Monster Unexploded Civil War Shell

[scottishmoney]

Went to the MSNS coin show in Detroit yesterday while my lady was shopping and attempting to stimulate the moribund economy with our dosh to no avail.

I bought two things at the show, one I'll keep to myself.  The other one I will share, it was probably one of the larger items carried out of the coin show yesterday:



This is a Parrott gun shell that was shot at Port Hudson, LA during the campaign take Vicksburg on the Mississippi River during July 1863.  The Parrott gun that fired this 20 pound shell was a common artillery piece during the Civil War.  Basically this shell is a somewhat crude artillery shell, being fired from a form of a cannon.  When this shell struck the target, or near the target, a firing pin at the front end of the shell would depress sparking the explosive charge inside the cast iron shell, often breaking up defenses, walls, or even sides of ships.



Unfortunately while they were commonly used during the Civil War, they were never really accurate or reliable.  Even safety of using the Parrott gun was an issue with the guns often shattering on firing, sometimes the shell would even explode in the gun.  Many soldiers were killed by Parrott guns that they had just fired.



As much as these guns were used with this type of shell, they were remarkably unreliable.  The shell had a range of 1/2 mile, but despite the rifling of the gun, the shells were not always accurately fired at the target.  Even then, they only had a 80% chance of actually detonating when hitting the intended range. 



The 20% that never exploded remain intact in and near many battlefield locations in the USA, notably in the Mississippi River area around Vicksburg, MS, and in Virginia and Georgia.  Detectorists often find these unexploded shells, and for the most part given that 145 years have passed, the shells are pretty inert, meaning they will no longer explode but still have to be disarmed with the firing pin removed and the explosives removed.  Occasionally some are found that still explode, and a detectorist was killed just earlier this year when digging one of these up in Virginia and attempting to disarm it.  One piece of shrapnel from the shell tore through a home nearly 1/2 mile from where the shell exploded.

Side note on the Kennedy Half, I plonked it into a Salvation Army kettle this evening with a bunch of other change.

[Pocketcoins]

Thats really nice and with all the history that you have with it, it makes for a really nice find. 

[AdamL]

My uncle owns alot of farmland around the Missouri river, here in Missouri. Near his land there was a small skirmish during the civil war, which was mostly the two small armies taking pot shots at each other from long distances. He found a regular old cannon ball in one of his fields. That shell you have there, and all the history behind it is pretty impressive though. Something that anyone, especially someone interested in history, should be proud to have in their collection. Congrats

[EgCollector]

Very interesting, Thanks for the info 

[scottishmoney]

My uncle owns alot of farmland around the Missouri river, here in Missouri. Near his land there was a small skirmish during the civil war, which was mostly the two small armies taking pot shots at each other from long distances. He found a regular old cannon ball in one of his fields. That shell you have there, and all the history behind it is pretty impressive though. Something that anyone, especially someone interested in history, should be proud to have in their collection. Congrats

I have four ancestors that fought in one battle in Missouri, near Lexington.  2 on the Southern side, and 2 on the Union side.  One of my Union ancestors was captured during the battle, and traded out later in the year in a prisoner swap.  I have often wondered if my Great Great Great Great Grandfather might have been captured by my other relatives.

I know one thing about the war in Missouri, even now it is not talked about much.  My Great Grandmother passed away a few years ago and she would talk about it a little bit, she was probably one of the last surviving children of a Civil War veteran still living then.

[AdamL]

Wow. That is interesting. There were several battles near where I live here in Missouri. One of which was a massacre of Union troops by a group of guerilla fighters led by Bloody Bill Anderson. There were to young men riding with him by the name of Jesse and Frank James. There is still some tension between Missouri and Kansas left over from the Civil War. Not much though. Most Missourians wanted to join the Confederacy, so there was alot of fighting between MO and pro-union Kansas. I find that era to be a pretty fascinating period of history.

[Goose]

UkrainiChetire. Your great, great, great, great grandfather? Heck, although I'm getting up there a little in age, my great grandfather fought in the Civil War (Union). Might you have too many "Greats"?  Heck, I play around a little with genealogy and it's amazing what one finds out about their ancestors. Me? Some ancestor was lynched for horse theivery, a great, great uncle was the personal bodyguard for Nepoleon, a couple of relatives (brothers) were kidnapped by Indians and held for a year, etc.

[scottishmoney]

No, I have the number of Greats right on that one.  With another ancestor though, he is only a Great Great Grandfather.  But he was 70 when my Great Grandmother was born in 1905 and my Great Great Grandmother was then about 30.