Ammo Civil War cannonball found lodged in tree at Independence MO home

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1st Lieutenant
Joined
Aug 5, 2011
Location
SE PA
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. —
A man stumbled onto a piece of history when he found a Civil War cannonball lodged in a tree he was hired to remove.

Given the size in his hand, looks like 3.6" diameter? 6lber? See http://www.civilwarartillery.com/shottables.htm
lJ02ay6.jpg


Per source below, during the 2nd battle of Independence, the Federals recaptured two rifled cannon formerly used by the 2nd Missouri Light Artillery.
Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, Series I - Volume XLI - In Four Parts Part IV-Correspondence, etc. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1893. p. 185.

Some of those batteries had M1841s
 
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The ball in his hand is NOT a 6lber. I believe its a round from the Woodruff gun.
 
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Good grief, that's cool! Why can't I find a battle tree?
Be careful what you wish for.

This is from the history of the 22nd Mississippi Regiment.

Date: 1 March 1863

Location: Chickasaw Bayou

We marched to and through Vicksburg, and encamped North of the town on the ground on which the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou had been fought in December 1862. Two of our men were killed by the explosion of a shell while cutting down a tree for firewood in which the shell had become embedded during the battle.
 
You saw my comment in the other thread - how do you know for SURE if none of us know the actual diameter?
I don't need to as I know how big the one in his hand is and here is a 6lber (right) and an actual Woodruff round (left). Also, there were NO guns on either side that would have fired a grape that big.
IMG_1705.JPG
 
The dead give a way with the Woodruff is that the 2# ball is made of lead.
 
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The gun sure is small. Did the troops report that they were practical in combat?

They were pretty much worthless and evidence of this would be the fact that when Confederates captured these, there is no record of them ever being used and the South tended to use anything that they could get their hands on.
 
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