Belted Roundball
I recently found something very interesting related to the Civil War. I was working on material excavated on a farmstead just East of Springfield and looking at some ball found on the site. One looked unusual but I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was but after I brought the ball home to weigh, it dawned on me what it was. It was so unusual that the next day, having dinner with Jim & Nan [Leinicke] I gave it to him and asked what is it. He examined it for a while and he came to the same conclusion, a belted ball. The ball was .650 with a .730 belt and the only thing that fit was a Brunswick rifle. The first year,1837, they were .650 caliber, but the next year the caliber as increased to .703, so this is a ball for the 1837 Brunswick. In 1862 the Confederacy received 2020 Brunswick rifles which I suspect was the entire first year run. The rifle and ball was brought home after the war and I identified a unusual ball.
Bill Weedman
Archaeological Assistant
Illinois State Archaeological Survey
2nd Wisconsin
Note from Webmaster: For more on the Brunswick rifle, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_rifle
