Eagle Breast Plate, possibly struck, dug at Nashville

Recently I was able to acquire several artifacts directly from the digger which were from the famous “Nashville Dig” that occurred during the 1990s in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. This is an Eagle Breast Plate that appears to have been struck. There is a conical path into the front which in turn dented and split the face of the plate. I have included a bullet for display purposes.

In the 1990s during the construction of the Titan’s Nissan Stadium in downtown Nashville, a very large area was discovered as part of the Union occupation trash dump. The amount of the artifacts found was immense, with boots, brass Union buckles, eating utensils, eating plates, brogans, pistol holsters, cartridge boxes, and even part of a Confederate coat with KMI buttons still on it.

On February 23, 1862, the Confederate army surrendered Nashville to Union forces, the first Southern state capital to fall to the enemy. Stunned civilians watched from the banks of the Cumberland River as Union soldiers marched into Nashville and began setting up camp on the grounds of the State Capitol Building.

You can see the condition of this plate in the pictures – most of the lead backing remains and it is a solid piece. The uniqueness of this piece is in its history, being part of at the time of the first major southern city to be occupied by the North. It comes in the glass top display case pictured along with the laminated description card shown.