Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| National Geographic Photo. More on that below. |
I've been showing a lot of older found objects lately. Those are things that just recently saw the light of day for the first time in centuries. There have been cannon balls, musket balls and even a rare 1800s Indian Head penny.
An object is more than an object though if you've done your research to learn more about it. It becomes a part of living history. It can tell a story of a time and place.
The object was made for a purpose. It started with a desire or motive. Someone needed or wanted it enough to create it. Someone owned it and used it. And eventually someone discarded, lost or left it behind.
Everything connects. Every little object was made with a purpose that was a part of a specific time, place and circumstances. It had its place.
Peoples connect - and sometimes clash. It is true today and was always true.
It is amazing to me how found objects from the past can lead you on a journey into the past - a journey of adventure and an adventure of endless learning.
I just received an email from James F., who along with his wife, found the musket ball and trigger guard that I showed back a week or so ago. Here is what James said.
As a result of my wife and I locating some Second Seminole War artifacts, I did notice and completely read a free Google Play e-book entitled "The War In Florida" with some rather extensive narratives of the U.S. Army and Seminole Indian exploits during the Second Seminole War. I was amazed to read of several Archaeological digs and studies done in 2006 by a university, who decided to keep locations of their study a "secret" because of "looters," whose questions on troop actions, supplies and movements via artifact data, and burned wooden posts are all pretty much answered in this book's narratives published in 1836. This is the second time in the last few years I have found published historical data, written by the folks who were actually there, that archaeologists were completely unaware of! Do they not do document searches any more?? At any rate, if you can deal with the early 19th Century way of spelling and somewhat involved descriptions, it makes very interesting reading. It also can be emotionally trying to read first hand the double-standard and pleading of the Seminoles for the whites to just leave them alone in the land of their fathers and they would fight no more. Sometimes it makes you wonder how Americans could treat their native brothers in such a way...it can make you question our shining words of freedom, then compare it with our past actions. Not a good thing sometimes.
Thanks much for the note James.
First of all, James gives one more good example of the great resources we have today on the internet. When you can find something like that it makes your found objects really come alive.
This is the Google Play book that James is talking about.
The War in Florida: Being an Exposition of Its Causes, and an Accurate History of the Campaigns of Generals Clinch, Gaines, and Scott ... By a Late Staff Officer
And here is the link to that book.
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=C8d1AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA109
One of the things I notice while browsing that book is that the Negroes (as they were called in the book) that joined the Seminoles were referred to as being the property of the Indians. I had always read that the escaped slaves from the north just joined the Indians. I never saw anything before suggesting that the Seminoles treated the escaped slaves as slaves or held them as property. Perhaps it was a misperception or intentional misconstrual. I don't know.
Anyhow, there is a lot of good information out there on the internet that will help you make finds. The same resources will help you make more sense out of your finds, which makes them both more interesting and valuable - in more ways than one.
When I was reading other historical documents, I was surprised to learn how prevalent scalping and other forms of violence were back in the colonial days. Our history books and teachers don't present that like the books and documents written back a century or so.
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Here is another online book you might enjoy. This one was written in 1819.
And here is the link for that one.
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89096224696;view=1up;seq=316;size=75
This one also talks about Black Beard and privateers.
Take a look at the table of contents and chapter headings and jump to the sections you want to read.
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| Geoduck For Dinner. |
Mark B., is an experienced diver who harvested geoducks for ten years off of Vancouver. He is interested in doing our type of treasure diving.
Don't know what a geoduck is? It is a large salt-water clam delicacy.
Thanks for the great photo Mark.
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Nothing much new about Treasure Coast beach conditions. The surf is small and we had a good low tide this morning. Also a few rain showers.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
