Question about finds at Civil War sites

[cryptodave]

I'm hunting a civil war site, and I find alot of big "chunks" of iron. Say between 2 and 3 inch rock sized pieces.
My question is... Is that common? I know that the rebels had a fairly large cannon emplacement, and the only thing I can guess is that its pieces of cannonballs?
What do you civil war diggers think?

[Dharmacy]

Sounds like shell/cannonball fragments. Would have to see a pic to be sure. Do the pieces have any curvature to them?


D.

[ramjet2187]

Probably cannon ball fragments. Some balls were solid shot (to knock holes in things), some were filled with powder, meant to explode, (and knock holes in people), and others had powder AND minie balls (or whatever else they could find) in them, and exploded, spraying fragments, and their contents everywhere, (to knock holes in people)........

I have dug lots of fragments, and two 'cannister shot', essentially cannon 'shotgun' round pellets...........they are the size of golf balls. Some shotgun........

Show us some pictures......

Roger

[Dharmacy]

Cryptodave,

Here are some things to look for that will help identify possible shell frags:

First here are some examples of shell fragments. They are usually longer and the curve of the shell should be from side to side, but should be straight along the axis of the shell, if that makes sense.


These are cannon ball fragments. The curvature of the wall should extend in all directions. This will be more or less noticable depending on the size of the ball. The wall thickness will vary as well, the frag on the left was a larger ball vs the smaller one on the right. The piece in the middle is the top of a Bormann cannon ball with the iron base plug for the time fuse still intact.


Also check any suspect iron chunks for threaded holes for the fuse to be screwed in. The one on the left is the nose of a Hotchkiss shell. The other is a Parrot shell.


Some shells just have a hole without any threads as the case with this one that used a wood plug.


The base of the shell can help identify it too. The one on the left has a hole on the center for use with a bolt-on sabot like the CS Brooke. The middle is the base cup from the Hotchkiss with three flame grooves, and the right is a Parrot base with the brass sabot still attached.


Finally there are some frags that are shaped specific to the way the projectile was designed, as the case with these Confederate polygonal fragments. The inside of the shell was scored to break apart in these distinct star shapes upon detonation:


Hope these pics will help id your finds, and anybody else who may have some shell fragments stuck back in the junk box!!

D.

[ramjet2187]

Yeah, what he said.

Roger

[cryptodave]

Here are the finds from this weekends 1 hour hunt. I never get to hit this field with time.

There is 3 pieces of what I believe to be cannonball fragments. The two right next to each other was one piece and curved, but then broke apart when I took it out of the ground.

The little hook part I have no idea what it is. Any help Id'ing that would be appreciated.

Sorry the pics are not top quality, my good camera is in for repairs, so all I have is my Treo 650, which doesn't take good low light pics.

[Parkerized]

How big is the hook? It looks a little like a igniter or fuse coil from a cannon.They are about 3"-4" tall.
Parkerized