More stuff..........

[Dan Shapiro]

This all started out so simply. I trained on the M14 and later the M16. Always wanted an M1 like the one my Dad used on annual qualifications. (I was the designated brass rat). Well one M1 led to several more. And of course I needed the tools that were used to maintain it. Then I met Scott Duff and afterward set out to collect an example of the significant long arms of standard issue to the grunt. Which let to muskets, trapdoors, a Krag, M1903's, M1917's and 03A3's. Along the way, I'd pick up the tools and the ammo. Kind of kept things going. If short on cash to make a big purchase, I could always bide my time with a small purchase.

The bullets are .58 minnie balls. On the inside of one, you can see a 'star', indicating it was made at the national armory in Washington, DC. The other has a flattened nose and hole in the center of the bullet face, indicating that it had been loaded in a musket and later "pulled". Either the weapon was being unloaded (only other method was to fire it) or the weapon misfired and needed to be reloaded. The musket cap tin is from around 1867 and as you can see, still contains caps. (Yes, I've tried 'em and they still work!)

[JBinIll]

You have posted most excellent pictures of your collection.Could you post some info on the equipment used and your methods?No camera yet or knowledge on using it but I'm working on it.

[Dan Shapiro]

I'm using an old Olympus D550 digital camera. I try to use a neutral background with an overhead light to eliminate shadows (doesn't always work). I use Microsoft Office Picture Manager to crop the photos, then re-size to 'Large email' (640x480 pixels) size. This lets me get the pic down to a manageable size for people downloading. Were I to use the actual size of the photo taken, it would take up the whole screen and you still wouldn't see the whole picture at one time, and for those with dial-up, it would take forever to load.

[JohnMOhio]

Nice work either way Dan. Thanks for posting the photos. Good to see something different for a change that we all might not know about.

[Johnny P]

These are chewed Civil War bullets. The top left is a .58 Minie, the top and bottom right are .69 round ball, the center .36 pistol, and the bottom left .44 pistol.

[Dan Shapiro]

Have often wondered if the story is true about 'chewed' bullets.

[Scott Wilson]

What are chewed bullets? Were they given to surgery patients to bite down on when there was no morphine?

[JBinIll]

Have often wondered if the story is true about 'chewed' bullets.

We'll probably never know the real truth of the matter,but I have found some discussion by relic hunters that most found with a chewed on appearance were more likely caused by cows,horses,and hogs foraging and picking them up while browsing.Then again some have been identified with human teeth marks.Here's an interesting discussion on the subject:

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=196133

[Dan Shapiro]

Thanks JB. Interesting comments at the link. Having used my teeth to close the 'gap' on lead sinkers as a youth, I can state "It hurts the teeth!". Would appear that 'chewing' on a bullet while your arm or leg was being hacked off would not be a real good idea. You could either crack a tooth wide open (now that might be momentarily distracting!), or swallow the bullet and possibly suffocate.

[Johnny P]

"That is a common myth. By the ACW, ether and chloroform were in general usage. Before these anesthetics, other pain killers such as opium were used during major surgery. A bullet is a poor choice to give to a patient undergoing an operation. If such a thing were to happen, the patient would be kicking, screaming and, gasping for breath. That bullet would have a high chance of being swallowed and therefore a be choking risk. "Chewed" bullets, "pain" bullets, "hospital" bullets or whichever modern term used, are generaly the result of the hogs that Man of Few Words mentioned, or, hit by farmers' plows over the years."

That is assuming that you even had access to a surgeon. Some of the wounded lay on the battlefields for days before they either died, or were taken to some sort of makeshift hospital. The bullets shown came off the Poison Spring battlefield in southwest Arkansas. There were no hospitals within 25 miles of the Union soldiers, and no hospital for the Confederates.

How many times would a plow have to hit one of the bullets shown to put that many marks in it?

After some of the battles the hogs that roamed wild were said to get fat, but how many times is a hog going to roll a bullet around in its mouth before it swallows it?

Some have even called them "nervous bullets" where a soldier going into battle would put one in his mouth to bite down on to relieve nervous tension.