Another interesting article on the Rev War. Orginal piece has photos but they didn't copy.
Bloody shrapnel discovered at Monmouth Battlefield; first of its kind
Jerry Carino, @njhoopshaven Published 7:51 p.m. ET May 18, 2017 | Updated 3:22 p.m. ET May 19, 2017
It's the only bloody piece of Revolutionary War canister shot ever found. And it may have been fired by Molly Pitcher.
It’s a hexagonal piece of lead, maybe the size of a fingertip. Canister shot, it was called, and the Continental Army used it to shred British lines at the Battle of Monmouth in June of 1778.
When his team of volunteer archaeologists found this and other pieces of ordnance in the ground at Monmouth Battlefield State Park last summer, Dan Sivilich suspected they were not your typical artifacts.
“Two appeared to have fabric impressions on them which suggested they might have hit a uniform,†Sivilich said.
He sent them to PaleoResarch Inc. in Colorado for testing. Nine months later his hunch was proven correct — and then some. One of the pieces tested positive for human blood protein.
“In other words, it hit a soldier,†Sivilich said. “This is the only piece of Revolutionary War canister shot ever found that’s been positively tested for human blood.â€
That’s not all. Based on where they were discovered, Sivilich believes the pieces probably were fired by Proctor’s Pennsylvania artillery. One of its cannon is associated with the legendary heroine Molly Pitcher, whose real name likely was Mary Hays.
“It could have been a round that Molly Pitcher handled,†Sivilich said. “We can’t say for sure, but it makes for interesting speculation.â€
Sivilich is president of BRAVO, which stands for Battlefield Restoration and Archaeological Volunteer Organization. Longtime member Bill Hermstedt, a South River resident, found the historic piece of canister shot (so-called because the lead or iron balls were packed tightly in a metal canister that exploded coming out of a cannon, spraying a wide swath of shrapnel).
The canister shot in question was fired, Sivilich said, by the Americans into the British 42nd regiment.
“They were trapped in an orchard just outside of Route 522,†Sivilich explained. “The American artillery line had them pinned down for a while.â€
Legend has it that Molly Pitcher was shuttling water to the artillery from a nearby spring when her husband, William Hays, became incapacitated. She took his place at the cannon, so the story goes.
When the smoke cleared, according to accounts from the period, the orchard was strewn with dead and injured British soldiers. The bloody piece of canister shot “may have been sitting underneath a piece of corn stalk,†Sivilich said. “We just got lucky.â€
The blood was not visible. It was microscopic, which is why BRAVO paid a total of $1,225 for the testing of four pieces.
Sivilich literally wrote the book on such matters. His “Musket Ball and Small Shot Identification: A Guide,†was published by the University of Oklahoma Press and is available via Amazon.com.
So what kind of damage did this bloody lead fragment cause?
“Based on its deformation, it did not appear to hit bone,†Sivilich said. “It hit soft tissue, went through the body and obviously ended up in the ground. It could have gone through a thigh, an arm, or it could have been a belly wound. We don’t know if it was fatal or not.â€
The other piece with a fabric impression, he said, did not test positive for human blood. It most likely hit a haversack or carrying bag of a similar ilk.
Sivilich emphasized that BRAVO has permits to dig at Monmouth Battlefield. Random metal detecting is illegal.
As for the historical piece of ammunition, he said, it belongs to the park.
“Hopefully it will be put on display,†he said.
Staff writer Jerry Carino: jcarino@gannettnj.com.
Topic: Bloody Shrapnel at Monmouth Battlefield (Read 126 times)