Cannonball

[zathras33]

I have a solid round shot supposedly found at Perryville. The diameter is 2.75 inches. My guess is that it came from a M61 Parrott rifle. I'd appreciate any other thoughts.

Peter Schwartz
33rd Alabama

[1st Maine Trooper]

Re: Cannonball

I have a solid round shot supposedly found at Perryville. The diameter is 2.75 inches. My guess is that it came from a M61 Parrott rifle. I'd appreciate any other thoughts.

Peter Schwartz
33rd Alabama

Rifled artillery projectiles were not round, They are generally more cylindrical in shape with a rounded nose. Also rifled guns did not typically fire round ammunition since there is no way for the projectile to engage the rifling.
I am at a loss as to what gun might have fired the shot you have since even the 6 pdr gun diameter was over 3 inches.

Dave Myrick

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Cannonball

Hallo Kamerad!

I would venture a cannister round's ball for the 24 pounder howitzer.

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt

[Ringgold]

Re: Cannonball

Hallo Kamerad!

I would venture a cannister round's ball for the 24 pounder howitzer.

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt

I'll second Herr Schmidt's proposal and call for a vote. :thumbs_up

[Jefferson Guards]

Re: Cannonball

I would say it would be a round ball from a 24pdr grape-shot. The diameter of the grape-shot was to be between 2.60 and 2.64 inches. Whereas the balls for canister-shot are to be 1.32 to 1.35 inches in diameter.

I know it is a fine point, but I think people get grape and canister confused. Grape is similar to and related to canister, but was not used in field pieces. Basically it was a canister for longer ranges, to help break attacks on fortified places.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Cannonball

Hallo Kamerad!

"I know it is a fine point, but I think people get grape and canister confused. Grape is similar to and related to canister, but was not used in field pieces. Basically it was a canister for longer ranges, to help break attacks on fortified places."

Indeed...
But I will let the artilleryists discuss this one out. -)

Briefly-
The terms grape and cannister were even interchanged by CW soldiers themselves much as "musket" and "rifle" were.
At least from 1841, the only "antipersonnel" loads for field pieces were spherical case and cannister. (spherical case reaching out further than cannister or grape, and cannister delivering more small balls at close range) Most, if not every, artilleryman understand the difference, but many infantrymen and cavalry wrote in their memoirs as being shot at with grape.
;-)

The difference being a "cannister" is a "can" filled with (smaller) balls, a "grape" charge being a layers of (larger) balls spaced with wood and held together with an iron bolt.

Yes, in the Manual, the Cannister and Grape Shot has the 24 pounder illustrated and listed as "Grape."

Danke, Herr Brian, for keeping we "infantrymen" honest!"

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt
Wondering What Fortifications at Perryville Received Grape Shot Mess :-)

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Cannonball

Peter,
How refined is the shot?
Does it have any pronounced mold seams or spurs? Many examples of large
grape I have seen exhibit crude features.

[zathras33]

Re: Cannonball

Peter,
How refined is the shot?
Does it have any pronounced mold seams or spurs? Many examples of large
grape I have seen exhibit crude features.

It has an obvious equitorial mold seam, is 2.75" in diameter, and weighs 3.5 lb. I hadn't thought of grape. I thought it might have been used in a Parrott in spite of its not being a bolt because a M61 Parrot was the only thing at Perryville with a bore the approximate diameter (2.9").

I appreciate all of the comments.

[Spinster]

Re: Cannonball

Give Tom Land a call up at Bibb Naval Furnace/Brierfield: (205) 665-1856. If he doesn't know, Dr. Mahan will.

Likely you'll get an answering machine, or a referral to Tom's Cahaba Trace Commission office-as is the norm these days, all are short-staffed.

[zathras33]

Re: Cannonball

Give Tom Land a call up at Bibb Naval Furnace/Brierfield: (205) 665-1856. If he doesn't know, Dr. Mahan will.

Likely you'll get an answering machine, or a referral to Tom's Cahaba Trace Commission office-as is the norm these days, all are short-staffed.

Thanks, Terre, for the suggestion.

Peter

[Yellowhammer]

Re: Cannonball

Peter,

A pronounced seam is also often an indicator of an encased shot like cannister, grape, or case shot.

[marine05]

Re: Cannonball

Parrots did not fire solid round shot, they were rifled pieces. There was a 3lb smoothbore that fired a 2.84 in rd that was about 3.05 lbs.

Checking some reference material I located, there was no cannister with balls that large or heavy even up to an 8in siege gun. Grape for some pieces such as 24 and 32 pound came close to what you are describing, with grape diameters ranging from 2.6-2.9 in and weights between 2.4 and 3.15 lbs.

The weight of the shot would indicate that it did not come from a 6 lb gun as the shot for that would be about 6 lbs.

I must admit that I have not investigated all artillery pieces that were used at Perryville, but being fairly familiar with the mixed bag of guns the Confederate artillery had, I would have to review the order of battle and then research how each battery was equipped. But if I were a betting man I would guess that one of the Confederate batteries had a 3 lb field piece for the likelyhood of them having large caliber would be slim as most pieces over 20 lbs was not consider "field artillery." In reference to the mixed bag, it was not unusual, especially prior to 1863 for Confederate batteries to have as an example 2 10 lb parrots, 1 3 in ordnance piece and a 6 lb smoothbore. A good reference to this is "Artillery Hell, the Employment of Artillery at Antietam"

s/f

DJM

[zathras33]

Re: Cannonball

Parrots did not fire solid round shot, they were rifled pieces. There was a 3lb smoothbore that fired a 2.84 in rd that was about 3.05 lbs....

DJM

In Ken Noe's book, Appendix 2 contains a listing of all of the guns used at Perryville by both sides. The lightest used by either side was a 6 pdr.

Perhaps I was misinformed as to the shot's location.
:baring_te