Anything Can Be Found Anywhere!

[Bell-Two]

Earlier this year our club, "Dayton Diggers" did a demo at a local Cabela's and a man approached our club president Roger Snell to tell him about a cannon ball he dug up in his garden and he invited Roger to come up to his house to see it. Roger went and the man showed him the garden plot where it and some smaller shot came from and he gave them to Roger! He invited Roger to come back when his vegetables were done to dig in the plot. The man said the local Historical Society had told him that there was supposed to have been a Union Camp in the general area at one time but they had no knowledge of where exactly....well I think we might know now! Roger invited me to come along Saturday and we both recovered a number of Canister Shot from the garden and the nearby ground. Hard to imagine finding such stuff in the middle of a town and in the yard of a house in a newer plat! Goes to show that "Anything Can Be Found Anywhere!"

[aloldstuff]

WOW....great digs. That property owner sure was a nice guy. What's the size of the largest piece?

[Digger_O'Dell]

Thats awesome! Great finds, and great property owner! Just goes to show you. ..

[Lodge Scent]

That is darn cool !

[Bell-Two]

WOW....great digs. That property owner sure was a nice guy. What's the size of the largest piece?

The large one is approximately 2" in diameter which from the Ordnance manual would be in a Canister from a 32 pounder cannon. The smaller one runs 1.2" which would have been used in a Canister for a 6 pounder. That is what I surmise from the manual of course there were probably other applications too.

[del]

You think your at a camp or on the receiving end of their cannon practice field ?? If you find the buttons and camp lead you are definitely in business for a lot of good digging Tony . Congrats on the canister shot and ball !

[calabash digger]

man I would be beating that place up! congrats. Its funny you posted that because I had simliar experience yesterday digging beside a golf course ,beside the road in the middle of a fancy neighbor hood and popped a 1830s eagle artillery button and found the homesite which they put the road thru the middle of it. Some of my best finds have come from places like that. A guy let me hunt his little garden spot last year (his great great grandaddy was in the confederacy) a little 3/4 acre spot and it gave up 5 military buttons. 2 block I ,NC SUNBURST ,AND 2 EAGLES, my hunting partner was blowed away because of the location.

[MangoAve]

Nice find. That ordinance chart seems to only work for pre-CW and CW shot. I had to find some other info for RW shot. Dan already stated the majority of what to look for. If you are near a main route, then it most likely was the encampment. Look for those three ringers.

[OxShoeDrew]

I agree, your title says it all!

[The Rebel]

Based on what you found if this was fired from a 12lb Mountain Howitzer the effective range was 250 yards. Go to google or bing maps and try to work the distance back to see where the cannon was positioned.

http://www.civilwarartillery.com/tables.htm

[BTV Digger]

Great finds Tony! Yeah, up here there are tons of modern homes resting atop much older homesites. Problem is the reworked ground when the new home(s) were built which typically buries those older items quite deep. You are correct though - anything can be found anywhere! HH!

John