Thomas S. Dickey Civil War Ordnance Collection

Thomas S. Dickey Sr. (1925–1987)
Courtesy The Atlanta History Center

Using a metal detector to comb battlefields, Dickey acquired the largest and most comprehensive collection of Civil War artillery projectiles in the United States. Most of his collection is now on exhibit at the Atlanta History Center. The Thomas Swift Dickey Civil War Ordnance Collection is the one of the largest collections of projectiles ever assembled in the United States. Some of these projectiles are one-of-a-kind, and can be found nowhere else. Thomas Swift Dickey, a native of Atlanta, began collecting Civil War artifacts as a small boy on property his father owned at what was once the southern end of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Chattahoochee River line for the defense of Atlanta. The collection began modestly in a small shoe box! After graduating from college and getting married, collecting Civil War relics took on a new emphasis and meaning. When Dickey's interest in collecting was rekindled in the early 1950s, the best metal detectors available were surplus mine detectors from World War II, which had limited capability. Since few people had begun collecting, it was not difficult to locate the shallow projectiles once he knew where to look. As time went on, new technology produced a far more sensitive metal detector, which made it possible to locate artifacts much deeper in the earth. As his interest in collecting grew, his research on battles also began to get more detailed and sophisticated. Gun emplacement positions, projectile trajectory, battle strategy, and topography were just a few of the considerations he used in uncovering the secrets the battlefields held. Artillery was the "engine of war," he always believed. And, this was not just any war fought in a far away land. It was a war that took place on the soil where he was born and grew up, and therein lay his fascination with the Civil War and its artillery.   

Collecting was only part of Dickey's contribution. As a military historian, his research and careful documentation of each type of projectile eventually found its way into three books, which became the standard references for collectors and historians today. He was the first collector to classify hundreds of Confederate and Union projectiles, along with their many variations. That effort has earned him the reputation as the "father" of Civil War artillery projectile collecting. The projectiles on display in the Atlanta History Center are a silent testimony and memory to the personal efforts and dedication of one man and his quest to rediscover a time, its artifacts, its lost secrets, and its meaning.

Thomas S. Dickey Sr. Collection

These photographs taken by Jack W. Melton Jr. in 1987 inside Dickey's Relic Room.

Click on the photographs to see a larger image.  Please be patient with the images.  They are large in size.  

Jack and Tom Dickey, 1986

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Tom Dickey's Location Legend

Many of the shells from the collection of pioneer artillery expert Tom Dickey are numbered with a small white number.  This number was used by Tom to indicate the recovery location of the item.