[Oatka]

A guy with a metal detector came out, and was finding little piles of unfired bullets all clustered together. We figured it was probably where someone took a hit and went down and stuff fell out of their pouches.

I was part of the North-South Skirmishers back in the 1960s. We ran into one guy with a detector who told us the same story - along a trench line he'd find those little mounds of unfired bullets, usually no more than five or six. None of us could make any sense.

Then in July 1961 we did the first re-enactment of the Battle of Gettysburg and our postion was up near the High Water Mark. During the hottest part of Pickett's Charge we were firing as fast as we could. In our excitement we pulled out a handful of cartridges and laid them alongside us. At that moment me and my buddy looked at each other and had an "O Sh!t" moment. I'll bet the same thing happened at your place so long ago.

[China Clipper]

Excuse me for interrupting your thread, bu I was under the impression that it was against the law to use metal detectors and remove "relics" from national sites that are designated historic battle sites.

Am I wrong?

[Riley]

I'll bet the same thing happened at your place so long ago.

Much of the battle took place in a lightning storm with a ferocious downpour. The moment these guys would take out a paper cartridge and bite it open, it'd have been filled with water. The engagement turned into one of medieval hand to hand savagery. I've read that the participants had more fear of the weather than of the enemy.

Before our office moved away from that building, we experienced just such a violent storm. We had offices where the rain was being driven in around the seals in the windows; you could hardly see across the street. Frequent and very local lightning strikes.

I wouldn't have wanted to be standing outside holding a rifled musket- even with the war long over.