Posted on 02/09/2023 11:42:19 AM PST by Red Badger
Over 50,000 Americans died at Gettysburg, making it the bloodiest battle of the bloodiest war in our nation's history.
And if you'd stepped on this sucker, you might have been the last casualty of the Civil War.
From The Hill:
According to the park, the shell was found within the Little Round Top rehabilitation project area in the southwest corner of Little Round Top, the site of a Union victory over the Confederacy on July 2, 1863, amid the Battle of Gettysburg.
Officials with the park say the device dates to 1863. It weighs about 10 pounds, and measures about 7 inches long.
This is a national park, it's been around forever, and they still just now found this shell?
How did they miss it in the last 16 decades? I just find that hard to believe.
The shell was handled on Wednesday by the 55th Ordnance Disposal Company team from Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The team gently washed off the shell and removed it from Little Round Top to be destroyed off-site.
Local roads were closed on Wednesday afternoon after the device's discovery, though they have since reopened.
It's a pity they had to destroy this piece of history, but I guess that's better than leaving it in a museum where it could explode at any time.
I wonder if there are more artifacts like this one yet to be discovered.
If a place like Gettysburg – which you'd think would have been searched and excavated completely at this point – has this shell lying around, it might be worth your time to search any local battlefields near you.
Just be careful not to go out with a bang.
BANG,...............er, uh PING!..................
wow. reminds me of Ahab’s arrow.
“How did they miss [this 7 inch shell for] the last 16 decades?”
The exact same way they missed a 200 foot balloon.
A piece of our racist history. Quick, get Biden over to see it for a photo-op soon! :)
When I was stationed at Ft. Riley, KS after college in the early '90s, a friend of mine was the commander of 74th EOD Detachment. He was telling me about an old 19th century artillery shell that somebody had found in their attic in Junction City, KS, just outside of post that they had been called to clear. He estimated it was from the 1870s.
It’s illegal to dig for relics there.
Up to 10% of those were duds.
Do the math. They are constantly digging up unexploded ordinance over there.
They had a forest fire one time, and the people were scared half to death from the explosions of that stuff getting cooked off.
Wow, that’s kind of scary.
it might be worth your time to search any local battlefields near you.
Idiot, it is illegal to use metal detectors or keep artifacts from National Battlefields.
I wonder if this shell was still dangerous after 160 years?............
“This is a national park, it’s been around forever, and they still just now found this shell? How did they miss it in the last 16 decades? I just find that hard to believe.”
Seriously? How semi retarded do you have to be to utter that?
Nope. Not even close. I think the combined KIA total was under 10,000.
> Quick, get Biden over to see it for a photo-op soon! :) <
That might be fun, just to see what kind of lie he’d spin while there.
“I worked my way through Harvard medical school as a Gettysburg tour guide. And many were the days when I’d save someone from an unexploded shell.”
Finally, a bombshell report.
Well, I wouldn’t go poking it with a stick.
Now, that wasn’t nice.🤓
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