A flier checked a bag carrying five pieces of Civil War artillery ammo. She didn't know they had been stolen by a grandchild from Fort Morgan on Mobile Bay, officials say

The artillery rounds were wrapped in paper towels (TSA-Gulf Shores photos)

Alabama’s Fort Morgan State Historic Site will not press charges after a juvenile took artillery ammunition from the coastal Civil War fort and the artifacts were detected by the Transportation Security Administration in the checked bag of the child's unwitting grandmother.

The TSA recently posted an article about the July 18 incident at Gulf Shores International Airport. It said screener Justin Dupree spotted the five iron balls, at first thinking they appeared to be a medicine ball wrapped in paper towels. 

The article called the items cannonballs, though observers said most are likely canister or grapeshot  The largest was described as being about the size of a grapefruit.

“I had never seen anything quite this unique,” said Dupree, a TSA officer for four years. “I’ve seen inert grenades and training munitions but never an Indiana Jones-esque stolen artifact-type situation.” He was concerned they might have been live.

The TSA contacted local authorities, who determined the prohibited rounds were inert and did not contain explosive components.

TSA officer Justin Dupree in the checked baggage area of the airport (TSA)

Capt. Nathan Lusk of the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office told the Picket in an email that the items were taken by the juvenile from a storage area at the fort.

“Fort Morgan personnel were able to confirm the items as their property due to paint markings they apply to artifacts. The grandmother stated that she did not know they were stolen. Fort Morgan’s director chose to not press charges, so there was no further action from us.”

The pieces were returned to the state park. Heather Tassin, the site manager, said, “Due to this being an active investigation we are unable to provide any comments.”

The airport is about 20 miles east of Fort Morgan, which sits at the mouth of Mobile Bay.

Fort Morgan is nestled in a popular vacation area (Picket photo)

The historic site played a prominent part in the 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay.

Mobile was one of the last major Confederate ports still open at the time. Fort Morgan, with a garrison of about 600, and other fortifications meant to keep Union Adm. David Farragut out. The bay was heavily mined with what were then called torpedoes.

On Aug. 5, 1864, the monitor USS Tecumseh struck a mine within a few hundred yards of the fort. More than 90 hands died when the monitor rolled over and sank. The other 17 Union vessels began to move back, but Farragut, on board the USS Hartford, demanded the fleet move through, uttering “Damn the Torpedoes!”

Farragut triumphed over the opposition of heavy batteries in Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines. His fleet secured the surrender of the ironclad CSS Tennessee and defeated the squadron of Confederate Adm. Franklin Buchanan.

The USS Tecumseh buoy off Fort Morgan; Dauphin Island is in background (Picket photo)

Farragut’s brazen assault was one half of a Union operation. Troops landed on Dauphin Island and laid siege to Fort Gaines, which had few ships to help in its defense. Confederate Col. Charles D. Anderson had half his infantry foe’s number and surrendered

After the fall of Fort Gaines on Aug. 8, Yankee troops moved on Fort Morgan across the bay, forcing its surrender on Aug. 23.

Mobile itself was heavily fortified and the Union command moved on after securing the bay. The city surrendered in April 1865, three days after Appomattox.

He brought a bucket to an Apple Valley, Calif., police station. Inside were 6 Civil War-era cannonballs with Bormann fuses. Officers scrambled to clear the premises

Six cannonballs were brought to the station in this bucket (SBCSD photo)

A Southern California resident thought bringing six Civil War-era cannonballs to a police station was a good way to dispose of them, but things quickly went awry.

Authorities in Apple Valley briefly closed the station after they noticed the artifacts appeared to contain fuses and could potentially explode.

They advised the public after the Feb. 12 incident to call them instead of transporting items.

“These were Civil war era cannon balls, six in total, with black powder inside and a Bormann time fuse,” Jenny Smith, a public information officer with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, wrote in a Feb. 18 email to the Picket

“Three of the six were 12 pounders and the other three were 16 pounders. When they were evaluated, the condition of the fuse was unknown due to the amount of rust.”

The ordnance had been kept by the male individual in a water-filled bucket, leading to the rust.

Smith did not know why the individual had the cannonballs, or whether they were part of a collection. 

After seeing the items that morning, Apple Valley Police Station personnel called the bombs and arson division and established a safety perimeter around the Dale Evans Parkway facility.

The bomb squad later destroyed the cannonballs, said Smith.

“There were no injuries reported, and at no time was there an immediate threat to the public beyond the controlled perimeter,” the sheriff’s department said in a news release.

“The Apple Valley Police Department appreciates the community’s cooperation and reminds residents that if a potentially explosive or military ordnance is discovered it should not be handled or transported. Instead, individuals should leave the item in place and contact law enforcement immediately.”

San Bernardino is not particularly associated with the Civil War, though there were Southern sympathizers and some Federal troops in the area.

From sodium carbonate to dental picks, here's what they use to conserve cannonballs, canister shot and bullets found in Columbia, S.C., river cleanup

Iron canister balls, 12-pounder solid shot and iron points used for defenses (James Legg, SCIAA)

Laboratories in South Carolina and Georgia are using electrical currents and soda ash to clean and conserve hundreds of Civil War iron artifacts that were recovered during a cleanup of the Congaree River in Columbia, S.C.

Some of the captured weapons and ammunition that Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s troops dumped into the river in the last months of the Civil War reemerged in 2022 and 2023 as crews removed century-old coal tar along the shoreline.

About 2.5 tons of debris – including trash, tires and scrap metal – were carted off, with the project concluding 10 months ago.

The Civil War-related artifacts include 6-pounder, 12-pounder and 10-inch projectiles, a large number of canister and grape shot balls, canister plates, a wagon wheel remnant, small arms ammunition and a Confederate sword blade. Only the lead bullets do not require conservation. The wheel is believed to be from that era and is in a large tank while experts research its age.

In February 1865, Sherman’s men threw Confederate war materiel into the river after they took what they wanted before marching to North Carolina. Much of the South Carolina capital went up in flames, from a variety of sources, after its surrender. (Left, artifacts shown to the media last year, SCIAA)

The Picket has stayed in touch with Sean Norris, program archaeologist for TRC Companies, a subcontractor for Dominion Energy, and Jim Legg, public archaeologist for the South Carolina Institute for Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA).

TRC and SCIAA are dividing the conservation, with the aim of tendering the artifacts to the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum in Columbia for an eventual exhibit.

The Picket asked the pair for an update on the conservation, with the following responses sent by Norris. Some have been edited for brevity or context.

Q. How many Civil War artifacts are currently under conservation treatment? How many have been completed, roughly?

A. More than 500 Civil War related artifacts were recovered during the project. All of the iron artifacts are currently undergoing electrolysis. This is a long process and they will be in electrolysis tanks for a few months.

Electrolysis tanks treating Congaree River dumped Civil War ordnance(James Legg, SCIAA)

Q. Can you tell me a little more about the electrolysis? How large are the tanks, what is the process?

A. Electrolytic reduction (electrolysis) is undertaken on iron artifacts with two important goals, including (1) the removal of soil/iron product concretion and substantially mineralized iron, and (2) the electrolytic removal of chlorides and other contaminants from porous surfaces on and within the objects.

Electrolysis tanks use sheet stainless steel anodes in a mild solution of sodium carbonate (soda ash) as electrolyte. Ordinary manual battery chargers or modulated power supplies provide the current for what is essentially a wet cell battery. Tanks of varying in size from a gallon to 20 gallons are used.

A range of bullets and shot pulled from the river muck (Sean Norris, TRC Companies)

Q. Do some artifacts take a longer electrolysis time than others? Can you briefly describe a scenario like that?

A. Smaller iron objects from relatively uncontaminated terrestrial sites can be considered conserved in as little as 15-20 days. Large objects and complex shapes might run as long as two months. Normally, a tank of several terrestrial iron objects can run for an extended period with its initial setup and solution, with as few as one tank change at some point in the process. The artifacts are also manually cleaned several times, using steel wire brushes and dental picks.

This manual process is repeated in the course of tank changes as well as between changes. This lengthy treatment serves to loosen the iron product material that had replaced varying depths of metallic iron on the objects, and to expel contaminants dwelling primarily at the iron/iron products transition.

Alfred R. Waud's illustration of Columbia on fire in February 1862 (Library of Congress)

Q. What can you tell me about the iron spikes that were found?

A. We believe that the iron spikes are the tip ends to a chevaux-de-frise (made of timber) that was likely placed in the water or around the roads and bridges of Columbia as defensive obstacles.

Q. Is electrolysis the final stage for most of these items? Or do some receive other treatments? 

A. The next step is intensive, repeated boiling, with the goal of removing any contaminants still present. This involves boiling artifacts in a mildly basic solution, typically about a teaspoon of sodium carbonate in a two-gallon stainless steel pot. After about an hour of vigorous boiling, the artifacts are rinsed in cold water for several minutes, and then returned to boiling in a fresh basic solution. This cycle is repeated several times for each batch of artifacts. For the final boil, the solution is nearly neutral, so as flush excess sodium carbonate from porous surfaces. Additional rinsing follows, in hot and cold tap water. (If sodium carbonate is not thoroughly rinsed from an artifact, white crystals may eventually appear on the surface). Heat drying follows the boiling phase. This is accomplished on an ordinary electric stove burner on low to medium heat. Immersion in microcrystalline wax is the next step, one undertaken primarily to cover the surface and fill the porous elements of the iron object to exclude air and moisture. I submerge the objects, several at a time, in a pan of molten microcrystalline wax to seal the artifacts.

Canister ball (left) undergoing treatment, 10-inch shells awaiting their turn (James Legg, SCIAA)

Q. I assume this stage will continue into 2025?

A. The conservation phase will take several months for all the artifacts.

Q. Are the river iron points, canister, 6- and 12-pound shells, along with bullets, all Confederate? Any idea what the 10-inch shells were fired by?

A. We believe all are Confederate. None were actually fired. They were all removed from the various armories around Columbia. Most of the artillery rounds are solid shot. The 10-inch balls were shells with open fuse holes but did not contain any black powder.

Q. The stirrup under conservation -- Federal or Confederate? Is the type of saddle known? 

A. We are now leaning toward a non-military stirrup (right). 

Q. Anything particularly interesting on location, context, etc, for the artifacts?

A. In general, these artifacts were in a dynamic, constantly changing environment since (the) time they were discarded in the river. After first being thrown into the river, their positions were shifted around by the current, past recovery attempts and flood events. Their depositional context would be considered disturbed, meaning that we really can’t interpret much information from their location. The majority of the artifacts were recovered close to the riverbank (as was expected) with only a few recovered closer to the middle of the river channel.

Archaeologists found 500 Civil War items, including cannonballs, during tar cleanup in Columbia, S.C., river. Here's some of what they found in 'literal war zone'

Grapeshot, canister, 6-pound round (Photos courtesy of Sean Norris, TRC, 2023)

Some of the captured weapons and ammunition that Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s troops dumped into the Congaree River in Columbia, S.C., in the last months of the Civil War reemerged during a recent environmental project that removed tar from the riverbed.

Hundreds of Civil War artifacts have been recovered, including cannonballs, canister, remnants of a saber and wagon wheel and dozens of bullets. In February 1865, Sherman’s men threw Confederate war materiel into the river after they took what they wanted before marching to North Carolina.

Much of the South Carolina capital went up in flames after the city's surrender.

State, local and Dominion Energy this week announced the completion of the work. Tests showed the material found near downtown in 2010 was coal tar created by manufactured gas plants that operated throughout Columbia more than century ago.

Starting in June 2022, crews installed cofferdams and dewatering pumps at two so they could work on a dry riverbed. Dominion Energy said. Some 35,000 tons of sediment was removed.

The Civil War Picket reached out to Sean Norris, program archaeologist for TRC Companies, a subcontractor for Dominion Energy that performed archaeological work. His responses have been edited and some questions have been reordered.

Q. Were all of the artifacts recovered since June 2022? Were they found in a particular area, or were they scattered?

A. A small amount of ordnance was recovered during the early phases of this project as far back as 2015. The vast majority of the ordnance was recovered this year. (Photo above of some artifacts courtesy of Sean Norris, TRC, 2023.)

Q.  Can you give me an approximate number of Civil War artifacts recovered?

 A. We anticipate close to 500 pieces of ordnance and Civil War-related artifacts, in addition to thousands of historic and pre-contact period artifacts.

Q. Can you please provide some specifics on the Civil War items? 

A. We do not have a finalized inventory yet. But of note, we have the following:

-- 10” shells (right) with fuse wells for wood fuse plug (photo courtesy of Sean Norris, TRC)-- Iron canister balls (five sizes)

-- Iron grapeshot balls, 2,”

-- Iron canister top and bottom plates for 24-pounder

-- 6-pounder solid shot cannon balls (one with a Bormann fuse)

-- 12-pounder common shells with wood fuse plugs

-- .69-caliber musket balls

-- .69-caliber Burton pattern Minie bullet

-- .577/58-caliber Pritchett bullet

-- .577/.58-caliber Pritchett bullets, short pattern

--  An encrusted saber is currently going through some stabilization and cleaning. 

Q. Are all of the Civil War items dumped in the river believed to be Confederate? Were they tossed in by Sherman's troops?

A. All the ordnance appears to be from the Confederate armories around the downtown area. None appear to have been fired.

Q. How deep were most of the artifacts when found?

A. All were found in the riverbed after it was dewaters.  Some were up to three feet deep in sediment.

Q. Can you tell me about parts of a wagon wheel, what makes that particularly interesting?

Burning of Columbia in Feb. 1865 (William Waud, Library of Congress)

A. There are reports in the records and in diaries of an explosion happening during the dumping of the ordnance. The explosion apparently blew up a wagon and oxen team and three federal soldiers, including Capt. Williamson M. Davis, who is buried in the Florence, S.C. national cemetery. The wagon wheel matches the size and characteristics of a military wagon; there is evidence of charring on the spokes of the wheel. It is possible that this wheel is an artifact of that explosion. 

Q. Did work crews find an unexploded shell of some type?

A. We had UXO team from a company named Tetra Tech on site at all times. They did an amazing job of doing the initial recovery and establishing safety protocols.  When fused ordnance was recovered they implemented protocols to render the ordnance safe for removal then transferred the ordnance for off-site disposal.

Q. Were you there for most or all of the archaeological work? Was it also done by Dominion Energy contractors? 

A. We were contracted through Dominion Energy. They have been great advocates for recovering and preserving these artifacts since the archaeological work for this project began years ago.

(Archaeological work at left. Photo courtesy of Sean Norris, TRC, 2023.)

Q. Will these items go to the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum? If so when?

A. Artifacts are undergoing analysis and the conservation process. It will likely be 18 months to two years before they are ready for display at the Relic Room. (The Picket has reached out to the museum for comment.)

The wagon wheel is currently submerged in a conservation tank at the Confederate Relic Room. The wood spokes started decaying as soon as it was removed from the water and exposed to oxygen. 

A view of the work over the summer (SC Dept. of Health and Environmental Control)

Q. Any particular moments of discovery that stand out to you, especially ones in which you were a part?

A. Lifting the 10-inch cannonballs was a highlight. Holding these artifacts and realizing that almost 160 years ago the place I was standing was a literal war zone was a sobering moment.

Related: Was this wagon wheel shattered in explosion as Sherman's troops took S.C. capital? Experts hope to learn more when they conserve hundreds of artifacts. Read more

Mystery along the beach: Archaeologists continue research after 2021 discovery of 194 Civil War-era cannonballs in Florida Panhandle

Shells were found Sept. 3-5 and 21-23, 20201  (Gulf Islands National Seashore)

National Park Service archaeologists are awaiting a more detailed analysis of 194 cannonballs found last year along a beach at a federal park in the Florida Panhandle. Thus far, there are more questions than answers about the artillery shells.

The ordnance was discovered by Gulf Islands National Seashore staff after Category 4 Hurricane Ida pushed through in late August. The artifacts were found in clusters and the area was closed for a time as a precaution.

It’s likely the cannonballs are associated with nearby Confederate Fort McRee, which was built on a narrow barrier island separating Florida’s Pensacola Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

In November 1861, the garrison engaged in gunfire with nearby Union-held Fort Pickens and a couple warships -- and came up on the losing end. The heavily damaged brick fort, built on sand, was abandoned, only to fall into further ruin over the years.

The Picket this week reached out to the park for an update on the discovery.

Soldiers at Fort McRee, year unknown (Gulf Islands National Seashore)

“The cannonballs were spherical shot, some of which utilized Hotchkiss time fuses,” public information officer Susan Teel wrote in an email. “Fort McRee was under Confederate control during the Civil War, but the cannonballs could not be determined if they were cast by one side or the other. Due to the threat to life and health associated with live munitions, the cannonballs had to be destroyed before much specific information could be recorded.”  

Asked whether the cannonballs were discarded by the garrison or had been stored there for possible future use, Teel said: “Without the ability to safely complete excavations, the purpose behind the location is not known at this time. The density and location within the vicinity of the fort is a factor which was considered during our analysis.”

The shells weighed between 25 and 35 pounds and are believed to be of the same type, Teel said last September. “They are hollow, potentially black powder filled cannonballs considered discarded military munitions.”

Cannonballs likely were further inland during the Civil War (GUIS)

Erosion regularly occurs on these barrier islands and park officials say the ordnance was likely placed in a spot that was inland at the time.

Superintendent Darrell Echols told WEAR-TV that the artifacts appeared to have been stockpiled and did not appear to have been fired upon the island. WEAR reported the cannonballs were found about a half mile from Fort McRee.

McRee had 12 casemates and an associated water battery, which may be underwater today. Virtually nothing remains today, with the exception of part of the fort's foundation. (After the Picket posted its first article about the find on social media, a few readers commented they believe the ordnance was made for a 32-pounder cannon.)

Inaccessible by road, McRee’s main visitors are sea birds, boaters and beachgoers who come to Gulf Islands National Seashore. The park is home to McRee, Pickens and Fort Barrancas, another Civil War outpost.

Teel said the NPS’s Southeast Archeological Center documented the cannonballs before they were detonated on site by experts from the Air Force’s Hurlburt Field (right).

NPS archaeologists returned in early October to see what else may be in the area. Echols told WEAR at the time that based off the survey, there's little reason to believe more cannonballs could be in the area.

"No other cultural materials (anything made or altered by human hands) were located during the survey of the area," Teel wrote this week. "The Southeast Archeological Center did complete a comprehensive survey which included excavations around the munitions, due to the hazards associated with live ammunitions."

Teel said of the project:

“Preservation is crucial for our mission and our interest, however never as important as a person’s life. While citizens love to help preserve and protect our history, it is illegal to search for artifacts on federal property, and more importantly can be extremely dangerous.”  

Hurricane Ida left a calling card at Pensacola Bay in Florida. 194 cannonballs were uncovered along beach near Civil War Fort McRee

Shells were found Sept. 3-5 and 21-23 (Gulf Islands National Seashore)

Fort McRee did not resemble most other coastal fortifications erected in the U.S. after the War of 1812. The fort was shaped somewhat like a wing or boomerang so that it could be squeezed onto a narrow barrier island separating Florida’s Pensacola Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

McRee’s brief moment of fame – until last month – came in November 1861, when it was in Confederate hands during the Civil War. The garrison engaged in gunfire with nearby Union-held Fort Pickens and a couple warships -- and came up on the losing end. The heavily damaged brick fort, built on sand, was abandoned, only to fall into further ruin over the years.

Inaccessible by road, McRee’s main visitors are sea birds, boaters and beachgoers who come to Gulf Islands National Seashore. The park is home to McRee, Pickens and Fort Barrancas, another Civil War outpost.

Soldiers at Fort McRee, year unknown (Gulf Islands National Seashore)

Category 4 Hurricane Ida -- bringing heavy rain and wind -- paid its own visit in late August, and its impact left quite a surprise: Days later and over three weeks, park staff discovered 194 Civil War-era cannonballs, deposited in a couple clusters along the beach.

The shells weighed between 25 and 35 pounds and are believed to be of the same type, park public information officer Susan Teel told the Civil War Picket in an email. “They are hollow, potentially black powder filled cannonballs considered discarded military munitions.”

Experts from the Air Force’s Hurlburt Field (below) detonated the artillery shells on site, officials said.

“What’s unclear is whether they are Union or Confederate, whether they were associated with Fort McRee or another type of facility,” GUIS Superintendent Darrell Echols told TV station WKRG.

It appears the cannonballs had been discarded or buried; that may be determined in coming weeks during a cultural resource survey of the find. 

Erosion regularly occurs on these barrier islands and park officials say the ordnance was likely placed in a spot that was inland at the time. Echols told WEAR-TV the artifacts do not appear to have been fired upon the island.

The park has closed a portion of the beach on the Perdido Key Area’s southeastern end, at the Fort McRee site, and is monitoring it should more ordnance appear.

“Our goal is to ensure that the area is safe for the public and staff and that cultural resources are protected,” Teel said late last week. “In an abundance of caution, the park has closed the area surrounding where the cannonballs were located. This closure is signed and visitors walking or boating in this area are prohibited from entering. Staff will be monitoring and patrolling the area regularly.”

A park news release says it is illegal for the public to handle, deface or remove such artifacts.

Cannonballs likely were further inland during the Civil War (GUIS)

This is not the first time a storm uncovered Civil War munitions. For example, 2019’s Hurricane Dorian revealed two cannonballs on South Carolina’s Folly Beach.

In almost all cases, military or local emergency services employees destroy discovered ordnance because of the potential for them to explode. On some occasions, they are defused or found not to still contain harmful material.

Asked whether a discussion was held on whether the rounds could be saved, Teel wrote: “As a federal agency, we have arrangements with the military to detonate munitions or unexploded ordinance found in the park. Munitions have been found in national parks across the USA and the military has assisted the National Park Service to successfully mitigate the danger these munitions may pose to the public and staff.”

Teel said if someone comes across munitions, they should not disturb the items. They should leave the area and contact local emergency services, she said.

A Virginia relic collector died in 2008 when a cannonball he was restoring exploded.

(Wikipedia Commons)

McRee had 12 casemates and an associated water battery, which may be underwater today. Virtually nothing remains today, with the exception of part of the fort's foundation. (After the Picket posted this article on social media, a few readers commented they believe the ordnance was made for a 32-pounder cannon.)

A GUIS web page details its history and service. The federal government built the fort in the 1830s at part of defenses of Pensacola Bay and a naval yard. Interestingly, Fort Pickens was one of the few forts in the South that remained in Union hands throughout the Civil War.

McRee was seized by state militia in early 1861 and guns were mounted by Confederate troops. On Nov. 22, 1861, Pickens opened fire on shore batteries, the navy yard and McRee and Barrancas.

“Under heavy artillery fire, Fort McRee was exposed to severe bombardment at its front, flank, and rear,” the park service says. “Two Union warships, U.S.S. Niagara and U.S.S. Richmond joined the bombardment of Fort McRee. This massive artillery exchange shook houses ten miles away and concussion-stunned fish which floated to the surface of the bay.” Confederate guns were able to damage one of the Federal warships.

But damage to the fort and its vulnerability put it out of action for the next day.

Rebel forces abandoned the outpost by March 1862.

“The once imposing fortification had been reduced to a burned-out and fragmented brick shell. Essentially abandoned after the Civil War, the toll of warfare and of the elements continued to take Fort McRee into further ruin,” according to the website. “By the early 1900s, what little was left of this once imposing defensive structure was rapidly crumbling. Today, nothing visible remains of this Third System fortification, although later coastal defense structures built in the area are commonly referred to as old Fort McRee.”

A battery was built near the old fort about the time of the Spanish-American War and it had guns during World War II. It was deactivated shortly after the war ended.

Aerial view of a battery on island in 1928 (National Archives

The region during the Civil War (Wikipedia Commons)

Cannonballs galore: They were turning earth for condos in Pittsburgh and came across cannonballs at site of Union arsenal. A lot of it.

Dozens of artillery rounds at site (Pittsburgh Police Facebook post)

A construction crew building condominiums in Pittsburgh last month came across a cache of artillery rounds near the site of an arsenal that supplied the Union army during the Civil War.

Pittsburgh police on Thursday posted photographs of the July 2 find in the Lawrenceville area while crews were turning soil. The number of shells has not been determined. Police described the cannonballs as live.

Jack Melton, who publishes the Civil War News and the Artilleryman magazine, told the Picket the rounds are 12-pounder cannonballs with Bormann fuses.

“Thankfully, this excavator operator had some prior experience and promptly called the Pittsburgh Police Bomb Squad when he recognized what his machinery had hit; a cache of Civil War era cannonballs," police said on Facebook.

“This was the same employee who had helped unearth 715 cannonballs while working not far from here in March of 2017, the site of the former Allegheny Arsenal, an important supply and manufacturing center for the Union Army during the American Civil War.”

Some Facebook commenters say this is a Bormann time fuze.

The Facebook post said the rounds are the property of the Army, and police will handle “mitigation” in coordination with the military. It’s not immediately known whether they will be destroyed.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the discovery is not unusual for the area, located at the site of the U.S. Allegheny Arsenal, which produced 128,000 rifle cartridges a day for Union troops during the Civil War. 

In 1862, 78 people were killed when three explosions erupted in a building called the laboratory. It was one of the worst civilian disasters during the Civil War, according to the newspaper. 

Ground was being turned for construction (Pittsburgh Police)

Police told the Post-Gazette they kept the discovery quiet so that the rounds could be removed without endangering the curious. They had no map or drawings from which to work.

Quite a find while doing some cleaning

The Maryland State Fire Marshal bomb squad reported to an address in Sharpsburg after a man said he found Civil War-era weapons in his basement. The homeowner told investigators that he was cleaning his basement when he discovered the items. The Battle of Antietam occurred nearby. • Article

University of Alabama to preserve, display cannonballs found on campus

Gorgas House is pre-Civil War (Jeffrey Reed, Wikipedia)

Just how did they get there? We may never know for sure.

Ten Civil War-era cannonballs found below a sidewalk on the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa will be preserved and made available for display, campus officials told the Picket on Monday.

The university, while not giving the precise location, said the cache was found Friday afternoon by crews repairing walkways. Al.com reported the discovery was made north of Gorgas Library in the center of campus.

The university, in effect a military school during the Civil War (dubbed the “West Point of the South”), and Tuscaloosa were spared direct effects until the closing days, when Federal cavalry destroyed most of the campus on April 4, 1865.

The artillery rounds were removed after EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) technicians were called in, said Chris Bryant, assistant director of media relations. He said he did not know how far below the surface they were buried. “We’ve swept the area where they were found, and we do not believe there to be any more in the area.”

“The cannonballs are no longer on campus,” he said. “Once the cannonballs are rendered safe, we expect they will be turned over to UA Museums. There, they will be preserved within our collections and, in time, we expect they will be made visible for periodic public display.”

Union Brig. Gen. John Croxton 

Dr. Harold Selesky, an associate professor of American and military history at UA, said he believes the cannonballs were likely inert solid shot rather than shells, which are hollow and filled with powder and would have suffered water damage if stored underground. Selesky, who has not seen the ordnance, describes shells as potentially unstable before rendered safe.

But Dr. Robert Mellown, an UA art history associate professor emeritus, said he has seen photos of two of the cannonballs, which he said are 6-pound and 12-pound shells with inset fuses.

Selesky doubts they were left by Union cavalry raiders led by Brig. Gen. John T. Croxton, whose brigade took part in the Atlanta Campaign and moved through Alabama cities during the war’s final months. The Federals weren’t in Tuscaloosa long and would have kept a close eye on their artillery supply, Selesky said.

Rather, the cannonballs probably belonged to an older muzzle-loading, smoothbore Confederate gun, he said. It was probably pretty small, he added.

“It (the artillery) was likely produced during the war, and at end of the war thrown in a hole because they didn’t need it any more or wanted to try to preserve it for the future,” Selesky told the Picket.

The cannonballs may have been training rounds for cadets on the University of Alabama campus. He said there would have been no reason to bury them during the war -- perhaps they were used to fill in soil or someone buried them in case some kind of trouble returned.

According to historical sources, Mellown said, the university had at least four pieces of artillery.

“One was on loan to the Tuscaloosa home guard to protect the covered bridge across the Warrior River. The other three were presumably on campus under a shed where they were captured by Gen. Croxton,” he said. “They were probably associated with the extensive rifle pits and earthworks that had been created on the western side of campus. Judging from the location of the cannonballs I think they were probably associated with these cannons.  The fact that they were buried is not unusual.  After the burning of the campus much of the debris of the burned buildings was pushed down into nearby ravines and used to fill eroded areas on campus.”

Round House on campus survived burning (Library of Congress)

Only about a half dozen campus buildings survived its burning. Among them was the 1829 Gorgas House, which now houses a museum. The house has on display several cannonballs that were uncovered during street paving in the 1960s.

Mellown, writing for the Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society, said the city was known for its hospital, supplies and manpower. It was not considered a major manufacturing area.

But Croxton wanted to destroy some factories and he took his 1,500 troopers to eliminate what “may be of benefit to the rebel cause.”

He pushed away the home guard, resulting in one Confederate death, and had a brief engagement with the outmatched and outgunned 300-member cadet corps, which beat a hasty retreat. The university was set ablaze the next day.

“The significance of Croxton's raid is that it demonstrated that even secondary sites were not beyond the reach of Union cavalry, all a part of the slice-and-dice strategy that is the ultimate reason the CSA lost,” said Selesky. “Not lack of will, not even bad generalship. But rather the inability to move men and material where it mattered.”