Case Shot Ball Found This Morning on Sidewalk in Franklin, Louisiana

skb8721

Corporal
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Location
New Iberia, Louisiana, on Bayou Teche
Today while walking down a sidewalk in Franklin, La., in front of the Church of the Assumption, I spotted the below artifact in a patch of dirt next to the sidewalk: it appears to be a .50 caliber case shot ball. (At home I measured the ball with calipers. It looks kinda flat in the photo, but it's not; it's spherical.)

This is quite possible, because as Civil War historian Donald S. Frazier writes in his book Thunder across the Swamp: The Fight for the Lower Mississippi (2011): "As the Federals came into range, firing again rippled through the streets and houses of Franklin. . . . Nim's two 3-inch ordnance rifles began booming in cadence, blindly spinning shells among the houses of town suspected of sheltering Rebel riflemen" (p. 539).

And as the California Historical Artillery Society's website notes, "The 3-inch Ordnance Rifle usually fired Hotchkiss or Schenkl patented shells or case shot." Which seems to be what I found -- case shot.

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I do this a lot, look at the ground wherever I walk. This is a habit I picked up from archaeologist Ian W. Brown of the University of Alabama, who teaches his students to do the same. It looks odd, but you never know what you might find! I was not in Franklin to look for artifacts, however, and in fact was there for a funeral and was wearing a coat and tie when I spotted and picked up this artifact.

I did the same thing last week after a doctor's appointment: since the parking lot was next to a stretch of Bayou Teche said to be the resting spot of the CSS gunboat Stevens (aka the Hart), I walked along the bank looking for artifacts. I found none -- but I did find a crisp $5 bill! And that isn't the first time I've found a few dollars in bills while looking for Civil War artifacts.
 
Wow! Sorry about the funeral, but...WOW. I walk along looking at the ground, too, but I never found anything like that!

Actually, you caused me to remember the evening I was walking along the beach near Galveston with my best friend. She was about two feet behind me as we walked in the wet sand and gentle waves...and a $50 bill floated up to her. Slightly miffed, I told her it probably came from a dead body. :D
 
Wow! Sorry about the funeral, but...WOW. I walk along looking at the ground, too, but I never found anything like that!:D

I have a friend who does the same as I do, and he has a small collection of modern-day bullet slugs he's found on the streets of New Orleans . . . just walking around the French Quarter as a tourist! (Alas, lots of crime in New Orleans!) He must have four or five of them. I've done the same when in New Orleans, but have never found any slugs.
 
Today while walking down a sidewalk in Franklin, La., in front of the Church of the Assumption, I spotted the below artifact in a patch of dirt next to the sidewalk: it appears to be a .50 caliber case shot ball. (At home I measured the ball with calipers. It looks kinda flat in the photo, but it's not; it's spherical.)

This is quite possible, because as Civil War historian Donald S. Frazier writes in his book Thunder across the Swamp: The Fight for the Lower Mississippi (2011): "As the Federals came into range, firing again rippled through the streets and houses of Franklin. . . . Nim's two 3-inch ordnance rifles began booming in cadence, blindly spinning shells among the houses of town suspected of sheltering Rebel riflemen" (p. 539).

And as the California Historical Artillery Society's website notes, "The 3-inch Ordnance Rifle usually fired Hotchkiss or Schenkl patented shells or case shot." Which seems to be what I found -- case shot.

View attachment 156868
Very well could be an iron case-shot. If it is an iron case-shot, it is probably Confederate. Usually Case-shot was made of lead. Civil War artillery author, Peter C. George, has commented that the Confederacy ran into lead shortages sometime in 1862 so that by mid 1863 most all Confederate Case-shot was iron.
 
Wow! Sorry about the funeral, but...WOW. I walk along looking at the ground, too, but I never found anything like that!

Actually, you caused me to remember the evening I was walking along the beach near Galveston with my best friend. She was about two feet behind me as we walked in the wet sand and gentle waves...and a $50 bill floated up to her. Slightly miffed, I told her it probably came from a dead body. :D
Not nice but "giggle".
 
I have a friend who does the same as I do, and he has a small collection of modern-day bullet slugs he's found on the streets of New Orleans . . . just walking around the French Quarter as a tourist! (Alas, lots of crime in New Orleans!) He must have four or five of them. I've done the same when in New Orleans, but have never found any slugs.

I've got a handful of pistol-caliber shell casings that form my 'urban battlefield forensics collection'.
Heard of a van that is loaded with weapons
Packed up and ready to go
Heard of some grave sites, out by the highway
A place where nobody knows
The sound of gunfire, off in the distance
I'm getting used to it now
Lived in a brownstone, lived in a ghetto
I've lived all over this town


This ain't no party, this ain't no disco
This ain't no fooling around
No time for dancing, or lovey dovey
I ain't got time for that now
 
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