Any Civil War Artillery buffs here?

skydivr

Jumps from perfectly good Airplanes
Donating Member
The attached image came from my wife's grandparent's house. One of their grandparents was in the Indiana 7th Infantry; I saw the enlistment and discharge papers circa 1861. I've done a little research, but I believe this to be a canister shot from a 9 or 12 pounder artillery piece. It's too big to be grapeshot, it's about 1.5 inches in diameter and about a pound. It's smooth all the way around, which tends to indicate it's Union not Confederate. Trying to confirm what I have here...

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Probably shot out of one of these back in the day. These are working replicas. 1.5" diameter would have been real close. These baby's can throw some thunder!

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Where was it found? That may help determine what shot it.
I really can't think of anything else other than as you some sort of cannon shot?
Maybe an intial load for anti-cavalry purposes? Larger to take out charging reb horses?
 
Field artillery in the American Civil War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Read specifically about grapeshot. I'm leaning toward an unfired grapeshot. If it had been fired it most certainly would be dinged or scuffed. But it looks unmarked. Cannister shot was usually loaded with same size balls as the rifles being used at the time as they were prevalent, readily available and could serve dual purpose. So it may predate the civil war and be more colonial in origin.
 
Field artillery in the American Civil War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Read specifically about grapeshot. I'm leaning toward an unfired grapeshot. If it had been fired it most certainly would be dinged or scuffed. But it looks unmarked. Cannister shot was usually loaded with same size balls as the rifles being used at the time as they were prevalent, readily available and could serve dual purpose. So it may predate the civil war and be more colonial in origin.

From what I read, grapeshot was normally smaller in variety, yet it was made in different sizes for different size guns. I've contacted the US Army Artillery Association at Fort Sill let's see what they have to say...
 
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