[snippy_about_it]

No problem, you're never late for a Foxhole thread, we've been known to go back for months to pings.

Do you suppose that the cannon ball that could be side stepped was one that was near its end, you know, it had flown as far as it could and ready to plop? At some point does it slow down? My ignorance is showing. LOL.

[Darksheare]

Possible as well.
Depends on where the guys doing the sidestepping were in relation to the firing piece, and said piece's range.

Cannonballs were notoroious for poor flight characteristics.
Being round and largely smooth, they slowed down rapidly in the air due to their own wake turbulence.
(Kinda like creating it's own riptide behind itself.)

the invention of the canister shot and the conical shell made it possible to reach further ranges and better accuracy.
And higher shell speeds, for farther along it's arc.

At the end of it's flight, the cannonball would definately be close to hitting the ground and becoming ground clutter.
And more than likely would be rapidly slowing.
What was described was one of the most one-sided artilery duals in history.
Obsolete cannon versus canister shot... egads.