UnderMiner
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- Jul 27, 2014
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Checking out a construction site today and I find this poking out of a pile of dirt and rubble the excavators had dug. I've found round metal balls in various odd places around the city before but they've always ended up being shot-puts, ball bearings, gate weights, or even industrial balls used to clean cement mixers. But this time I am nearly positive I have found a legit cannonball!
I brought it home and looked it over - very smooth and round, no number stamps like would be on shot put balls, no big casting sprue, nothing but a faint seam along the middle and a faint sprue mark on top - perfectly in line with what would be on a cannonball. I put the ball on the scale (accurate to 1/10 of a pound) and it came out to 12.2 pounds. I measured the ball's diameter - just over 4.5 inches. I looked online and I found a chart that lists cannonballs (pictured below) and there it was - the '12 Pounder Solid Shot Cannonball'. With an official diameter of 4.52 inches and weight of 12.25 pounds the specifications match exactly in line with what I found!!
The construction site that I found this on is located in central Brooklyn. There is only one battle that happened here that involved heavy artillery - the Battle of Brooklyn.
This is from a history website about the Battle of Brooklyn: "The Battle of Brooklyn took place on Tuesday, August 27, 1776. The very day of the evacuation of British forces following the Siege of Boston on March 17, 1776, George Washington ordered 5 regiments of the Colonial Army to New York. The American troops were positioned on the outskirts of New York City on a series of hills in Brooklyn, he was intent on defending New York falling to the British, but knew he would not be able to withstand a siege. The new British commander-in-chief was General William Howe who had led in the field at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The British first sailed to Halifax and did not begin the campaign in New York until the end of August. The British force consisted of 400 warships, each ship was equipped with 16 cannon and carried 1000 troops ready to storm the beaches after landing. General William Howe landed his soldiers, bolstered by German Hessian mercenaries, on Long Island smashing the militia's camps with cannonball fire. He was able to divide the Continental Army in two and captured one part of it. This strategic success brought the British to the foot of Brooklyn Heights. On the top of Brooklyn Heights was a fort. Howe delayed attacking the fort which enabled Washington time to retreat and were safely ferried the rest of the American army across to New York. When the British eventually marched to the attack, there was no one left in the fort on Brooklyn Heights. The British Army then stormed through the small city of New York, setting it ablaze."
So this cannonball may have come from one of General William Howe's field artillery guns! Holy $#!%! And I just some in-depth research into this and just confirmed that 12-pounder cannons were indeed used in the battle! I think this really is a relic from the battle that cost George Washington his foothold in New York! The United States would have been just 50 days old!
I brought it home and looked it over - very smooth and round, no number stamps like would be on shot put balls, no big casting sprue, nothing but a faint seam along the middle and a faint sprue mark on top - perfectly in line with what would be on a cannonball. I put the ball on the scale (accurate to 1/10 of a pound) and it came out to 12.2 pounds. I measured the ball's diameter - just over 4.5 inches. I looked online and I found a chart that lists cannonballs (pictured below) and there it was - the '12 Pounder Solid Shot Cannonball'. With an official diameter of 4.52 inches and weight of 12.25 pounds the specifications match exactly in line with what I found!!
The construction site that I found this on is located in central Brooklyn. There is only one battle that happened here that involved heavy artillery - the Battle of Brooklyn.
This is from a history website about the Battle of Brooklyn: "The Battle of Brooklyn took place on Tuesday, August 27, 1776. The very day of the evacuation of British forces following the Siege of Boston on March 17, 1776, George Washington ordered 5 regiments of the Colonial Army to New York. The American troops were positioned on the outskirts of New York City on a series of hills in Brooklyn, he was intent on defending New York falling to the British, but knew he would not be able to withstand a siege. The new British commander-in-chief was General William Howe who had led in the field at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The British first sailed to Halifax and did not begin the campaign in New York until the end of August. The British force consisted of 400 warships, each ship was equipped with 16 cannon and carried 1000 troops ready to storm the beaches after landing. General William Howe landed his soldiers, bolstered by German Hessian mercenaries, on Long Island smashing the militia's camps with cannonball fire. He was able to divide the Continental Army in two and captured one part of it. This strategic success brought the British to the foot of Brooklyn Heights. On the top of Brooklyn Heights was a fort. Howe delayed attacking the fort which enabled Washington time to retreat and were safely ferried the rest of the American army across to New York. When the British eventually marched to the attack, there was no one left in the fort on Brooklyn Heights. The British Army then stormed through the small city of New York, setting it ablaze."
So this cannonball may have come from one of General William Howe's field artillery guns! Holy $#!%! And I just some in-depth research into this and just confirmed that 12-pounder cannons were indeed used in the battle! I think this really is a relic from the battle that cost George Washington his foothold in New York! The United States would have been just 50 days old!
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