7/10 Johnston's Army Relics

One of the biggest things I love about metal detecting is the chance to find history and understand it. I watch a lot of forums and videos on relics being found back east from the civil war era and just marvel at the interesting pieces they find. I have always wanted to find something from the civil war because of how important that time is in our history. I must admit that I don't know a lot about my own history and especailly the history of Utah outside the stories of the pioneers. This last week I got a chance to dig history that effects every person here in Utah and their heritage. If you have pioneer history in Utah then this effects you as well.

Last week I joined by buddy James as we chased after Johnson's army. Back in 1850's Johnson's army was commissioned to come west to monitor the Mormon population. This encounter was also known as the Utah War and predates the civil war. There has been a number of camps found through Utah and it was a privilege to go with James who is extremely knowledgeable about it.  We metal detected for 7 hours in the hot sun. I drank 5 gatorades and 6 half liter bottles of water. It was so amazing to pull 160 year old history from the ground and especially since it was from our US arm forces. Here are the finds!!!

First the buttons! I found 5 eagle buttons worn by US military back in the 1850's. I found a number of pewter buttons as well.

 Here is a close up of the Eagle buttons. You can see on some of them they have a shield which means general service and some have an I which stands for infantry. The coolest button in my opinion is the US great coat button!!! I always wanted something that had US on it!

 The bullets!!! I found a couple of 69 cal bullets, 44 cal, round balls and pistol bullets from the era

 These three are from the late 1800's

 Some of the other relics I found. It was amazing to see this history come back to the surface.