Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/997664
looked and looked. I have asked the biggest Civil War experts and museum cura- tors around to help me find that. They have all looked and no one has been able to find another one of these. "Now, there was a gentle- man who found a contract from a company that made 100 full-brass handled, pom- meled, basketed cavalry swords for a Louisiana Cav- alry Unit and none of those are known to have survived. None of those are known to be in a collection, now they may be at somebody's house or in an attic and people don't know. "The area where I was hunting, that Louisiana Cav - alry unit camped during Vicksburg. So I believe that may be one of those 100 swords that none are known to have survived the war. It's crazy, at the end of Vicks - burg, all of the Confederate soldiers had to stack arms and walk out and surrender, and then they were paroled, they sent them home, but they had to turn in all of their weapons," Salley said. He pointed out that the blade of the sword is cleanly broken rather than rusted through. "Did that guy say 'I've got to turn my sword in, but they're not using my sword,' and find something to break it on, or was it turned in and a Union soldier said 'I'm break - ing this guy's sword,'" Salley said. "Who knows? You could come up with any story." On another expedition, Salley found a bell. When he took it home and began researching, it was an exact match to a picture of a bell on a slave collar. He noted the area he was searching was a plantation before the war. "Did some slave take that off and then get away or did he lose it and then get pun - ished for it? Or did it come out of something else? I don't know," he said. Once Salley found a little brass capsule, slightly more than an inch long, all covered in dirt. He took it home and his wife noticed that it rattled when it was shook. He used a little razor to get in the seam between the two sides and pry it open. Inside, he found a tiny statue of a saint. "There's this little religious pocket saint that some solid - er carried during the war like it was his good luck charm, and he drops it," he said. Most of the metal detect- ing Salley does is in Missis- sippi, but he did find a British Royal Navy captain's button from the War of 1812 in a cow pasture in southwestern Missouri, just north of Pea Ridge. It's hard to imagine how such a button found its way so far from where the war occurred. "The only thing I found were British trading posts where the British traded with Native Americans, even after the Revolutionary War," he said. "During the War of 1812, (the British) were in Missouri, not fighting, but re - cruiting Native Americans to help them in the war against the United States. There were some there. So I don't know, was there a naval officer who was detached to the army that happened to go through there or was (the button) a war trophy that was brought home by some soldier that later lost it in a cow field. I don't know." Salley and his family make five or six visits to Vicksburg every year and his father- in-law enjoys watching him uncover relics. He also en - joys visiting with his wife's grandmother who has lived in the area her entire life and remembers stories she heard as a child. "I don't ever sell anything that I've dug, I just keep it and enjoy it and maybe one day when I'm older, I may try to donate some of it to a museum so other people can see it," he said. "I love show - ing it off." Proud People & Places Wednesday, June 27, 2018 n 5C Siloam Springs Herald-Leader 960 South Mt. Olive Suite A Siloam Springs 479-524-5161 888-736-2020 1008 First Ave SE Gravette 479-323-7005 HOURS: Monday 8:00 AM - 6:00 pm Tuesday 7:00 AM - 6:00 pm Wednesday 7:00 AM - 5:00 pm Thursday, 7:00 AM - 5:00 pm Friday 7:00 AM-4:30 PM Closed Saturday & Sunday • EYE EXAMINATIONS • TREATMENT OF EYE DISEASE • ON-SITE LAB • CONTACT LENSES • GLAUCOMA & DIABETIC CARE • PEDIATRIC EYE CARE • LARGE SELECTION OF FRAMES Greg Philpott, O.D. Leah Cate, O.D. Jordan M. Netzel, O.D. www.robertsphilpotteyeassociates.com Striving to provide our community the highest quality eyecare in a timely and courteous manner TWO LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU HOURS: Monday-Thursday 8:30-5:00 Friday 8:30-4:30 www.NLCSS.com 479.524.4823 1611 Cheri Whitlock Dr. Siloam Springs, AR 72761 We LOVE Siloam Springs & exist to help serve the needs of those that call this place home. Our church motto is "A caring church for a hurting world." That's what we strive to be to our community. We'd love for you to join our church family. Sundays at 9 or 11am. 308 S. MT. OLIVE SILOAM SPRINGS, AR 479-524-3788 Antiqu & Gi s The French Hen WED-FRI 10-5 • SAT 10-3 Come shop at Siloam's hidden gem! RELICS Continued from Page 4C A coin silver and rose gold pocketwatch fob, dated by the markings on the back to 1861, is one of the items Chris Salley found in a Union infantry camp in Vicksburg, Miss. Precious metals don't deteriorate from being left in the ground for 150 years and clean up well. Salley has discovered several locks and dozens of pieces of mortar shells (above) on his in-laws' property. More than 22,000 shells were fired during the siege of Vicksburg, with many of them coming from boats on the nearby Mississippi River. (Right) A bell that appears to be off of a slave collar was one of the items Salley found on a plantation in Vicksburg, Miss. Salley has found a number of Civil War era lead bullets on his wife's parents' property in Vicks- burg, Miss. Some of the bullets are damaged and show evidence of being fired from a gun, while others have bore holes showing the gun was jammed and the bullet had to be extracted. Photos by Janelle Jessen / Herald-Leader I don't ever sell anything that I've dug, I just keep it and enjoy it and maybe one day when I'm older, I may try to donate some of it to a museum so other people can see it. I love showing it off. Chris Salley Civil War relic hunter