I was up in Central Alabama for the last weekend of deer season trying to fulfil a promise to two friends of mine to put them on a deer. It was a beautiful weekend, not too cold but crisp enough where the woods really came alive. We were fortunate and on the very first hunt I made good on my promise to one of my friends and he was able to take a beautiful 10pt buck. It was his largest ever and at the time I didn't see the foreshadowing that it was about to be the hunt of a lifetime for both of us. We got to the woods early that afternoon and although I should have been excited about deer, my mind kept wandering to the possibility of a different kind of hunt. My friend had recently purchased an old home in the area and he had given me permission the night before to hunt it whenever I liked. I made up my mind as the sun set over the deer woods that the next morning I would take my new CTX 3030 to his property and see what I could find. The next morning I jumped out of bed excited at the thought of what these 4 acres could hold. Not only was it a 19th century home but the land was literally only a few 100yds from the historical marker talking about how the town was settled in the mid 1800's. I also know that there were lots of Confederate Soldiers that passed through this area and to say that I was excited about hunting here was an understatement. I got my two friends squared away and I headed out. As I got close I saw an old fire station that was still in use and waved hello to 2 of the Firemen that were out front working on something. It wasn't long until I pulled in to the old home and got out my equipment. I had already carefully selected a Pattern for the hunt so all I needed to do was Noise Cancel and I was off to the races. There is always a lot of trash around these houses and this one was no exception but I quickly found a great repeatable signal at 5" and popped out my first wheat penny of the day. I continued around the house and found a few more pennies and some trash and then I decided to try a small groomed field that's next to the house. I am so glad I did. I was making the turn on my first pass across the field when I slowed down next to the only oak tree in the field. I hit a great signal that came back solid at 12-42 and 7" deep. I noticed on the Target Trace that there was also something ferrous down there. I cut my plug and knelt down so that I could reach the hole. I put my pin pointer down in the hole and passed it over the plug and was able to get it to go off when I pressed it down deep in the bottom of the hole. After a ton of searching, I finally pulled out a very small old nail. I thought to myself, well there is the ferrous, now let's find the good signal. I repeated my search and finally got the pin pointer to sound off again and pulled out another small nail. I wondered how many of these nails were down there and whether or not my back could take it. I stood up and stretched for a minute and resumed the search. The third time proved to be the charm and I pulled out a big clump of dirt with metal edges sticking out. I took my gloved thumb and gently pushed off some of the dirt and I could see the hole on top that made me think it was a pendant of some kind. I pushed away some more dirt and I could see 1965 and the word Honour. I quickly thought to myself that this might be a Fireman's medal from the nearby station and I put it in my pocket in hopes of cleaning it up and returning it to the station. I hunted awhile longer and then loaded up to go back and check on my friends. When I got in the car, I pulled out my finds to check the dates on some of the pennies and check out the medal. The soil had dried a bit and I could see better and I realized the date I saw wasn't 1965, it was 1865! I turned it over and when I saw the Confederate Battle Flag my hands started to shake. It was a brutal few hours before I could get home but I wanted to make sure that I didn't damage it trying to examine it closer. I was finally able to see that I found the Southern Cross of Honour awarded to the Confederate veterans of the Civil War. There is quite a bit of information online about this medal and it is obvious how treasured it was by the Confederate Veterans. I don't know how this came to be in that field but I can't wait to get back out there and see if I can find the top bar of the medal which would have any identifying marks on it. I think it would be amazing to track down the descendants of the soldier if I can identify him and return it to his family. Regardless of what happens, this may be the most historical find I get to discover in my lifetime and I'm so glad I was able to experience it with my CTX 3030.
Dave - Florida, USA
