A ramrod guide (Figure 14-l) for a large caliber weapon, possibly a Brown Bess musket, was found in Unit A. It is too corroded for exact identification.
Gun cock
The illustrated flint lock cock (Figure 14g) came from a Kentucky rifle. Such guns were made in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, between 1790 and 1820 (Nesmith, personal communication 1980).
Butt plate finial
A small brass fragment (Figure 14h) with engraved design is similar in outline to butt plate finials illustrated by Hamilton (1960:120 and Figure 52) from an Osage Indian site dating from 1790-1815. However, the decorative design of a crane rising from a marsh is unusual in comparison with the more martial engravings of lances, flags, bows, and quivers generally found on such articles (Blaine and Harris 1967: Figure 37; Hamilton 1960: Figure 52).
Related Objects
Patch box hardware
Nesmi identified a fragment of engraved brass from Unit B as part of the lid of a patch box (Figure 14i). This was a box carved into the right side of a gun stock and covered with a hinged metal cover. It was used primarily to store greased patches of thin leather or cloth to be wrapped around the lead ball before it was rammed into the barrel of the gun (Peterson 1962:134, 137).
Powder charger
Nesmith identified an object found in Unit A as a powder charger (Figure 14j). The person using a muzzle-loading gun carried a supply of gun powder in a horn or flask. He often also had a small charger or measure which would hold the correct amount of powder for loading his gun.
The Anglo-American Period
Artifacts from this period include ceramics, glass, and metal objects and reflect the growing industrialization in the last half of the nineteenth century.
Ceramics
Before the Civil War, most ceramics were imported into Texas from England. English wares included several types of brightly decorated white earthenwares (Figure l5a-f) and stoneware bottles. After the Civil War, undecorated white "ironstone" or "granite ware," most of which was made in American potteries, was popular (Figure 15).
Glass
Fragments of window glass and broken bottles were found throughout the Anglo-American deposits. Of particular interest were olive green bottle necks with laid-on rings which bore lead-foil seals with the bottler's impression "G. MUMM & C.O/G. deBARY" (Figure 15k, 1). Identical seals were found in the 1966 excavations (Greer 1967:49) in an area which would have been beneath the Hugo and Schmeltzer store. In the recent excavations, these bottles were found only in the yellow sandy intrusion next to the north wall, in Units A and B. Evidently these were a part of the inventory of the liquors sold by Honore Grenet and/or Hugo and Schmeltzer, perhaps bottles broken in shipping and subsequently discarded.
Metal
The majority of the metal from the Anglo-American deposits consists of machine-made cut and wire nails, screws, bolts, nuts, hinges, and other hardware. A souvenir token patented in 1923 (Figure 15i) and an early bottle cap remover came from level 9-15 inches in Unit B, helping to date the fill in that level. A complete