find for me is a bit of personal history. For the last several years I've been researching the history of my farm. In 1927, the house was owned by Capt. Sam H. Webb, a confederate veteran from the 7th NC Reserves. According to my research he was very active in the local Confederate veterans organizations. He must have lost this medal on the farm between 1927 and his death just 2 years later. His picture is included below. My biggest goal in MD'ing the farm was to find something I could definitively attribute to the Webb family - needless to say, this may be my favorite find to date.

Thanks for looking!

[tularetokens]

Cool.. Love finding stuff like that!!

Tim

[farmall]

cool find

[fred sanford]

Great job! Don't stop hunting there. If it were me I dig would everything that beeps.There might be more great finds like that ,that are masked by other targets. Keep it up

[gtoast99]

I've got 11 acres, so digging everything will take a lifetime. Forunately, I have no plans to move! So I've got a decent pile of dug junk, lol. But I still discriminate some, especially when light is scarce.

Thanks for the replies !

[frhamlet]

Great find!

[burlbark]

Awesome find!!!!! Would his relatives appreciate it? It sounds like it has a good home no matter what.

[gtoast99]

Some of my histoprical research was done in conjunction with his siblings' descendants. He had none of his own, but did raise two boys from a different family (I never did learn the full circumstances of that, and probably never will). One had no children, the other has descendants in the area. I'm certainly going to show it to them (I know one descendant of his brother that will be particularly thrilled to see it as she has several other family pieces handed down). But this one stays in my collection

Since I run a business here open to the public, I hope to one day create a display detailing the Webb family that lived here. This will certainly be on display when I do.

I went through my notes again, and found this introduction in his obituary in 1929. Emphasis is mine, of course, and for historical researchers who might find this page, note that they got his middle name wrong. (It was given Henry).

Capt: Sam H Webb was Notable Citizen
Alamance Man was Last of his Immediate Family

Burlington, April 16 -
In the passing of Captain Samuel Hawkins Webb at his home in Thompson Township Monday afternoon at 2:30, Alamance County lost one of its "grand old men," one of its most active politicians for the past 40 years, one of its best retired farmers; The United Confederate Veterans lost one of their most famous members, one who had attended every reunion for the past many years, and who got a real thrill out of the meetings; and his community lost one of its best citizens, the last of a large and prominent family.

[The Rebel]

Wow what a find. Thats real cool. Good job on preserving his memory & those that fought for the CSA. Here's a favorite quote of mine that still rings true today especially with revisionist history.

"Surrender means that the history of this heroic struggle will be written by the enemy, that our youth will be trained by Northern school teachers; learn from Northern school books THEIR version of the war; and taught to regard our gallant dead as traitors and our maimed veterans as fit subjects of derision."
Gen. Patrick Cleburne, CSA

Deo Vindice

[RickO]

Very interesting find. I like your plans, will be a nice display. HH RickO

[FL-Hunter]

Originally Posted by gtoast99

I've got 11 acres, so digging everything will take a lifetime. Forunately, I have no plans to move! So I've got a decent pile of dug junk, lol. But I still discriminate some, especially when light is scarce.

Thanks for the replies !

Let me know if you need some help digging. I'm always up for a road trip!

[Digger Dan]

Originally Posted by The Rebel

Wow what a find. Thats real cool. Good job on preserving his memory & those that fought for the CSA. Here's a favorite quote of mine that still rings true today especially with revisionist history.

"Surrender means that the history of this heroic struggle will be written by the enemy, that our youth will be trained by Northern school teachers; learn from Northern school books THEIR version of the war; and taught to regard our gallant dead as traitors and our maimed veterans as fit subjects of derision."
Gen. Patrick Cleburne, CSA

Deo Vindice

Surrendered? My family never surrendered....

That is an outstanding item to find, It is great you appreciate the history and the man who owned it, I like the idea of the dispalay you spoke about. Good luck to you on that aspect, I would like to see some photos of the display once you get it up and going.

[Don]

Nice!!

[Detector]

Love those kind of finds.

[Popsgoatee]

Totally cool, I love the historic finds. WTG!

[PSYS]

Man, that is great!! Looks like you've got some great finds!