65 lb cannon ball

[jthegoalie]

Hello! We just got this cannon ball, which was originally found by my great grandfather somewhere in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area. Not sure exactly where. It is 65 lbs and 7.88 in in diameter. We are thinking it Civil War era, but we are new to this and would appreciate any info or advice! Thanks.

 

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[pepperj]

@cannonballguy hopefully will see your post up, and reply.
Nice one!

 

[Jose The Goon]

First of all, welcome to the forum. You came to the right place. There are many knowledgeable people here and many of them are experts. I'm a million miles from being an expert but I will relate to you one thing that I was told by archaeologists who were digging for artifacts @ Fort Independence (Castle Island) about 40 years ago.
We were doing some excavating for the fort's renovation when we found an un-exploded cannonball. The fort was built in the 1600s & was not fired on or fired from, but the cannon ball looked like yours with the "plugged" hole still intact. (hole to fill with gunpowder). They told us that those things were still dangerous even after all those
years, & we were lucky we didn't strike it with the backhoe because it could have exploded. Up until we found that, they had only found an old shoe & some pottery fragments & nails. Needless to day, they were very excited for the find. So, to make a long story short, be careful with that thing until you have it checked out by experts.
Good luck. Happy hunting & welcome to "TNET". Cheers !!

 

[Jose The Goon]

As a follow-up to my previous post, I found this link to a story of a cannonball found in the area that you mentioned. Note the comment at the end of the article;
" "As proven today, the finding of military ordnance from the Civil War is not uncommon in Maryland, and these devices pose the same threat as the day they were initially manufactured," the fire marshal's office said.
LINK: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...-civil-war-cannonball-found-maryland-n1262276

 

[Gare]

Hello! We just got this cannon ball, which was originally found by my great grandfather somewhere in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area. Not sure exactly where. It is 65 lbs and 7.88 in in diameter. We are thinking it Civil War era, but we are new to this and would appreciate any info or advice! Thanks.

Welcome to the Forum

 

[Digger RJ]

Hello! We just got this cannon ball, which was originally found by my great grandfather somewhere in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area. Not sure exactly where. It is 65 lbs and 7.88 in in diameter. We are thinking it Civil War era, but we are new to this and would appreciate any info or advice! Thanks.

Very Cool!!! Congrats!!!!