The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Unearthed Civil War Shell Blown Up in Arkansas-- Part 1

From the May 27, 2015, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette by Bill Bowden.

A photo of the 14-pound shell accompanies the article.

Prairie Grove, Ark.  A bomb squad and historians are at odds over the recent discovery of a 14-pound James Rifle shell unearthed earlier this month by a gas line crew working along Villines Road in Prairie Grove.  The shell was apparently left by Confederate troops during the Battle of Prairie Grove on December 7, 1862.

It was tossed into the back of a service truck and rattled around there for a couple days before being turned over to the city of Prairie Grove which planned to donate it to the Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park. Someone from the Bentonville (Ark.) Bomb Squad saw a post about it on Prairie Grove's Facebook page and they confiscated it May 13 and destroyed it that day by the military in a rock quarry near West Fork.

More to Come.  --Old Secesh

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