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Battle of Palmetto Ranch 12 Pound Cannonball

Currency:USD Category:Antiques Start Price:250.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 1,000.00 USD
Battle of Palmetto Ranch 12 Pound Cannonball
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4.75" dia. Battle of Palmetto Ranch, Near Brownsville, Texas, 1865. Modern case. Provenance: The Battle of Palmetto Ranch was the last battle of the Civil War and the last Confederate victory. It was fought 12-13 May 1865. This cannonball comes with attestation signed by James Anderson that it was found “at the Crook of the Rio Grande River on the old Palmetto Ranch battlefield near Brownsville, Texas in the early 1900s.” This is a site on the north bank of the Rio Grande at a location where it dips to the south in a “U” known as “The Crook”. Anderson’s attestation further states that “It was in the Brownsville United Confederate Veterans Museum from the 1890s (sic) until 1929, when the museum closed down. It was brought home by my grandfather who was the last curator of the museum when it closed down and there was no way to return the displays to the original owners or families.” The Anderson attestation was endorsed by Richard Armstrong, Gallant Pelham Military Antiques in Gore, Virginia on May 3, 2014. Anderson believed the cannonball to be French, and Armstrong agrees. He discusses at length the long-running debate over whether a French cannon was sent across the Rio Grande at the time to help the Confederates, and believes the existence of this cannon ball proves that there was an eight pound cannon since Jones Texas battery was equipped with 12-pounders.