I had the pleasure of meeting Lynn Routzahn at the 2001 Grand National Relic Shootout  in Fredericksburg, Virginia in October, 2001.  I had earlier seen his post on the Internet describing the Civil War related find as related in this article but didn't put the to together until he pulled the find from his pocket one night while we were having dinner together.  It was a real treat for to meet Lynn and I trust that you will find details of his find as amazing as I did.

 

Rick Mattingly

RMPTH Editor

 

A  chilly cloudy morning, March 10, 2001, I invited Paul TX to hunt with me at my favorite Yankee camp near Harper's Ferry.  Paul had hunted this site with me numerous times during his year's stay here and his time was coming to an end as his job was taking him elsewhere.  This site would always produce a  goody or two and today would be no exception.  The terrain during the summer months is covered with brush, briars, and honey suckle that grow shoulder high making detecting a tedious and sometimes frustrating activity.  It all dies back during the fall and winter and although this site has been hunted for years (I've been hunting it for six years) the vegetation hinders complete ground coverage.

I was hunting a hillside in an area that had given up a number of eagle buttons and few eagle "C" buttons when I got a good signal at about six inches. When the soil was turned there was a lead object in the shape of an acorn.  My first thought was "A Corps Badge"?   How did I miss this all this time? Closer inspection revealed some inscription and design on the face "14th 1862"  "Hey Paul!" I Yelled.  You gotta see this"   My friend was down the hill about 50 yards away and hidden form view by the thicket that covers this site. "What do you have?" drifted his voice from the bottom of the hill.  I answered. "you won't  believe this!  I'll be right down"  As I made my way down the hill I turned the piece over and slid the mud off to see how it may have been attached. That's when I saw inscribed on the back "HAHA LYNN"  This stopped me dead in my tracks.  I turned around and headed back up the hill and yelled. "Forget it, it's nothing. Paul hollered up, What was it?" I answered.  I think you know you  S.. of a B....!!!!"  Paul must have been rolling in laughter down there.  It sounded like a hyena wrestling in a pile of leaves.

I put the "Corps Badge" in my pouch, picked up my detector and hunted on up the hill.  Paul later explained that he had planted it on one of our trips a month or so ago and he hoped I would find it in about a year or so after he was gone.  I can tell you, I will never forget my hunting buddy as long as I live. We became good friends during his tenure in my area.

I moved to another spot about fifty yards away and started hunting harder as now I needed to at least find a good button to come back with.  After about twenty minutes I came to a small clump of dead honeysuckle and kicked it aside and swung my detector where it laid.  A good solid hit rang in my headphones, and the visual display on my XLT was indicating it was good metal.  Pulled the trigger. Depth 5 inches.  The shovel went into the ground and turned over.  In the dirt I thought I saw the edge of a silver coin, quarter I thought|!  When I picked it from the clump it was evident this was not a coin and had the stamped inscription--M. Sexton Co. B 15th N.Y. Cavalry Oswego N.Y.

I looked around to see Paul was watching.  "This can't be a joke" I said to myself.  Then it hit me, and ID tag!  "PPPPAAAAUUUULLLL!!!!!" I let out a yell that is still echoing up the valley.   "I got an ID tag!!!!!"  He came running like a deer at full stride in the dead brush.  "You got to be kidding" said Paul.  I showed him the tag and realized I was shaking and panting, I tried to appear calm and smug.

"That'll learn ya". I muttered.  We must have sat there for fifteen minutes taking it in.  I never dreamed I would ever be so lucky to pop something like this.  Heck I was still in shock from last May when my cousin Rick found a CS over A button while hunting with me.  The rest of the day produced a few buttons, bullets, casings, a spur and other goodies, but that ID Badge was the find of the day.  If not the year--maybe my lifetime.

Now it was time for research. I posted a picture of my find on The Treasure Depot Photo Forum and a fellow from Carolina found my guy in the Civil War database.  Robert M. Sexton enlisted at 21 years of age on 7/20/1863 in Syracuse NY as a private.  On 8/8/1863 he was mustered into Co. "B" 15 N.Y. Cavalry.   He was transferred out on 6/17/1865 into Co. "B" NY 2nd Prov'l Cavalry and died 8/20/1865 in Grafton WV US Hospital.

Now, my wife's father is from Grafton and from our trips there every year for the family reunion I knew that there is a National Cemetery in town.  I had the wife call to see if he was buried there.  When she called, the person who answered the phone turned out to be a relative of hers!  And, Yes, he is buried there.  He must have been buried at first at a local cemetery and reentered into the National Cemetery 8/13/1867.  How he died is what I am still working on.  Was it disease or maybe from a lingering wound received during the war.  The Civil War database considers that he did not survive the war even though he died four months later.  I sent the proper requests to the National Archives in March and finally received his pension file in September.

No cause of death is found anywhere.  Hopefully the contacts in Grafton can help me determine the cause of death.

My research fo far reveals that Robert M. Sexton was born in Ireland in 1841.  His mother Mary married his father Martin in Coventry Claire, Ireland July 29, 1844.  He had four brothers and four sisters.  Mary, Ellen, Kate, Margaret, James, John , Thomas and Peter.  They lived in a one story 12X20 shanty six feet high at the eaves on the the corner of Ultica and 10th Streets in Oswego, New York.  Apparently Robert's parents divorced afther the war and fought for his pension from the documents I obtained.  Robert had no wife or children.

I guess he more or less disappeared from the face of the earth and was forgotten until that cold March morning when my detector allowed me to touch history.  Now I need to pick up the torch and carry it on to uncover more on this man.  My work has just begun.