This is my first post on this board. After reading through many of the threads, I'm sorry I didn't find this place before!
Although I am an American, I have lived and worked in Korea for about a quarter-century. During that time, I became very involved in historical research and even completed my master and doctorate degrees in Korean studies, with emphasis on history. My main subject of research is the first US military action in Korea, in 1871 (You can visit my site (
http://www.shinmiyangyo.org) for more info). I have been researching it for about 17 years and have had a lot of hands-on experience with it, having done extensive field research along the US "line of march".
Together with my wife and son, along with a close colleague of mine, we have collected a great quantity of relics from the battle; they have been photographed, GPSed, etc., to preserve the history as much as possible. We are a bit racing against the clock, as modern "progress" has been eating up the historical areas--without regard to the history below--with much of it being lost.
The US Navy in 1871 was, essentially, the same as the US Navy during the ACW. For the most part, the uniforms, weapons, and accoutrements were the same. Some of the things we found were quite exciting, starting with small arms ammunition: .50-45 cal. Remington rolling block carbine (and pistol) brass and even whole cartridges, .577 cal. minie balls, .69 cal. minie balls, and even .38 cal. rounds from a revolver conversion cylinder; also, many .45 cal. Korean matchlock musket balls were recovered. We also found many fragments from 12-pdr. Dahlgren boat howitzer rounds (shell and case); my colleague even found an intact 3" Schenkl shell (He turned it over to the Korean Army Museum; they deactivated it and it is now in their exhibit). Just a couple weeks ago, he found a below-ground-exploded 4.5" Schenkl, with all the fragments and fuse together, which he is now restoring. Eventually, when the museum on the island where the action happened (Ganghwa Island) has a suitable exhibit, many of the relics will be donated to them.
As time permits, I will post some photos in the appropriate forums.
Thomas