Robbie Baker slowly swung his metal detector, then motioned me over when he heard high-pitched chirps in his earphones. His prediction: Its a bullet.
After three swift cuts with a small shovel, Robbie flipped out a chunk of dirt. A bullet was lodged in the soil, a three-ring Minie ball. The conical-shaped bullet with a concave base was the choice on both sides during the Civil War. As large as .68 caliber, If death wasnt instant, the wound often was fatal.
During several months of detecting on private property, we more he than I unearthed nearly 50 Minie balls, as well as musket round balls, Union Army buttons emblazoned with the mid-1800s eagle and other artifacts from the period.
As soon as we realized what wed found a previously unknown campsite we decided to donate the relics to the Humboldt Historical Society Museum for a permanent display.
Humboldt has a rich history from the war.
On Sept. 8, 1861, a band of Missouri guerillas raided Humboldt. The renegades sacked businesses and homes. Not long afterward a group of locals, with a Union detachment, encountered and killed the leader of the band, Capt. George Matthews.
In retaliation, Humboldt again was raided and burned on Oct. 14.
Union forces, supplemented by militia, were dispatched to protect the town. Infantry and cavalry companies were a part of Humboldts everyday life until the war ended on May 9, 1865. Log Town, in the southwest part of Humboldt, was home to Union regulars. The city park in that area now is known as Camp Hunter Park.
The site we discovered is nearly a mile north, and may have been there because Col. Orlis Thurston, the militia leader, lived in the vicinity.
Carolyn Whitaker, who has immersed herself in Humboldts history, was instrumental in helping Robbie and I with research that aided us in the discovery, and later fortified our contention of it being a campsite.
To support the presence of cavalry, we found most of a brass stirrup, a curry comb, rosettes and several heavy buckles.
Robbie also dug rare egg-shaped Remington pistol bullets and a Flying Eagle cent, released only from 1857 to 1858. I came up with the curry comb and other things that have Civil War provenance.
Richard Perez, long a Humboldt detectorist, also found Minie balls in the area.
Later this year we will have a public showing at the museum to introduce the artifacts.
