What are these four things?

[Red Harvest]

View attachment 11362
Due to how they reflect light similar to how the cannon balls reflect light, I would guess that the four objects are also iron. But would iron stakes have round heads, because round heads would be more difficult to hit with a hammer/sledge than a flat one.

When I made my original comment I looked at a high res TIFF image. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/cwp2003005481/PP/ The odd thing about the devices is that the round head is of greater diameter than the cylindrical body which appears black or otherwise dark shade. I don't see any indication of an external fuse or detonator cap on the head.

I'm guessing that the mound of cannonballs there might be for collected spent rounds that had been fired at the fort by vessels during prior engagements. (Collecting spent rounds at the fort was mentioned several times.) Most of these in the picture appear to be of the same round shot/shell size though, but perhaps they are of a size that in a pinch could be used by some of the fort's guns, and are therefore collected in a makeshift bunker.

So back to the oddball things. If this is a collection of spent (and therefore perhaps unreliable/potentially unstable) rounds that are not safe or desirable to put in the main ammuntion piles/magazines, then what are the other four things doing there? It seems almost certain that they are some sort of explosive or pyrotechnic devices.

Civil war rockets seem to have undergone some experimentation like everything else, so it wouldn't suprise me if these were experimental and perhaps not well described. They could have been made by either side. These might be spent recoveries, live signal rockets, some sort of test barrage rocket...or something else entirely.

I was getting ready to say that the one thing suggesting they aren't spent rounds is that they appear to be in uniformly good condition...but when I zoom in really close it appears that the lower tube body of two of the four is widened/bulged as if they ruptured or nearly so.

 

[Red Harvest]

Here's another odd thing....wonder why they stuck the three muskets in the ground upside down?

I wondered the same thing and came up with two practical suggestions...don't have any idea if this might be the reasoning:
1. To keep rainwater/dew from dripping inside the barrel.
2. To keep dust/sand from falling into the barrel.

Also, not visible in this cropped shot, there is another cannonball with something wrapped around it off to the right that has been rolled around (that might be its trail showing in the image.)

 

[diane]

Might be upside down to keep oil from running into the wooden stocks. Curious, though - beside the mysterious 'things', is that a horse?

 

[civilwarincolor]

What are the four things at the bottom of the photo that look like aluminum baseball bats embedded into the ground big end first? Thanks.

Mike -

Cannot say for sure, but this is an excellent example of how viewing the images in 3D is helpful when possible. Just looking at the 2D image it appears that all of the posts are about the same height. When you look at it in 3D it is clear that the one in back is actually much closer than it appears and taller than the others.

If you have 3D anaglpyh (red/cyan) glasses you can see what I am talking about here:

I have to be honest, even in 3D it is difficult to give a precise answer. So I wondered if any of my pictures of Fort McCallister from my 2011 visit would show something similar. I wonder if it is something like these:

Perhaps with the tops chopped off and small cannon shot placed on top as decoration for the amusement of the troops.

I took five different pictures of these posts (all in 3D by the way, 2D version is showing here) and the size and height (looked like they are behind a small hill) could also be right. I looked through all of my images from the museum and the fort and these are the only ones that are close.

Any thoughts?

 

[RobertP]

As long as we're speculating on wild stuff like experimental rockets I'd say than Bangalore Torpedos are much more likely .

 

[Republican Blues]

Aight....I have been in contact with Danny Brown, the Boss man out at Ft McAllister State Historic Park... Bad news......they have been trying to figure out what they are for a WHILE....... an even they dont know

 

[Red Harvest]

Aight....I have been in contact with Danny Brown, the Boss man out at Ft McAllister State Historic Park... Bad news......they have been trying to figure out what they are for a WHILE....... an even they dont know

That's cool. Another mystery. Maybe one of them will turn up somewhere, some day.

 

[Pvt.Shattuck]

I'm no expert but they look like artillery handspikes, used for moving cannon.

 

[Nathanb1]

Wow. That makes sense. We don't know how far down they're driven, either, so we can't calculate actual length. Beside cannonballs. Makes sense. Good sense.

 

[Greg Taylor]

Heavy pins on which artillery mounts like the one in the background are pivoted?

This seems the most likely to me. The large heads would be to hold the pins securely in place.

 

[UKMarkw]

Might be upside down to keep oil from running into the wooden stocks. Curious, though - beside the mysterious 'things', is that a horse?

I think they may be the bodies of dead soldiers

 

[diane]

I think they may be the bodies of dead soldiers

Eee! I rather doubt that. Is it possible it's a rendering vat of some kind? (For critters! ) Maybe it's just the wash tub with laundry hanging on it!

 

[Pvt.Shattuck]

It's a tree stump.

 

[Mike Serpa]

Is this another one of those things in the lower left corner?

Battery on drill inside of Fort, ca. 1860 - ca. 1865
ARC Identifier 524748 / Local Identifier 111-B-329

 

[Nathanb1]

Heck, I see two more, don't I? Attached to the...whatchamacallit.

Is this another one of those things in the lower left corner?
View attachment 11399
Battery on drill inside of Fort, ca. 1860 - ca. 1865
ARC Identifier 524748 / Local Identifier 111-B-329

 

[diane]

It's a tree stump.

Tree stump? Lol! Let's see...we have horses, dead bodies, laundry and a tree stump!

 

[AndyHall]

Tree stump? Lol! Let's see...we have horses, dead bodies, laundry and a tree stump!

Toss in some binge-drinking and you got a new reality show, right there.

 

[Ray Ball]

I'm almost certain they are rockets- whether signal or explosive, I cannot tell.

 

[diane]

Toss in some binge-drinking and you got a new reality show, right there.

Lol! I was going to say maybe they're bowling pins... Got some ideas even wilder!

 

[BillO]

hitching posts for the teamsters to use.