M
MH in Alabama
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- #1
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Hi, I'm really new to this sort of thing but last year I found three cannonballs around my farm and I still can't figure out anything about them. I found one buried in the back of a horse stall. The dirt in a horse stall has a way of getting dug out during cleaning and gets replaced periodically. Well, we bought this farm, moved in and started using the stall. After a few months I noticed a hard something in the back of the stall. I just thought it was a rock and when kicking didn't dislodge it I left it alone. A few weeks late it was further ouit and starting to look rather rounded for a rock. Out came the shovel and I had a very heavy iron ball.
After a little while we dicided that it must be a cannonball, that's when two more turned up unburied in a non-operational comercial sized chicken house (400' long). Here they are:
They are 4 pounds and 3 inches in diameter. For all I can tell I think they must be solid shot.
This one has a large ding in it:
They are rusty and don't apear to be very well made. A seam line is visible and one of them is definitly lopsided.
I found these in Addison in Winston Co. Alabama and this is where I hit a dead end. This county was odd in that it was mostly full of Union supporters, this sentiment flowed into other north alabama countys but Winston was the center. In fact a rather interesting part of the history here is when winston Co. decided to seceed from Alabama! The "mountain people" as they were called wanted to avoid war. I have found no records of any miliary or militia activity here. Could these be practice shots from some old cannon they may have had? This farm is located on the same old road as Looney's Tavern where they had the meeting at which they decided to suceed. It is a bottom land area backed up to a long ridge that marks the border of the hilly area (now the Bank head National forest). There is a great view of the whole area from the top of the ridge.
I just got a metal detector and am going to try and find anythign outside of the buildings. So far it apears that this will ba a daunting task due to all the years of trash dumping.?
I did get 21 cents and an army eagle crest button today though! 
After a little while we dicided that it must be a cannonball, that's when two more turned up unburied in a non-operational comercial sized chicken house (400' long). Here they are:
They are 4 pounds and 3 inches in diameter. For all I can tell I think they must be solid shot.
This one has a large ding in it:
They are rusty and don't apear to be very well made. A seam line is visible and one of them is definitly lopsided.
I found these in Addison in Winston Co. Alabama and this is where I hit a dead end. This county was odd in that it was mostly full of Union supporters, this sentiment flowed into other north alabama countys but Winston was the center. In fact a rather interesting part of the history here is when winston Co. decided to seceed from Alabama! The "mountain people" as they were called wanted to avoid war. I have found no records of any miliary or militia activity here. Could these be practice shots from some old cannon they may have had? This farm is located on the same old road as Looney's Tavern where they had the meeting at which they decided to suceed. It is a bottom land area backed up to a long ridge that marks the border of the hilly area (now the Bank head National forest). There is a great view of the whole area from the top of the ridge.
I just got a metal detector and am going to try and find anythign outside of the buildings. So far it apears that this will ba a daunting task due to all the years of trash dumping.?
I did get 21 cents and an army eagle crest button today though! 
That might make things interesting.
![:-\](https://www.treasurenet.com/smilies/undecided.gif "Undecided :-\")
I think I've got a good idea of the location of the Butram house now and I'm going to start serious hunting there. The town's going to have a Butram day sometime this fall and his nephew plans to come up from Texas, maybe then I can get a confirmation on the homesite. There's a lot of conflicting information from the locals but the best sources always point to the south of my house. There is a portion of paved driveway there with no purpose, the rest if the circular is gravel and any further away and the house would have been in a creek, which is absurd. I've also got another homesite from a little later. My house may have been built in the 60s. The records in this town are awfull. But I do have a date on the barn where I found one of these at least. It says 1984 right there in the cement. 
