Any cannonball experts out there? I found this 3.8lb cannonball yesterday at the lease in Mills a County. The heavy rains unearthed half of it. Trying to learn more about it. Diameter is 2.94"

That's a very cool find

I wonder what the story is?

Wonder if from Indian wars or Texas Independance?

Texas independence was more south and east. I'm guessing Indian wars or civil war...hope someone with historical knowledge chimes in...very Kool find! Great conversation piece....

WOW, what a treasure to find. Might want to contact a history professor at A&M or somewhere else. BTW, I know they still find them "hot" on occasion, so........

Would be neat to find out your hunting an old unknown battle ground, or maybe even an old temporary fort.

Wow, very cool! I would look up more information on the Texas historical markers pages for your county and area about battles. You could also call the main city/town in your county seat to see what they know. There is normally someone there who knows a lot about the battles or knows where to go to find out. Very cool find!

That's awesome!

I don't think there were any Texas Independence battles that far north. There were brief battles between Comanche Indians and Texas rangers in the mid 1800s but wouldn't think that would have involved artillery.
Last time I ran into an iron ball that size (small) it turned out to be from a ball mill used to crush ore. Not sure what might have been mined in Mills County.

Most ball mill balls came in standard sizes. Have you calculated the diameter yet? Circumference / 3.1416 = diameter.

You might could ask the landowner about any history he knows of...

That's cool.

Cannon balls sometimes were set on fence post tops to be ornamental. Found near a road or gate?

I'm not aware of any Civil war or Revolutionary war battles or locations in Mills county. But Spanish. There was a mission at Menard in the mid 1700s. Sometime after a Comanche raid that destroyed the Mission, a party of 500 men marched north to the Red River (spanish fort) ad sacked a Tonkawa Village on the way. This party had two brass cannons with them. They likely traveled through Mills County. Then too if your near the Colorado, the Spanish destroyed an Apache village just north of the Colorado River a few years earlier. For sure worthy of some research. There are all sorts of little known or forgotten excursions, stockades, forts, camps, roads, trails, battles, etc. all over Texas.

Does it have a fuse hole or is it solid?

Cool find. Is there an old bowling alley nearby? Just kidding...looks heavy!

Yep

Interesting read and links in this chain:

http://cwbullet.org/bullet-relic-forum/showthread.php?t=5277

Neat info...thanks for posting

Neat find. Keep us posted on your findings.

Cool find.

Are you sure it's a cannon ball? It looks too smooth and perfect to me. What is it made of and how come it's not pitted or rusted?

It is solid, 2.94" diameter, found along a fence line. Who knows, maybe it is a mill ball. Time to get a metal detector and see if there is anything else.

or it's a shotput

smallest shot put is 4.4 lbs. they go up from there