I live a mile or two from one of the biggest battlefields of the Revolutionary war. The amount of stuff I have found would take me forever to describe. Tons upon tons of lead balls, buckles and buttons, knives and bayonets. Though a lot can be found on the ground, the really good stuff is found in the trees, because the soldiers knew they were going out to fight and would hide their things inside of holes in trees so they could come back and get them. Most didn't come back though so the artifacts remained until people like myself walking through the woods and looking found them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Newtown 