On the morning of April 21, 2009, a local homeowner arrived at the visitor center at Fort Smith National Historic Site in Arkansas with the best of intentions but the worst of plans—he was carrying an old cannonball he'd dug up in his garden.
Ranger Jeremy Lynch, the park's historic weapons specialist, recognized the object as a six pound cased shot (fragmentation ball) with what appeared to be a rusted but still intact fuse.
Old unexploded ordnance of any age can be unstable and is potentially dangerous, so this was not a great way for the park staff to begin their day. The good news from a safety and incident management standpoint is there were no other visitors in the park buildings or on nearby grounds at the time.
Fort Smith police were called, park staff were evacuated and a perimeter was established to keep people at a safe distance until the situation was resolved. The city fire department bomb squad arrived shortly thereafter and confirmed that the cannon ball might be "live." The bomb squad removed the object from the park and will arrange to have it rendered safe.
According to a report from the park,
The shell was found on the east side of the city on a steep bluff that is now a residential area. The site is well outside the Civil War fortifications that surrounded the town in the 1860's, but there were a number of skirmishes near this area and the bluff would have made a good target for practice.
Since regular readers of the Traveler are a savvy bunch, I'll include the following reminder for the sake of anyone who just happened by this site on a whim: If you find what appears to be an unexploded bomb, cannonball or similar object of curiosity, just let it be, ask everyone to leave the area, and notify the proper authorities. This is a good time to apply the "better safe than sorry" rule.
The clincher in the story at Fort Smith confirms that not everyone is aware of the above advice. The homeowner told park employees that he had taken his five kids to school that morning with the old cannonball rolling around in his van.
Comments
If it has not blown up in 150 years, it is not going to blow up by you staring at it. If you put it in a BBQ or take an electric drill to it as the folks who were doing a poor job of disarming the shells in the past 50 years cited above did, you are inviting adverse consequences, but otherwise you, your family, neighbors and property are 100% safe. This is a fact that the well intentioned, yet ignorant about this subject, have chosen to speak about before taking the time to learn what they are talking about. I wish they would refrain from posting what sound like knowledgeable opinions when they don't know what they were talking about, but this is America and we have freedom of speech for all sorts.
Here is the fact-based truth: If you call the authorities, its going to be taken away and destroyed. They have procedures and thats what they do, rightly or should I say, wrongly. If you do not care about the piece or its historical relevance and just want it gone forever that is a very expeditious way to make it go away. Bye bye and you will never see it again for what that means to you or posterity. Otherwise, please take the time to Google someone knowledgeable in Civil War era artillery who will direct you to those who will safely remove, deactivate (if required), and preserve it. Some small bit of history is thus saved and after due consideration over time, you just might be proud of that.
"Not your average ..."
No problem with your suggestion to use Google or other sources to find someone knowledgeable about historic ordnance to deal with the question, although it's sometimes a challenge to sort out who is "qualified." Your approach could fall under the advice to just leave the item alone and "notify the proper authorities."
The main point of the story was what the average untrained citizen should not do, which is load such items in the family car and haul them around in search of someone who would know what to do.
I am the man that this article was talking about. Lol! Just wanted to say that there were a lot of things left out of that story, and a lot of things added to make it more news worthy. I have quite a bit of knowledge about old ordinance too. The ball was solid shot. The ignorance involved was unbelievable. Down to how many kids were involved. LMBO! A few weeks after the incident, they lied to me and told me it was just an ornamental ball from an old rod iron fence from an old iron works factory. At this point I wanna know where my cannon ball is!!!
I have one too!
How do you know when it's a real Cannonball and if it's loaded with black powder..? I have what is believed to be a 4 lb. Cannonball with a quater size round indention.
Hello, I have what I think is a cannonball that was found somewhere around Quenemo Kansas over 60 years ago. It has what appears to be have a round seam like a screw in plug about 3 inches across. It has been setting in a box for years and has little rust, is in good shape. Civil war vets used to have annual reunions in Quenemo until there was no one left. Judging by its condition I think this was never fired but was displayed with other items during the reunions. Old photos show large campsites set up with aging vetrans posing with there weapons as well as cannonballs in stacks. After this much time how dangerous is this thing?
I'm from Mississippi.....I find solid cannonballs in my creek often.....The ones my grandfather told me to watch out for are the ones with a hole/circle on top....Basically, those are what we modern folks call grenades. LOL. When you decide to become a collector of old stuff you really need to educate yourself on your subject. It pays to be prepared for the worst. Mostly, all you find is solid iron cannonballs but, it's that one occasion you find a grenade you may lose your life. Know the difference. I do. Never go in blind, as they say. Happy hunting.
who do I take my cannon ball to to get it checked