Artillery

A large excavated Civil War iron canister shot recovered from the ground. Canister rounds consisted of numerous iron balls packed inside a tin canister and were fired at close range, effectively turning a cannon into a massive shotgun. Used by both Union and Confederate artillery, canister was one of the most devastating anti-infantry munitions of the Civil War. Sold individually. Pictured: representative examples; each shot is excavated and varies slightly in surface patina. Pieces measure about 1.5" diameter. You will receive one of the examples shown, while supplies last.

A unique half of an exploded Confederate 12-pound Bormann-fuzed cannonball. This 4.5-inch-caliber shell was fired and exploded during the 1863–1864 fighting north of Atlanta. Although the Bormann fuze was a Union invention, captured examples allowed Confederate arsenals to reproduce the design. This example displays a gap between the upper fuze threads and the underplug threads, which accommodated a leather washer not found on Union examples. It is highly unusual to find a cannonball split so evenly through the center. The interior also retains traces of its original black pine tar, which was used to hold the lead case-shot balls in place.

A large fragment—approximately 35–40%—of an exploded Union 12-pound Bormann-fuzed cannonball. Excavated in North Georgia near Atlanta, this shell was likely fired during the heavy fighting of 1863 or 1864.