---
title: "Yet Another Civil War Casualty, This Time By Cannonball Explosion"
date: "2018-06-06"
modified: "2018-06-06"
authors:
  - name: "Tom Ricks"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/tom-ricks/"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/yet-another-civil-war-casualty/"
categories:
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  - "History"
  - "Munitions"
  - "News"
  - "Tech & Tactics"
  - "United States"
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  - "Weapons"
---

# Yet Another Civil War Casualty, This Time By Cannonball Explosion

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/02/18988703-1.jpg>)

Another report arrives courtesy of [@EliseCLambert](<https://twitter.com/EliseCLambert>): Guy blew himself up cleaning [a Civil War cannonball](<https://www.richmond.com/news/spark-ignited-deadly-cannonball-explosion-in-chesterfield/article_ecbc04ca-dd58-5c8b-b57c-0b530b86c12c.html>) in his driveway midway between Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia:

*The investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco* and *Firearms found that 53-year-old Sam White was working on the cannonball in his Chesterfield County driveway with a grinding tool. The tool ignited gunpowder residue, which exploded the shell.*

Part of the shell landed a quarter mile away. Sure, it happened a decade ago, but that’s pretty recent in the context of a war that ended 153 years ago.

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/02/image-placeholder-title-169.png>)