🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Port Hudson shell frags need ID

[Tigerdude]

Two pieces next to each other. Yankees were on the receiving end of this round. Found at port Hudson. Fuse opening is smooth

 

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[creskol]

following

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Great find, hope it turns out to be an artillery shell.

Here are a couple of interesting sites to research...

http://www.relicman.com/artillery/Artillery4300-Hotchkiss.html
&
http://thompsonsbatteryc.org/civil-war-artillery/ammunition/

 

[PetesPockets55]

Congrats on the find.

It will be especially interesting to see if more finds are made. My sister has the family civil war diary from our relative who was there but didn't participate in any battles. He did describe seeing light and hearing the bombardment when the Union troops were heading upriver at night to get to Vicksburg.

 

[Riverbum]

View attachment 2045539Two pieces next to each other. Yankees were on the receiving end of this round. Found at port Hudson. Fuse opening is smooth

I know I'm "guessing " a bit here trying to I.D. this piece, but I feel its possibly part of the front end of a cannon barrel that Exploded or was hit by a round, MAYBE?

 

[VaGent]

Nice shell fragments.

 

[devldog]

This looks to be a blown piece of shell frag at the top of the shell at the fuse opening. With the opening being smooth, that would mean that this shell had a wooden fuse as opposed to a threaded brass fuse. It would pretty much I'D this shell frag as also being a Confetrit' piece. Nice Save. The only complete shell I have found is a 12 pound Confetrit' shell. It originally had a wooden fuse, but the fuse was missing. It looks the same as the one you found.

 

[Gare]

Nice going we must have missed that when we was there LOL

 

[devldog]

T

View attachment 2045539Two pieces next to each other. Yankees were on the receiving end of this round. Found at port Hudson. Fuse opening is smooth

Tigerdude, here are a few pic's for reference of your shell frag. My iron has a sheen in the pic.'s because I have treated the iron with a product called Gemplers. It treats the the iron nicely and leaves a slight sheen on it. Some may not like the results, but I think it preserves the iron, and makes it look as if may have looked back when it was fired. I like to tell folks that I'm neither a salesman nor a sales rep. I just found this product and it works for me. Long story short, I hope this will help in ID'ing your CW shell frag. Again, Congrat's, and hit this area again. Maybe there's a shell, artillery fuse, or more shell frags lurking about. Every piece helps to tell our History's story.

 

[VaGent]

T

Tigerdude, here are a few pic's for reference of your shell frag. My iron has a sheen in the pic.'s because I have treated the iron with a product called Gemplers. It treats the the iron nicely and leaves a slight sheen on it. Some may not like the results, but I think it preserves the iron, and makes it look as if may have looked back when it was fired. I like to tell folks that I'm neither a salesman nor a sales rep. I just found this product and it works for me. Long story short, I hope this will help in ID'ing your CW shell frag. Again, Congrat's, and hit this area again. Maybe there's a shell, artillery fuse, or more shell frags lurking about. Every piece helps to tell our History's story.

They look good, do you do electrolysis on them first, or just clean the loose stuff off?

 

[Gare]

I diss armed mine while wearing ear plugs I might add LOL Then I wire wheeled them and sprayed them with a clear varnish Inside sprayed also

 

[devldog]

They look good, do you do electrolysis on them first, or just clean the loose stuff off?

Thanks, Gent. I just wire brushed them good and then applied the product onto the iron. I had heard of this, and came across some videos of a gentlemen using this on his CW iron. I wasn't sure at first it I would like the finish, but I was really pleased with the finished product.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Every point of ID-info made by Devldog is correct. Here are some additional observations.

The frags are definitely from a roundshell, not a cylindrical (bullet-shaped) shell.

Definitely Confederate-made, based on being found at Port Hudson. The yankees did not use any wood-fuzeplug roundshells smaller than 8-inch caliber at Port Hudson.

Based on the quarter-dollar coin in the photos, the roundshell appears to be a larger caliber than a 12-Pounder. My rough estimate is a 24-Pounder, but perhaps a 32-pounder. Please measure the diameter of the FLAT underside of the "assembled" frags (meaning, put together to make a half-circle as shown in the photo), and tell us the measurement.

Do the two frags actually fit together snugly, meaning they are from the same shell... or are they just two similar frags you found in the same area? How far apart did you find them?

I realize you already know the specific part of the shell they are from. But for other folks, here's a photo of a sawed-in-half 24-Pounder caliber roundshell which used a wood fuzeplug.

PS -- For anybody who is wondering why I haven't spoken up about these cannonball frags until now:
Sometimes, even when I know the ID of the object posted for ID, I stay quiet for a few days, to see what other people will say.

 

[PetesPockets55]

..... here's a photo of a sawed-in-half 24-Pounder caliber roundshell which used a wood fuzeplug.....

I'd love to see it. Purty Please.
Thank you in advance.

 

[devldog]

And here you have it from the CW artillery Shell authority, The CannonBallGuy. I was waiting to see when you chimed in. Great info as always.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

I remember searching through my Relic Images folder for the photo of the sawed-in-half wooden fuzeplug 24-Pounder roundshell. But I see it isn't there in my post. Giving it another try now.

 

[devldog]

That's a great pic. of the half shell section. Thanks for posting this.

 

[Tigerdude]

Every point of ID-info made by Devldog is correct. Here are some additional observations.

The frags are definitely from a roundshell, not a cylindrical (bullet-shaped) shell.

Definitely Confederate-made, based on being found at Port Hudson. The yankees did not use any wood-fuzeplug roundshells smaller than 8-inch caliber at Port Hudson.

Based on the quarter-dollar coin in the photos, the roundshell appears to be a larger caliber than a 12-Pounder. My rough estimate is a 24-Pounder, but perhaps a 32-pounder. Please measure the diameter of the FLAT underside of the "assembled" frags (meaning, put together to make a half-circle as shown in the photo), and tell us the measurement.

Do the two frags actually fit together snugly, meaning they are from the same shell... or are they just two similar frags you found in the same area? How far apart did you find them?

I realize you already know the specific part of the shell they are from. But for other folks, here's a photo of a sawed-in-half 24-Pounder caliber roundshell which used a wood fuzeplug.

PS -- For anybody who is wondering why I haven't spoken up about these cannonball frags until now:
Sometimes, even when I know the ID of the object posted for ID, I stay quiet for a few days, to see what other people will say.

Sorry for the delay but thanks for the info!

 

[UnderMiner]

Most probably a Confederate shell seeing how its fuse hole is so primitive. The South lacked the industry and technology to make the modern powder train time delay fuses the North had perfected. Southern shells were really bad. Even if they exploded, which nearly half did not, they would often do so at the wrong time. The whole point was to rain chunks of iron down on the soldiers below but often the shell would fly over head without exploding until after it already hit the ground - defeating its primary purpose.