1861-1865, Civil War Cannonball, Bequest of Warren. O. Whittle, 1947.2.14
This cannonball was probably used in a Model 1841 32-pounder seacoast weapon, either aboard a naval ship or for defense of the coast. The importance of Civil War naval battles was underestimated until fairly recently, but many crucial Union victories early in the war were naval battles such as those at New Orleans and Port Royal. Behind the cannonball are photographs from the Library of Congress of Union soldiers using such a 32-pounder Navy gun in the vicinity of Yorktown, Virginia.
(Library of Congress photograph reproduction numbers: LC-DIG-cwpb-01597, LC-DIG-cwpb-00133)