What is this? Cannon ball?

[danielking1775]

This was supposedly dug in Nashville. Just curious what your all thoughts are?

 

[G Low]

Sure looks like one!!

 

[Cato3rd]

No it's not ACW ordnance. Too lumpy and the ball is too thin to be an artillery shell. Loading something like that into a cannon barrel would cause it to blow up

Resource: http://www.pochefamily.org/books/SolidShotEssentialsMod.html

 

[gjpratt]

No it's not ACW ordnance. Too lumpy and the ball is too thin to be an artillery shell. Loading something like that into a cannon barrel would cause it to blow up

Resource: http://www.pochefamily.org/books/SolidShotEssentialsMod.html

Nice resource link. Thanks for posting. Given the number of requests we regularly receive to verify the authenticity of solid shot ordnance, maybe this link should be posted as a sticky one?

 

[John Winn]

Nice resource link. Thanks for posting. Given the number of requests we regularly receive to verify the authenticity of solid shot ordnance, maybe this link should be posted as a sticky one?

Good idea. Here's the one I've always used (owned by a guy who wrote one of "the" books):

Civil War Artillery — Projectiles, Cannon & Ordnance

Civil War Artillery — a comprehensive reference to cannon, projectiles, inventors, and ordnance of the War Between the States. Over 170 documented projectile patterns, range tables, and inventor biographies.

www.civilwarartillery.com

 

[gjpratt]

Artillery is my weakest CW arms area. These are great resources for me!

 

[gjpratt]

I need to spend some time sitting at the feet of @redbob

 

[Cato3rd]

I need to spend some time sitting at the feet of @redbob

Yeah he's very knowledgeable. Still have to make my way down to him one day to see his collection

 

[Rhea Cole]

It would not be remarkable to find a Civil War artillery shell in Nashville TN.

The Nashville Plow Works manufactured CSA artillery shells on the bank of the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville.

The shells used in this sculpture were discovered in a large cache that had been discarded in a pit. The shells were charged. Construction workers had tossed an unknown number of them into their pickups & trunks. Metro bomb squad disarmed any that were brought in, no questions asked.

During the excavation of my friend's dream home near Grannie White Pike, they protected a CSA artillery earthwork from the Battle of Nashville.

Historic preservation took a turn when the dozer scraped up 12 pound shells & case shot packed in buried ammunition boxes. When, by chance, my cousin answered the 911 call, boys were shrieking with laughter tossing & rolling them down the hill.

After seeing black stuff dribbling out of a shell, he made a hasty report. His portrayal of calling into his incredulous sergeant is very droll. "They are fully charged bombs the size of a cantaloupe…" "What?" " There must be a hundred of the darn things!" "….. say what????"

E.O.D. Soldiers from Fort Campbell detonated them in place.

No reason to dismiss your sphere… have you washed it out? If not, that would be a good idea.

 

[gjpratt]

@Rhea Cole There is a historical marker for the Nashville Plow Works on 8th Ave. South, near the intersection of Lafayette. Was there a separate factory on the river? Actually, the manufacturing of artillery shells by NPW is new to me, but I have only focused on their swords so no reason for me to know anything else (other than the fact they made agricultural implements and equipment pre-War and thus reversed the biblical injunction by "turning plowshares into swords." HT: Bill Albaugh)

 

[Rhea Cole]

@Rhea Cole There is a historical marker for the Nashville Plow Works on 8th Ave. South, near the intersection of Lafayette. Was there a separate factory on the river? Actually, the manufacturing of artillery shells by NPW is new to me, but I have only focused on their swords so no reason for me to know anything else (other than the fact they made agricultural implements and equipment pre-War and thus reversed the biblical injunction by "turning plowshares into swords." HT: Bill Albaugh)

The higher resolution copies of this highly detailed 1860 map in the link might answer your questions.

Link:

Industrial Change in Nashville During the Civil War

A story map completed with the support of the Buchanan Library Fellowship.

storymaps.arcgis.com

 

[bankerpapaw]

This was supposedly dug in Nashville. Just curious what your all thoughts are? View attachment 561407

View attachment 561408

View attachment 561409

View attachment 561410

I had what I thought was a cannonball. Turned out it was an ore crushing ball.

 

[redbob]

I need to spend some time sitting at the feet of @redbob

Thank you for your kind words, but I'm just a guy with some good measuring instruments and an even better collection of reference books.

 

[redbob]

Yeah he's very knowledgeable. Still have to make my way down to him one day to see his collection

Anytime my friend.

 

[John Winn]

I had what I thought was a cannonball. Turned out it was an ore crushing ball.

But a very nice crushing ball.

 

[danielking1775]

Thanks guys! So here is a better picture after a little clean up. Still a definite no?

 

[Rhea Cole]

Thanks guys! So here is a better picture after a little clean up. Still a definite no?

View attachment 561514

View attachment 561515

The diameter is the useful measurement. Wrap a string or ribbon around the center of the ball. Mark it & measure. Divide by 3.14.

When we have an accurate diameter there will be or won't be a match to a cannon's bore. Of no, then that is that. If yes, further investigation is in order.

There are lots of iron balls out there used for all kinds of purposes. Without an accurate diameter nothing is knowable.

C = 3.14 X D. C= D/3.14.

 

[danielking1775]

I suspect it isn't as it is roughly 20 inches and 3/8" in diameter. That gives me roughly right at 6.48 which doesn't match anything I see.