I don't remember the source, but I read somewhere that many weapons picked up at Gettysburg had multiple loads in them. They had been loaded up to ten or twelve times, but not fired. I suppose in the heat of battle the steps in loading stuck in the mind, but caps were probably dropped in the excitement of the moment, without the soldier being aware he did not actually fire a shot, so he simply reloaded as he was trained, until the fight was over, or he was hit. As the weapons were found on the field, I would guess it was the latter. Stan