Live Civil War cannonball found. Post a coin from 1864.

SkyMan

From NBC News...

A bomb squad safely deactivated a live Civil War-era piece of ammunition after it was discovered in Maryland last week.

A homeowner contacted the state’s fire marshal after being given what seemed to be an unexploded cannonball that a family member found near the Monocacy Battlefield in Frederick, about 50 miles west of Baltimore. Officials confirmed that the explosive was live.

Bomb technicians moved the cannonball to Beaver Creek Quarry in Hagerstown, where they conducted “an emergency disposal,” according to the Maryland State Fire Marshal.

“As proven today, the finding of military ordnance from the Civil War is not uncommon in Maryland, and these devices pose the same threat as the day they were initially manufactured,” the fire marshal’s office said.

The battle of Monocacy occurred in 1864. Post a coin from 1864.

The cannonball.

cecropiamoth

Sure, one from the U.S. and one from south of the border.

Jeff

mark_dak

One of my favorites!!

coinsarefun

That’s pretty cool.
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Dewitt-AL- 1864-3 White Metal NGC MS64PL
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Mr_Spud

rhedden

fastfreddie

Here's a 'little' 11 inch Dahlgren shell that would have been used on the U.S.S. Monitor in 1862. 137lb unloaded. Max range about 2 miles!

yspsales

Before Myrtle Beach became a tourist attraction it was a bombing range for the Air Force during WW2.

All along the beach when the sand moves it is easy to find 50 cal bullets. Out away from the beach and a couple miles inland it truely was a bombing range. They have redeveloped much of it and find more ordinance than you would expect.

Was reminded of this last week when I was taking a backroad and passed Bombing Range Road... lol

Cool story. Diving the rivers in the Low Country can produce interesting artifacts. From megalon shark teeth to Revolutionary and Civil War artifacts. I think they even found a prehistoric canoe.

Ah the days when I dreamed of being an archaeologist.

ElmerFusterpuck

WinLoseWin

This one must have got hit in the explosion.

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kaz

Here around Richmond live shells turn up a lot. The Union shelled the city and its defenses from gunboats, Monitors and mortar barges in the James River. There was a fellow in Chesterfield Co. who had a sideline of deactivating these shells. He was working on a big one in his backyard when it went off. Pieces of the shell hit houses hundreds of yards away. Metal detectorists, when they find a live one, often take it to one of these folks. A patient of mine did that, and the guy came out on his front porch with a drill and proceeded to get to work. (very dangerous, never do this, call the police!). My patient beat a hasty retreat to opposite side of a nearby oak tree, till he was done and flushed out the powder with a hose. The old gunpowder is very unstable, and some of these shells had mercury fulminate in the fuses, like a blasting cap. Extremely dangerous things to fool around with .

Tomthemailcarrier

Mdcoincollector2003

Been to that battle field a few times. Nice park.

Lakesammman

Learned something from the post - I thought they were just big chunks of metal - not live ordinance!

johnny9434

Thankfully no one got hurt with it

winesteven

SMALL Motto, MS65RB, with CAC:
https://images.pcgs.com/TrueView/36627367_Medium.jpg?v=1616995449557

HoledandCreative

@WinLoseWin said:

This one must have got hit in the explosion.

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Looks like a Small Motto to me.

mosjcoin

ChangeInHistory

fastfreddie

@Lakesammman said:
Learned something from the post - I thought they were just big chunks of metal - not live ordinance!

They used both solid shot to smash and hollow shells that smashed and exploded with a delayed fuse. The shells would fragment from the explosion, filled with powder and other shot or fragments.

ricko

I have a couple of cannon balls I found along the Hudson River... These were solid, not designed to explode. I still have them....along with a great arrow point I found at the same time. The Hudson was a prime water way in the early years, and skirmishes were many. Cheers, RickO

Twobitcollector

BillJones

The "big three" 1864 Indian Cents.

Copper Nickel

Bronze

1864-L

An 1864 dated Monitor Civil War token struck from very rusted dies.

BloodMan

1864-$ $20 NGC MS61 recovered from the SS Brother Jonathan in 2000.

retirednow

50 Cent piece (HALF DOL.) in copper with 'IN GOD WE TRUST"

bearcave

I kept waiting for a half dollar, (in silver) it's to rich for my blood for sure!!


I'll just add my 2 cents from 1864!

fathom

bearcave

👌

oih82w8

From the Used to be Mine folder;

1864 2C LM FS-1901 Rev Die Clash w/ Obv Indian 1C (FS-001.8)

jdimmick

When I was younger, My ex brother in law(civil war detectorist) had a buddy that defused these, I believe he used to slowly drill these under water, but tis still extremely dangerous. They used to turn up from time to time in this area due to the arsenal in town. I havent heard as many turning up in recent years around here,

winesteven

@jdimmick said:
When I was younger, My ex brother in law(civil war detectorist) had a buddy that defused these, I believe he used to slowly drill these under water, but it’s still extremely dangerous.

This reminds me of the story of the two local town idiots. They came across three live hand grenades in the park. One asked the other “What should we do?” The other answered “Let’s bring them over to the local police station”. As they’re carefully carrying them over to the police station, one asks the other “What should we do if one of them explodes?” The other one says “We’ll lie! We’ll tell them there were only two!” 😂