A bomb squad rushed to a suburban Atlanta home to check out a possible Civil War cannonball said to be found in the yard. I now toss you the rest of the story

Metal ball had been moved into a bucket in a Marietta, Ga., shed (Cobb County Police)

The bomb squad in Cobb County, Ga., is called in two to four times a year following the discovery of metal objects that look like Civil War ordnance.

That's hardly surprising, given the amount of combat, artillery and troop movement in Cobb and neighboring Paulding County in summer 1864. (more on that later)

“We deal with Civil War ordnance more than other local bomb squads due to Kennesaw Mountain, Cheatham Hill, Pickett’s Mill and other historic sites,” says Cobb County Police Sgt. Joel Cade, who heads the squad.

Such was the case in mid-December, when police in Marietta, the county seat, reached out to the squad.

A resident in the eastern part of the city had called authorities about some items she had found, according to the Marietta police report, which listed the incident code as 89L: BOMB DEVICE LOCATED

“(She) advised that she had located multiple objects that she thought could be explosive devices," wrote one of the responding officers. "(She) advised that the objects were large, round metal objects and that she had located throughout the side and back yards,” the report says. “(The woman) further advised that she had moved one of these objects into a bucket in the shed.”

The Marietta officers thought the item resembled a cannonball. The home and residents on the street were told to evacuate. Traffic on a stretch of a larger road was temporarily blocked. The officers called the bomb squad.

Cade and others traveled to the scene and dealt with the situation.

A couple weeks later -- after I reached out to authorities following a media report --  Cade emailed me about what they saw. It wasn’t what I was expecting.

“It was very clean when we took possession of it. It was in the townhome’s back storage closet when Marietta police took it and placed it into a bucket. The complainant alleged she found it in the ground but could not explain why there was no dirt on the ball,” he wrote.

The bomb squad, citing training and similar calls, determined the solid ball was non-hazardous. And it had no fusing or charge.

So what is it?

Wait for it…..

A shot put ball. 

All of 4 inches in diameter and weighing about 15 pounds (below). To the layman, it sure looks like it could be a cannonball. 

Great for sports competition, but not the field of battle (Cobb County Police)

That raised more questions and I fired a few more back at Cade, who got back with me a few weeks later.

“We concluded it was a shot put from prior cannonball calls we have had and compared it to resources we maintain in our files,” Cade replied. “The ones we have been called out to in the past that were adjudicated as cannonballs have a different texture to the iron, and they have prominent fuze wells.

“Additionally, shot-put sizes can vary (men’s, women’s, junior’s) but I haven’t seen one the same size as the cannon balls we have recovered in the past.”

“The spanner wrench holes with removable plug, opposite welded plug, weight/diameter and good condition led us to the conclusion it was not ordnance. Additionally, as an extra step, we used high energy radiography and looked inside the ball, no fillers or fuze was seen.”

The shot put was destroyed and the remains disposed of, said Cade.

So there you have it.

Of course, a whole lot of real Civil War ordnance has been recovered in metro Atlanta over the years.

Charlie Crawford, president emeritus of the Georgia Battlefields Association, said many shells were found during the construction of downtown Atlanta buildings and sites. Others were dug up in northwest Atlanta. “Those shells were probably from the U.S. artillery massed northwest of the city during the August 1864 bombardment,” he said.

The area home to the shot put ball may have been crisscrossed by Federal and Confederate artillery units during the Atlanta Campaign. And there was artillery firing a couple miles away, and an errant shot may have landed in the neighborhood.

But that scenario proved to be moot in this case.

In 2022, Bomb squad members gingerly removed this round from the Kennesaw battlefield (NPS photos)

Cade said real Civil War ordnance his team has handled include cannonballs and Parrott, Hotchkiss and Schenkl projectiles.

"There are a variety of ways things have been discovered, and some of the ordnance ended up being gained unlawfully," he said. "The few of those cases we responded to the person who had possession was deceased and no prosecution was appropriate (we were notified by their estate)."

One of the more recent publicized discoveries of an actual shell in Cobb County came at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park in February 2022. The county police bomb squad took custody of the Parrott round but later returned to the park after it had been rendered safe and inert.

Officials implied the shell was left intact, a rarity after bomb squads are called in. Usually, they take an object to a safe location and detonate it.

In 2009, a contractor found 42 artillery shells south of Atlanta, near Lovejoy.

Escaped Rebel officers came ashore at this remote Virginia beach. A new marker tells the story -- but you need to earn the view by a long walk in state park

Jason Saffer adjusts Va. marker (Civil War Trails) and Florida wreckage of Maple Leaf (at left, Library of Congress)

Most of Civil War Trails’ 1,530 markers are just a short walk from a parking lot. But there are many you have to work a little harder to reach.

For example, you must ride a boat to see one on St. Clement’s Island in the Potomac River or take a rigorous hike along the Appalachian Trail to soak in others.

Now the Williamsburg, Va.-based nonprofit has erected a marker in likely its most remote location, says executive director Drew Gruber.

Virginia State Parks announced last week the addition of the new panel at False Cape State Park below Virginia Beach. To get there, pedestrians or bicyclists must venture six miles beyond a parking lot, over a dune, past a primitive campground and head for the Atlantic Ocean surf.

Visitors will learn about how Confederate officers overcame unarmed guards on the Maple Leaf transport ship in 1863, escaped and eventually made their way to friendly lines.

“People have already been making the trek,” Gruber told the Picket. “Besides hiking to the site where these POWs landed you can also take a tram tour ...”

Star shows location of marker and trail map shows proximity to camping area, ocean (Civil War Trails, Va. State Parks)

The escape from the Maple Leaf is labeled as a point of interest on the park’s trail map.

“Now having a physical marker at the location enables us to preserve the Civil War history of False Cape and lets park guests explore learn, and embrace the lessons of courage and unity from this daring account,” said Rachel Harrington, chief of visitor experience at the park, in the news release.

Not everyone breaks a sweat to reach the marker. Harrington told the Picket a tram the park operates features a four-hour guided tour. The open-air Blue Goose Tram goes fairly close to the site of the landing and informs participants of the Civil War history.

The Civil War episode took place in June 1863, when 97 captured Rebel officers were being taken on the vessel Maple Leaf from Fort Monroe, Va., to Fort Delaware, then to a Northern prison camp. They quickly took control of the transport ship from 12 soldiers carrying unloaded muskets.

They did not have enough coal to flee to the Bahamas and after sailing south for about 30 miles some 70 officers decided to land small boats on what is now the state park, said Harrington. (About 27 captives stayed on board)

The soldiers split up and headed toward friendly lines in nearby North Carolina. Despite heavy Union cavalry pursuit and the challenges of the Great Dismal Swamp, they rendezvoused in Weldon, N.C., before taking a train to Richmond, Va. Local sympathizers gave them a hand during their odyssey.

“After a 12-day journey, the officers arrived in the Confederate capital, where they told tales of their bold feat,” the marker reads. “After resting and receiving back pay, they returned to their units.”

The Maple Leaf returned to Federal service but ran into more bad luck in April 1864 when it struck a torpedo in the St. Johns River near Jacksonville, Fla.

“The explosion tore the bow of the ship apart, ripping through the deck and killing four soldiers," according to the National Park Service. “The vessel sank quickly, but apart from those lost in the explosion there were no other fatalities.”

The shipwreck was not salvaged, but  thousands of artifacts were recovered in the 1980s and 1990s. Many are on exhibit at the Mandarin Museum nearby.

Civil War Trails promotes tourism, working with local governments, parks and visitor bureaus. It has another sign about the Maple Leaf below Currituck, N.C.

Virginia Beach tourism leaders hope the Maple Leaf marker and other attractions will help draw tourists to the Sandbridge area near the North Carolina border during the offseason.

False Cape State Park features about six miles of beaches. (At right, park manager Austin Monnett and chief ranger Rachel Harrington.) It offers guided kayak trips, primitive camping, interpretive programs, hiking and biking trails

Public vehicular access at the state park is prohibited. Visitors should park at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge's parking lot at 4005 Sandpiper Road, Virginia Beach, to begin their hike or ride and to reach the visitor center. The cost to park is $5. Tram tours cost $8 and require a reservation. They operate year round, but run more frequently from April through October. Click here for more information.

30th edition of the Civil War show in Dalton, Ga., offers boatloads of relics, three lectures and a familiar place for collectors and vendors to network

The Bullet and Shell table at the 2018 weekend event in Dalton, Ga  (Picket photos)

Patrons at this weekend’s 30^th edition of the Chickamauga Civil War Show in Dalton, Ga., can take in lectures on battlefield preservation, religion during the conflict and Reconstruction.

The annual firearms, artifacts and relics show at the Dalton Convention Center, 2211 Tony Ingle Parkway, takes place Saturday and Sunday. During dealer move-in Friday, people can pay $50 for an “early buyer” badge that gives them the first crack at many items. They can use the pass through the weekend.

Show organizer Mike Kent, who has been producing Civil War shows for 34 years, including 20 at Dalton, said nearly 200 vendors will set up items on 450 tables.

“Standout displays of Confederate buckles by Dr. Bill Blackman, Kenny Copelin and Scott Riddle are always one of the top attractions at the show and Father Bob Miller, who is one of our guest speakers, will also have a display on religion during the war,” Kent (left) told the Picket.

Kent said all Civil War shows have evolved over the years. What started out as mainly a show for dug relics from the Civil War has developed into an all era, militaria-type show with relics, artifacts, weapons and memorabilia from the Revolutionary War up through World War ll.

“As Civil War material becomes more difficult and expensive to acquire, collectors are tending toward items from more recent eras such as WW ll, but the Dalton show is still 80% to 90% Civil War related.” Kent also runs the larger Franklin Civil War Show in Tennessee, held in December.

Beyond sales, relic shows are a major place for sellers, museum curators, authors, collectors and others to network.

While there is a fee to enter the Dalton hall, three lectures Saturday in Room 1-A on the first floor of the trade center are free and those interested do not need to enter the show to listen. The schedule:

11 a.m.: Anthony Hodges, head of the Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association, and Joe Trahan, president of the Georgia Battlefields Association, will discuss battlefield preservation.

Noon: Father Bob Miller, a Catholic priest and historian, speaks on “Religion is what makes soldiers brave: Seven reasons why faith was important during the Civil War.”

1 p.m.: Historian and author Scott Sallee lectures on Reconstruction following the Civil War, and its three phrases.

Civil War photo collector and expert David Wynn Vaughan of Atlanta plans to attend Friday’s VIP session. “I (always) hope to find a nice Confederate image.”

Ronald S. Coddington,  author, historian and publisher of Military Images magazine, has previously set up shop at the Dalton show -- interacting with patrons by scanning tintypes, ambrotype images and cartes de visite for possible print and online galleries for this magazine, getting story ideas and weighing in on a card’s value.

While he is unable to attend this year, Coddington said he enjoys meeting the public.

“The passion and knowledge these caretakers have for artifacts is inspiration. And the opportunity to be physically present to touch the artifacts is not something you can get in the digital world -- at least not yet.”

A prospective buyer checks out firearms in 2010 (Civil War Picket)

Kent says photo collector and dealer Paul Reeder, known for his Confederate images, will be at the show. Military Images has published some of his collection.

Show hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Sunday.  Admission is $12 for adults; children 12 and under are free. Friday’s VIP session ($50) is 10 a.m.-7 p.m.

Revisiting an old shirt and a very young Civil War soldier: Museum's Confederate and civil rights artifacts showcase the breadth of Alabama's history

Over this blog’s 15 years, I’ve written about myriad items belonging to Civil War soldiers and sailors – from swords, hats and frock coats to journals, letters and Bibles.

While each resonated in its own way, one item especially stands out to me. It’s the homespun, brown-and-white checked shirt made for a skinny teen boy from Demopolis, Alabama. 

The time and care that went into making it showed that Henry Winston Reese Jr. was dearly loved by his prosperous family. (Click photo to enlarge)

I researched Reese for a February 2016 post. I learned the University of Alabama student joined the Confederate army without his parents’ permission and died, barely 17, from wounds received two months earlier at the Battle of Champion Hill (Mississippi, May 1863).

Living historian and weaver Terre Hood Biederman and Ryan M. Blocker, a curator in the museum collection of the Alabama Archives, were among those who spoke with me about Reese and the shirt, a homemade product demonstrating Southern resolve.

I’ve since heard from a couple descendants, including one who said her family tries to keep the names Reese and Winston going.

The garment, along with Reese’s boots (below, both photos courtesy Alabama Archives), remain on display at the Alabama Voices gallery at the Museum of Alabama in Montgomery. A pouch, also donated by the family to the Alabama Department of Archives and History in 1978, has been kept in storage.

Alabama Voices cover’s the breadth of the state’s history, including the Civil War, industrialization, the world wars and civil rights (more about that later).

It’s a near certainty that Reese was not wearing the shirt -- which is likely made from cotton, rather than wool -- when he was mortally wounded while fighting with the 31st Alabama Infantry. But it somehow survived. Curators don’t know whether the shirt was made by a family member or an enslaved person.

Reese's father, a physician, had more than 100 slaves, according to the 1850 U.S. Census, and his growing family lived in a Gothic Revival home called Forest Hill on the outskirts of Demopolis.

Winston Reese was the first of a half dozen children born to the doctor and his wife, Julia, who died a year after the Civil War ended.

I recently reached out to Blocker to ask whether she has learned anything more about Reese or his family. She has not. (Incidentally, I have been unable to obtain an image of Reese.)

I asked Blocker about the significance of artifacts like the shirt.

“They help us understand and humanize, if you will, the people who lived long ago. A mother makes a shirt for her oldest child who is attending school away from home,” she replied in a recent email.

“Her son, an impulsive and idealistic teenager … goes against the wishes of his parents and joins the army," said Blocker. "Stories like this are played out time and time again, even in modern times. With this shirt, we get a glimpse of the lives of those who came before. In that glimpse, we realize that we are not that different.”

The shirt was likely made from cotton (Courtesy Terre Hood Biederman)

The shirt features rounded pockets, a French cut and purple and white glass buttons. Untold hours went into picking, washing and carding and spinning the dyed fiber. Then came the arduous tasks of weaving the fabric on a large loom and hand sewing the pieces.

While similar battle shirts worn by soldiers were commonly made of wool, this shirt reflects the concept of homespun as a patriotic statement, asserting that the South could stand alone in producing its needs, Biederman told me this week.

“It is fashionably cut, made for a teen living in the comfort of a college dormitory, not a soldier sleeping rough, and thus is likely made of cotton,” she wrote in an email. “The shirt has been on exhibit since this question was raised, and not available for analysis.”

Artifacts belonged to other Confederate soldiers

The gallery’s Civil War section contains numerous artifacts. Blocker said the story of an Alabama-made sword belonging to 1^st Sgt. Socrates Spigener is among those especially compelling. The soldier was born in 1844 in Coosa County and joined Hilliard’s Legion, which became the 59^th Alabama

Spigener was killed in Virginia days before the end of the Civil War.

“His sword was picked up from the battlefield and sent home to the family,” said Blocker. (Photos: Alabama Archives)

The family wrote a tribute and pasted it to the scabbard (click photo above to read): "This was the sword of Socrates Spigener, the baby child of Joel and Sylvia Spigener. He was Lieut. in the Confederate War of 1862. He fought bravely and was killed in battle near Petersburg, about the 6th of April 1865.”

Blocker said the archives also has a rare red artillery kepi and its original oil cloth cover.

The cap belonged to 1^st Lt. Maynard Hassell, State Artillery Company A, Garrity’s Battery. Hassell was born in 1831 in New York and moved to Lowndes County, Ala., at a young age. He enlisted in 1861.

The officer was killed by a cannonball at Lovejoy Station in Georgia in summer 1864. He was awarded the Confederate Roll of Honor for his “courage and good conduct on the field of battle.” 

Hassell's kepi and oil cloth cover (Alabama Archives)

The lieutenant's personal belongings were sent to the family after Hassell was killed in battle, Blocker said.

“The kepi was sent to us, along with a small journal, in 2013 as we were completing work on the Voices gallery,” said Blocker. “The gentleman that donated the material was a descendant of Hassell and wanted to make sure the material was returned to Alabama.”

The journal is not a daily notation of his personal experiences; rather, it has extensive notes about payments to soldiers, battles fought and munitions used during the battles.

The struggle for civil rights played out in Alabama

While Hassell, Reese and Spigener fought to keep the status quo of antebellum society, the Alabama Voices gallery includes artifacts that tell the story of the long struggle for equal rights among Black citizens.

Blocker said one of her favorite such items is a collection box from Hall Street Baptist Church in Montgomery. Founded in 1903, the church played an integral role in the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott by purchasing a station wagon to transport members to and from work and other appointments.

Another standout is a chair and vanity stool from the Selma home of Jean Jackson and her husband, D. Sullivan Jackson, a dentist. (Collection box, chair and stool left, Alabama Archives)

“Dr. Martin Luther King stayed with the Jacksons and made their home his headquarters during his visits to Selma. Dr. King and Ralph Abernathy, used the chair and vanity to put on their shoes for the march to Montgomery. They were photographed seated in the Jackson’s living room in the Ebony magazine displayed on the stool,” said Blocker.

Other items in the gallery include a Billy club used by a Birmingham police officer, a Ku Klux Klan robe, shoes worn by Gov. George Wallace when he was shot in 1972 during his presidential campaign  and photographs of notable Alabamians, including entertainer Lionel Richie and professional athlete Bo Jackson.

The Alabama Voices Gallery is located on the second floor of the Alabama Department of Archives and History building in downtown Montgomery, 624 Washington Ave. The museum is open open Monday through Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT. Here is a schedule of gallery closures for renovations.

Hurricane Helene did no favors to house that briefly served as South Carolina's Civil War capitol. The Dawkins House in Union is being stabilized for future use

More tarps had to be added to the house after Hurricane Helene (Preservation South Carolina)

A South Carolina preservation group is shoring up a deteriorated residence that briefly served as the Confederate state’s capitol during the waning weeks of the Civil War, with the aim of having it eventually serve as a university alumni center. 

The emergency stabilization of the long-vacant Dawkins House in Union is being hastened this month because of the effects of Hurricane Helene in late September.

“The hurricane did impact the building. The tarp covering the front right facade ripped and parts of the metal roof bent from the wind,” said Joanna Rothell, director of outreach and preservation for the nonprofit Preservation South Carolina.

“We saw significant water intrusion in that area of the building. Thanks to the city, a larger tarp was installed immediately. We are proceeding expeditiously with emergency stabilization measures,” she said.

The Dawkins House, on North Church Street, is best known for several weeks in the spring of 1865. It was nicknamed “The Shrubs” and was occupied by Judge Thomas Dawkins and his English-born wife Mary Poulton Dawkins.

One of the remaining fireplaces in the house (Preservation South Carolina)

Gov. Andrew Magrath, before fleeing Columbia as Federal troops closed in, got in touch with college chum Dawkins about using the home and others nearby to conduct business amid the chaos.

From about Feb. 15, 1865, until sometime in March or April, Magrath ran the state from the Dawkins House as Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman sacked Columbia and moved on other cities, bent on destruction and submission of Rebel troops. Magrath apparently worked from an informal library near the drawing room. Chaos ruled across South Carolina.

According to histories and local legend, Magrath (below) and his subordinates burned possibly incriminating documents and correspondence in the home’s fireplaces. (The building served as South Carolina's capitol while the city was briefly is capital.)

Nearly 160 years later, the two-story clapboard structure is in rough shape and in need of a rescue. In November 2023, Preservation SC acquired rights to the Dawkins House at a property tax sale.

Preservation SC is working with $300,000 allocated by the Legislature for the stabilization. Officials expect the overall project cost to reach up to $1.5 million, with the goal of opening the house as an alumni center for the University of South Carolina Union in 2027. The group has yet to secure additional funding, Rothell told the Picket.

“We want to retain as much historic features of the house as possible,” she said. Those we have to replace we will replace in-kind.”

Portions of the house date back to the 1790s, making it one of Union's oldest surviving homes, existing during the time of George Washington’s and John Adams’ presidencies. The original 1790s structure still exists and has exposed beams with carved end fittings. The house still has quality features including, beaded and dovetail wood, joints and beams.

Bennett Preservation Engineering of Charleston studied the feasibility of restoring the home.

Officials hope the venue will provide an economic boost for Union and Union County, which is home to about 27,000 people. About 21% of residents live in poverty, according to the Census Bureau. The median household income lags well below the state average.

Annie Smith, USC Union marketing and development director, said an alumni association is being established to enhance recruiting efforts, develop a community between current, former and future students, and to provide outside funding and resources.

The small campus with about 1,400 students this year is celebrating its 60^th anniversary.

“This milestone year will feature the launch of a new Alumni Association, a Legacy Society to recognize donors, the introduction of the 10-year Campus Master Plan, a week-long celebration in April and more events throughout the year,” the school announced this week on social media.

Given the age of the house and wear, any college or community events will need to occur on the main floor. The upstairs won’t be able to handle large crowds, so it likely will be office space, according to Preservation SC.