Help Needed

[callicles]

Hello Guys:

As some of you know, I (and others) help an historian conduct an archaelogical survey of portions of the Battle of Raymond, fought on May 12, 1863 in central Mississippi. The wet weather has prevented us from doing much of anything.  However, this past weekend we were able to go out and focus on one section of the battlefield. 

We located a good number of artifacts, most of which we could readily identify.  However, we did locate one large lead object which is beyond my understanding.  I'm assuming it is some sort of canister.  I know that Grant had a few 30 or 32 pounder siege guns that he brought with him before he besieged Vicksburg. However, it appears from the historical record that those guns were not on the field at Raymond.  I post below this artifact, measured with calipers and weighed by the historian.  As regards the weight, one measurment is in grams and the other in ounces.  I hope the experts here could educate us on what type of canister, case-shot, etc., this thing was fired from.  It is very large and we thought it was a golf ball when it was recovered.  Again, the historical record indicates that only field guns were used in this battle.

Also, I would like to thank the lead-heads who contributed to our education on the bullet site.

Thanks so much.

[Bryan]

Theres a listing on E-Bay under Civil War Canister for 2 lead canisters shot of liked size or bigger.  I can post the item # if need to.  It has a write up about them, from the Kentucky area.

[Pete George]

  In my opinion, Dave Gotter is "the Man" on civil  war canister-ball size identification.  He is a member of this forum. Send him an email and a Private Message.

Regards,
Pete

[Pete George]

  Bryan, the pair of lead balls on Ebay are not any kind of artillery projectile, despite what the Ebay seller says. Compare their size with the penny in the photo.  There never have been any lead artillery projectiles that big.  http://www.ebay.com/itm/Confederate-Canister-Grape-Shot-2-Lead-Balls-Huge-Weighing-A-Full-Pound-/281056260750?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item417042328e

Regards,
Pete

[emike123]

Were there any 2.6" Wiard guns on the field?

[Bryan]

Pete, I see you linked it.  Thanks. I wasnt sure about it.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Sir;
See the following for cannister shot sizes and weights:

http://www.civilwarartillery.com/  under Technical Information, Shot tables.
John

[callicles]

Thank you, John, for the information.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

So what did it come from?
John

[Ripcon]

That lead cannister ball looks about the size of one of my iron cannister balls that I've dug. I wonder if there is an correlation between the size of iron & lead cannister as to what caliber gun it went to?

[joevann]

Reminds me of a story I heard from the former curator at the West Point Museum:  A number of Parrot and Hotchkiss rounds were found on the range at West Point.  The archeologists were quite perplexed because this particular range wasn't established until the 20th century.  According to my source, the rounds were purchased from Bannerman's and fired by re-enactors.  How did he know?  He was on the crew.

[callicles]

Emike 123,

Thanks. I asked the historian for clarification.  This is what he said regarding the artillery at Raymond:

There were no Wiard guns on field--on the Union side there were: four 24-pounder howitzers, four 12-pounder howizers, four Model 1841 six-pounder smoothbores, and ten 12-pounder James Rifles (rifled Model 1841 six-pounders) The Confederates had two 12-pounder smoothbores (probably Napoleons) and one 12-pounder Whitworth rifled gun.
 

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

May I ask my question again?   What did the ball come from?
John

[callicles]

John,

Pardon the delay. Look, the reason I posted this up was to find out what the item is.  It's all very confusing.  It seems that lead canister was a bit of a rarity during the ACW. At present, this is what we are working with: We conjecture that the large lead-ball was fired from one of De Golyer's12-pounders.  We are assuming it was a part of some sort of canister ammunition.  We also located other smaller lead balls which appear to be too big to be case-shot.  As a result, we are conjecturing that these smaller balls were parts of a Wiard canister fired from a rifled 6-pounder.

[joevann]

Question: Have there ever been any battle re-enactments on the site?  See above anecdote.  The 1/4 scale cannon used by re-enactors often used lead round balls.