Responsible Relic Recovery Of Cherokee War Artifacts - Garrett

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plus Vaughan Garrett and Brian McKenzie to document any discoveries with video and still photography. We brought along a number of Garrett’s most advanced metal detectors: the GTI 2500, GTI 1500, GTP 1350 and an ACE 250. We worked into the late afternoon, doing reconnaissance scanning of the areas surrounding a field containing Bowles’ marker. We also ventured into the deep woods, working through deep creek beds and following them out toward the Neches River bottomlands. By the end of a full day’s hunt, we had collected shotgun shells, modern bullets and various rural farmland metallic junk. Joe even dug up some World War I-era blunts, bullets somewhat similar to those used decades before during the Civil War. The artifacts we sought from the 1830s period had proven to be elusive. Several weeks later, I returned to search the AICS property again with Joe, Robert and Keith Wills. We searched over some of the likely areas near the creek and all around the large hilltop where a Delaware Indian village was said to have been. Once again, we found modern bullets, some coins, an old watch and miscellaneous metallic junk. The four of us then made a reconnaissance line and scouted with our detectors back toward the road, moving up another small hill and into the forest again before finally reaching the property’s barbed wire fence line. Keith and I agreed that we must be searching on the tail end of the battlefield. Obviously, there were some artifacts in this area at one time but even modern souvenir hunters and previous timber-cutting operations would not have removed all traces of such a heavily-contested battle. The next step was to research the earliest information on the Neches battle more thoroughly while attempting to gain permission from the adjacent landowners to conduct a survey on their property. (Left) In his "Battle of the Neches" painting from 1967, artist Donald M. Yena captured the closing moments of the 1839 battle. Chief Bowles (below), with his ceremonial sword upraised, is shot in the back after his horse has been crippled with numerous rifle ball shots. Painting used by permission of Frank Horlock and Michael Krueger. Bowles illustration courtesy of Texas State Library & Archives Commission. Since our first efforts to recover relics on the AICS land had been fruitless, I decided to forget about where the Bowles marker stands and where the battle was assumed to have been concentrated. It was time to dig back into the earliest accounts of the battle and to visit with others who might have some useful information. A 1920s article by Dr. Albert Woldert became my primary focus, particularly several detailed maps based on his research. The spot where he had labeled Chief Bowles to have died was on the opposite side of a particular creek than where I had expected it to be shown. Modern graphics programs allowed me to scan in this map and overlay it on a satellite image of the area and on a scanned page from a detailed Texas road map of the county. The new composited picture convinced me that we would find the main battle area somewhat south of the area owned by AICS. This map work convinced me that the old Delaware village was not exactly on the hilltop where the tribal stones have been placed. Could there be another significant hilltop within 300 yards to the southwest? Fortunately, landowners Thurman and Alice Jett were open to this historical quest and it was with great excitement that I led another group of detectorists to hunt their land in early 2009. Mr. Jett even mentioned that his family had plowed up bits of old pottery for years and had often found arrowheads on their property. It was all coming together like lost pieces to a puzzle. As our Garrett search team first drove onto the property to meet the Jetts, there was the hill I had hoped to find! It rose up out of the heavy timber from the south, reached its peak right where the home sits and then fell off sharply on the north and east sides. Behind the Jett’s home is a steep hill that opens onto a vast farmland prairie containing a small creek.
The location we had reached on the Jett property had all of the necessary elements to make Woldert’s notes fit. We just needed to find evidence that would prove it beyond a doubt. For this recon mission, my companions were Joe Wilson, his uncle Stan May, Robert Jordan and Brian McKenzie, the latter doubling as both the excursion’s photographer and detectorist. We fanned out and began searching the vast prairie behind the Jett home, working our way along a small spring-fed pond back toward the Neches River bottomlands. Most of our efforts throughout the day were on the open prairie, in the heavy woods to the north of the field or in the bottomlands. As on the adjoining 68 acres of AICS lands, we dug some metal junk and plenty of modern projectiles of all calibers. It was such a vast area of land for five detectors to cover that it was mid-afternoon before we finally tasted success. Robert Jordan, using a GTP 1350, had a solid hit in the forest that read as a 7 on his Target ID scale. With the aid of his trusty Pro-Pointer, he retrieved a genuine nineteenthcentury lead musket ball from a depth of four inches. This proved to be our only definite relic from the Neches battle this day but it was enough to encourage me to begin thinking about a return. Dr. Gregg Dimmick, who has long used metal detectors in his archaeological research on the Mexican Army’s retreat after the 1836 battle of San Jacinto, encouraged me to send the size, weight and photos of this musket ball to Doug Scott. Doug is a ballistics expert famous for his work on artifacts from the Little Bighorn battle. He quickly confirmed that it was a standard .69 caliber ball which certainly would have been used in the 1830s. Our search team returned to the Jett farm in March 2009, with their permission to conduct another hunt. For this foray, we recruited additional volunteers from the Lone Star Treasure Hunting Club of Dallas. In addition to Robert, myself, Brian McKenzie, Joe Wilson, and Stan May, seven others were on hand to put their skills to the test: Paul Wilson, Mike Skinner, Rusty Curry, Bob Bruce, Matt Bruce, Robert Jeffrey, and Dave Totzke. Shortly after 11:00 a.m., Paul was the first to find a .69-caliber musket ball with his GTI 1500. Within minutes, Paul recovered another ball and Bob Bruce soon followed suit. By the time I emerged from a deep thicket, I found that Bob, Paul, Matt Bruce, Robert Jordan and Dave Totzke had each recovered 1830s musket balls. Before I could reach the middle of the field, Dave announced, “I’ve got another one!” He was curiously spinning a small metal orb in his fingers. “This must be from a pistol,” he mused. “It’s much smaller than the musket balls we’re finding.” Dave made another probe of his excavation area with his Pro-Pointer. It suddenly rattled and hummed with the distinctive announcement of another metallic target. What he recovered was even more exciting–three more smaller balls, each about twice the size of a child’s BB. “Do you know what this is?” he asked. “It’s a buck and ball load!” The pinpointer had enabled Dave to find the much smaller buckshot which he most likely would have missed. Such small targets easily blend in with the dirt. The prior First find! Robert Jordan holds the first .69-caliber lead rifle ball (seen above) found by the Garrett search team on the property where Cherokee Indians and the Texas Rangers fought their greatest battle. Neches battleground search team on March 4, 2009. (Left to right, standing): Stan May, Mike Skinner, Paul Wilson, Dave Totzke, Robert Jeffrey, Robert Jordan, Steve Moore, Rusty Curry and Joe Wilson. (Kneeling, left to right): Matt Bruce and Bob Bruce.
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Responsible Relic Recovery Of Cherokee War Artifacts - Garrett

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