Sabot from Civil War Dyer Shell, dug at Gettysburg in 1934

This is another nice piece being offered, it is the base of a Civil War Dyer artillery shell (see complete example). The diameter is 3” and it stands about 2” high. Federal Dyer shells had four flame grooves cast into the lead sabot. It was recovered by a laborer in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) at the Gettysburg Battlefield during 1934 – 1936 (see pictures).

This Dyer pattern sabot is found with and without flame grooves, this example having four flame grooves. Most of the specimens were fired from Federal artillery positions, although some were captured and subsequently used by the Confederate artillery. In my book “Civil War Artillery – A Pictorial Introduction”, I discuss these shells and others in more detail (see pictures).

In the summer of 1934, some seventy years after generals Robert E. Lee and George G. Meade led their armies to Gettysburg, a new army arrived. Composed of young men, this new volunteer army was unlike any one created by the United States government before. Instead of shouldering rifles, these volunteers were armed with shovels, saws, and pickaxes.

Rather than learn about military strategy and tactics, these men were taught about the conservation of the nation’s natural resources. Their enemy was not some foreign power. The enemy was an economic depression that had, at its height, put an estimated fifteen million Americans out of work and denied them the opportunity to support their communities, families, and themselves. This new army was called the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and Gettysburg was but one battlefield in the campaign to put Americans back to work.

This piece, along with several others, were obtained directly from a Pennsylvania family. The grandfather was in the CCC at Gettysburg and brought some battlefield relics home with him. Back then there was such an abundance of Civil War relics, and most had little value at that time, so there was no problem keeping what you found.