Cannonball?

[skb8721]

Someone brought this artifact to me today to ask if it was a cannonball. (See photo with centimeter scale.)

I don't know -- what do you all think?

It's about 2.35 inches in diameter, and apparently made of iron. (No magnet on hand to test it, but it looked for all the world like iron.)

The ball was not perfectly round -- it was kinda "squished." So measuring it one direction gave a circumference of 7.08 inches and measuring it another direction gave a circumference of 7.48 inches.

It could be a ball bearing, as there is a railroad nearby; but I do know there was a Civil War skirmish at the site, too, with artillery (including, as an aside, Congreave rockets). The site in question is Weeks Island, Louisiana, referred to during the Civil War as Galtman's Bluff (for the bluff overlooking the Gulf of Mexico).

I'd be curious to know what you all think. Oh, I did look at a schedule of Civil War solid shot projectiles, and there was a 2-pound ball that measured 2.462 inches in diameter.

 

[UCVRelics]

It is not a cannon ball could be a piece of grape shot.

 

[redbob]

The Woodruff Gun had a 2 1/8" bore and fired a 2"+/- ball that was made of lead and it was used in the trans Mississippi area. The shot that you are referring to would have been for a 18# or 24# stand of grapeshot (which though they were outdated, they still say limited use in the Civil War).

 

[Patrick H]

I don't know. I am about the farthest thing from an expert authority you could ever imagine. However, I'll just say this: I have a strong hunch this was fired in anger at an "enemy" position.

 

[JOHN42768]

How about rock crusher

 

[skb8721]

How about rock crusher

Could be -- the place where the ball was found, Weeks Island, Louisiana, is a salt mine, and the ball could have been used like these (see below) to grind the rock salt into granular table salt:

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/rusting-crusher-balls-1240-j-l-woody-wooden.html

So now I'm unsure what to think: the place in question is salt mine and may have ground rock salt into table salt (and thus the presence of a rock crusher); but on the other hand a skirmish is know to have occurred at the site, too.

 

[hawknknife]

N orth of Vicksburg on old hwy 3 are limestone deposits like gravel pits and these large iron balls were found by relic hunters...they were fired at the walls of the pits to knock the limestone deposits out. Just so happens these mines are in the bluffs overlooking the Yazoo River and the Confederates had big gun emplacements at the exact same spot, Snyders bluff and Haynes bluff. Relic hunters would find these and knew for sure they had them a civil war cannon ball.

 

[Jobe Holiday]

That is some very interesting information, thank you for posting it!
J.