Civil War Cannon Ball Found On Golf Course

Archaeologists have found a trove of Civil War artifacts on a golf course in Tennessee. That’s not as cool as finding a mammoth, but still neat.

Buckles, spoons, bullets, a cannon ball, a hotchkiss shell and other items were found in a single sand trap at the Franklin Country Club. More than 100 acres are left to be explored.

The Battle of Franklin, fought in 1864, was one of the bloodiest of the war. During the five hour battle, ill advised frontal assaults by the Confederates against Union entrenchments resulted in 6,252 dead, wounded and captured, including fifteen generals, six of whom were killed: Patrick Cleburne, John C. Carter, John Adams, Hiram B. Granbury, States Rights Gist, and Otho F. Strahl. Union losses totaled some 2,326.

The battle destroyed the Confederate Army in the West. The South also lost its best Divisional commander (and some argue, the best on either side), Patrick Cleburne. Cleburne, an Irish immigrant who had served in the British Army, had distinguished himself in some of the most hard fought battles in the Western theatre, including Shiloh, Richmond, Stones River, Chickamauga, Wauhatchie, and Missionary Ridge.