140-Yr.-Old Cannonball Kills Civil War Fan

Va. Collector Died While Disarming 19th-Century Ammunition In His Driveway

(AP)  Sam White got hooked on the U.S. Civil War early, digging up rusting bullets and military buttons in the battle-scarred earth of his hometown.

As an adult, he crisscrossed the Virginia countryside in search of wartime relics - 19-century weapons, battle flags, even artillery shells buried in the red clay. He sometimes put on diving gear to feel for treasures hidden in the black muck of river bottoms.

But in February, White's hobby cost him his life: A cannonball he was restoring exploded, killing him in his driveway.

More than 140 years after the end of the war the pitted the North against the South over slavery, the cannonball was still powerful enough to send a chunk of shrapnel through the front porch of a house a quarter-mile from White's home in the leafy Richmond suburb of Chester, Virginia.

White's death shook the close-knit fraternity of relic collectors and raised concerns about the dangers of other Civil War munitions that lay buried beneath old battlefields. Explosives experts said the fatal blast defied extraordinary odds.

"You can't drop these things on the ground and make them go off," said retired Col. John F. Biemeck, formerly of the Army Ordnance Corps.

White, 53, was one of thousands of American hobbyists who comb former battlegrounds for artifacts using metal detectors, pickaxes, shovels and trowels.

"There just aren't many areas in the South in which battlefields aren't located. They're literally under your feet," said Harry Ridgeway, a former relic hunter who has amassed a vast collection. "It's just a huge thrill to pull even a mundane relic out of the ground."

Union troops from the North and Southern Confederate troops lobbed an estimated 1.5 million artillery shells and cannonballs at each other from 1861 to 1865. As many as one in five were duds.

Some of the weapons remain buried in the ground or river bottoms. In late March, a 44-pound, 8-inch mortar shell was uncovered at Petersburg National Battlefield, the site of an epic 292-day battle. The shell was taken to the city landfill and detonated.

Black powder provided the destructive force for cannonballs and artillery shells. The combination of sulfur, potassium nitrate and finely ground charcoal requires a high temperature - 572 degrees Fahrenheit - and friction to ignite.

White estimated he had worked on about 1,600 shells for collectors and museums. On the day he died, he had 18 cannonballs lined up in his driveway to restore.

White's efforts seldom raised safety concerns. His wife and son Travis sometimes stood in the driveway as he worked.

"Sam knew his stuff, no doubt about it," said Jimmy Blankenship, historian-curator at the Petersburg battleground. "He did know Civil War ordnance."

An investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms will not be complete until the end of May, but police who responded to the blast and examined shrapnel concluded that it came from a Civil War explosive.

Experts suspect White was killed while trying to disarm a 9-inch, 75-pound naval cannonball, a particularly potent explosive with a more complex fuse and many times the destructive power of those used by infantry artillery.

Biemeck and Peter George, co-author of a book on Civil War ordnance, believe White was using either a drill or a grinder attached to a drill to remove grit from the cannonball, causing a shower of sparks.

Because of the fuse design, it may have appeared as though the weapon's powder had already been removed, leading even a veteran like White to conclude mistakenly that the ball was inert.

The weapon also had to be waterproof because it was designed to skip over the water at 600 mph to strike at the waterline of an enemy ship. The protection against moisture meant the ball could have remained potent longer than an infantry shell.

Brenda White is convinced her husband was working on a flawed cannonball, and no amount of caution could have prevented his death.

"He had already disarmed the shell," she said. "From what I was told, there was absolutely nothing he had done wrong, that there was a manufacturing defect that no one would have known was there."

After White's death, about two dozen homes were evacuated for two days while explosives experts collected pieces from his collection and detonated them.

[dog7771]

stop calling him an expert; obviously he was not! RIP, Homer!

[a-ji]

Any type of devise use for mass destruction is dangerous. To be a collector of such is at HIGH RISK of putting himself and others in danger.

[prinzowhales]

Let''s see if his family sues the cannon ball manufacturer...

[wlmrtpatriot]

Who pays some of you nutjobs to stay here 24/7? Some of you are the reason I don''t watch CBS news anymore.

[nothappyatall]

You right wingers want it all both ways, first you come blasting in telling us about all this great paradise in heaven with a perfect god and yadda yadda yadda that perfect people go to when dead, THEN you go "oh the POOR guy he was killed" so according to YOUR logic, you''''d rather he stay HERE in purgatory (compared to a perfect paradise where everyone lives forever, no disease etc it IS) for the next 50 years years instead of going to this perfect place you claim.

He no doubt died INSTANTLY and didnt feel a thing, guess you''''d rather he had a heart attack or stroke and lay in a hospital bed the next 50 years paralized in a coma like Terri Schiavo?
So, given the fact you mourn for a guy who left purgatory for a perfect paradise instead of rejoycing, that says you really DONT believe there is a heaven or that he didnt go there, which IS it?

[nothappyatall]

I can only assume hes like this in real life, laughing out loud at the good people who attend church in his town.

Posted by erichsh

"good" people who attend church? LOL they are idiots being fleeced for their hard earned MONEY every sunday. Got to church sing a couple of hymns, drop a dollar or two in the basket, say some AHMENS and then yer good to go for another week of drinking, gambling, phuxing your GF behind the wife''s back, stealing from the boss and all the rest, no matter, because next sunday you do the church routine again, drop another dollar or two in the basket and yer saved yet again!

[tbweb]

Sounds to me like this man died doing what he enjoyed most. If only the rest of us are so lucky.

Posted by my2centss at 09:34 PM : May 03, 2008,,,

I was about to Post the same thing! Exactly!

[incog-nito]

War is hell.

[my2centss]

Sounds to me like this man died doing what he enjoyed most. If only the rest of us are so lucky.

[erichsh]

PS: I have said before I dont give a dam if people reply to my comments, I''''m not here to get replies, I''''m here to post MY opinions

Posted by newster1

newster1 is exactly the kind of pompous, callous, self-righteous blowhard I had in mind. He''s a one-way megaphone, smugly self-important in his condescending, sneering replies to the posters he arrogantly dismisses - after he professes not to give a dam about their posts. I can only assume he''s like this in real life, laughing out loud at the good people who attend church in his town.

[rushlimpdrug]

"I''ll give you my cannonball when you take it from my cold, dead hands!"

[nothappyatall]

Best to just ignore them and dont feed their thirst for opposition, for they will never change their viewpoint. Thats what they are payed for.

Posted by kaviz

PS: I have said before I dont give a dam if people reply to my comments, I''m not here to get replies, I''m here to post MY opinions

[voltaire333]

He sounds like a far more decent and engaging individual than the bleaters and stone-throwers on these pages.
Posted by erichsh at 04:21 PM : May 03, 2008

Calm down, Esther, you know it''s bad for your heart to get so riled up.

[nothappyatall]

Kaviz, Newster is not only a cold dude, hes a classless piece of garbage.
Posted by effjay4

Why, cause I tell it like it IS? You right wingers want it all both ways, first you come blasting in telling us about all this great paradise in heaven with a perfect god and yadda yadda yadda that perfect people go to when dead, THEN you go "oh the POOR guy he was killed" so according to YOUR logic, you''d rather he stay HERE in purgatory (compared to a perfect paradise where everyone lives forever, no disease etc it IS) for the next 50 years years instead of going to this perfect place you claim.

He no doubt died INSTANTLY and didnt feel a thing, guess you''d rather he had a heart attack or stroke and lay in a hospital bed the next 50 years paralized in a coma like Terri Schiavo?
So, given the fact you mourn for a guy who left purgatory for a perfect paradise instead of rejoycing, that says you really DONT believe there is a heaven or that he didnt go there, which IS it?

[nothappyatall]

Im sure newster is only one of the names he goes under on these pages. The hired nut jobs flip around day to day to rile emotions and try to stir conflicts. some are pretty good at it, others should be fired by their sponsers. Best to just ignore them and dont feed their thirst for opposition, for they will never change their viewpoint. Thats what they are payed for.

Posted by kaviz

Wrongo kaviz, I only use THIS name with the 1 or the l depending on which browser I happen to have open when I come in- firefox doesn''t like the scripts in here.
Yer also wrong on your other statements, I''m not some ''hired'' dude, I am my own person and highly opinionated, I also feel free to freely express those opinions with NO mindgames, NO pc rhetoric and no bullchit, what you see is what you get not lies, inuendo or fake- something mighty rare these days with all the PC feel-good garbage people post write or say that we all know is totall BS.

[lewiston14]

Some posters gave me new thoughts on the subject. If its legal or not to go out looking for these things. Around here I dont know ill have to ask. I scuba dive and was diving off shore from an old fort on the great lakes. I think I found a couple of cannon balls least the were round but I figured Ill just leave them. I dont need one to dry up and become a bomb on my desk. Makem me think remember about a year ago some teacher had a WW2 shell on his desk and used it as a bug squasher and it went off. To the combat engineer your right if it was made to explode leave it alone new or 150 years old.

[nothappyatall]

"The more I visit these blogs, the more I become repulsed by the vermin I find here."

Maybe you should hike it on by the fox news or cnn news sites then since we arent good enough for you.

"Just on the last two pages I find: (1) The guy was an idiot, (2) He deserved to die and (3) People who believe in God are idiots."

1) he was, 2)maybe, 3) people who believe in mindless fairytales like a Santa Claus in the sky ARE idiots, as surely as those who believe they can fly and jump off a building.


" Ill add (4): what a bunch of callous, pompous, self-righteous blowhards you all are. The man pursued his hobby and love of history with a passion, and was killed in an accident that even the experts cited in this article agreed was extraordinary."

Which wouldn''t have happened had he left unstable high EXPLOSIVES alone and stuck to bullet casings, coins and other stuff. Even explosive experts with loads of training and safety equipment are killed.


Posted by erichsh

[rudy654-2009]

I''''m surprised this kind of activity is legal. And, yes, he was an idiot. Sorry if it offends some of the other posters to point out the truth.



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Posted by cdfoxtrot at 05:35 PM

I believe that what he was doing is not legal. At least in my part of the country it isn''t. For example, some boy scouts came upon some old army munitions from a particularly tragic war with the Indians. They took a bunch of stuff home, called the local newspaper, which reported on their find, etc. They even had an old saddle with food stuffs still in it. At any rate, they got into serious trouble with the government. They were told that they were supposed to report the find and leave it in place. The reason for this is so that archeaologists have a chance to examine the area first.

[kaviz]

Swwils, you say you planted explosives, did you also plant timers to go off at later dates that some family would be killed if they took it home as a decoration? I''m not trying to be mean here. War is he11 no matter what side you''re on.

[cdfoxtrot]

It was totally irresponsible for this person to play around with this thing on his driveway. The shrapnel that hit a home "a quarter-mile" away could have killed someone else. I''m surprised this kind of activity is legal. And, yes, he was an idiot. Sorry if it offends some of the other posters to point out the truth.