Historic Pelham

Presenting the rich history of Pelham, NY in Westchester County: current historical research, descriptions of how to research Pelham history online and genealogy discussions of Pelham families.

Monday, May 18, 2015

Cannonball Fired in The Battle of Pelham Found on Plymouth Street in Pelham Manor


A cannonball believed to have been fired during the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776 has been found buried in the yard of a Plymouth Street home in Pelham Manor.  The ball, shown in the photograph below taken by Marianne Gilland, is a "solid shot" ball.  It is about 4-3/4 inches in diameter and weighs a little less than twelve pounds.  It likely was fired from a so-called “twelve-pounder” cannon used by artillery troops on both sides of the conflict during the American Revolution.  It has not yet been determined whether the ball is American or British. 



Cannonball Found at 917 Plymouth Street on
Wednesday, April 29, 2015, at Rest in a Planter.
Photograph by Marianne Gilland.

On Friday, May 15, an article that I prepared about the cannonball discovery appeared in The Pelham Weekly.  See Bell, Blake A., Cannonball Fired in 1776 Battle of Pelham Found on Plymouth Street in Pelham Manor, The Pelham Weekly, May 15, 2015, Vol. XXIV, No. 20, p. 1, cols. 2-3 & p. 2, col. 1.  I thought it appropriate to embargo an announcement of the discovery on the Historic Pelham Blog until after the article appeared in the local newspaper.  Now comes word following the publication of Friday's article that another cannonball was discovered last year by a homeowner on Fowler Avenue.  That is exciting news as well and, hopefully, an investigation will confirm that report as well.  Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog includes information from the article I prepared for The Pelham Weekly as well as additional related information.  

On Wednesday, April 29, Resi Donovan of 917 Plymouth Street was working with a friend, Jim Donohoe of Pelham Manor, to enlarge a garden bed in her yard.  While digging deeply, the pair struck what appeared to be rubble that looked like backfill left from the creation of the foundation of the home built in 1952.  While removing rubble from the hole, they found the heavily-corroded ball. 

Immediately the pair concluded they had discovered a cannonball.  They washed it and placed it in a pail of water hoping to soften or dislodge some of the corrosion that caked the ball. 

Ms. Donovan’s friend and neighbor, Marianne Gilland, was among the first shown the discovery.  Ms. Gilland snapped a photograph of the find and sent it to the Town Historian, Blake A. Bell, who asked for measurements including the diameter and weight of the ball to determine whether its size corresponded to any of the known calibers of cannons used by Americans or British during the American Revolution.  He determined that its measurements are consistent with a cannonball shot from a “twelve pounder” cannon used by both sides during the conflict. 

The corrosion is so heavy as to preclude, for now, a determination of whether the ball reflects a seam left over from its casting.  One potential distinguishing feature between American and British cannonballs used during the American Revolution is that British cannonballs typically were cast with such precision that no seam was visible.  American balls, however, were cast with less precision and often had a visible seam. 

On October 18, 1776, a few hundred Americans led by Col. John Glover of the famed Marblehead Mariners fought about 4,000 British and German troops in the day-long Battle of Pelham.  The Battle began on today’s Split Rock Golf Course in Pelham Bay Park and moved to Prospect Hill as the Americans pulled back along Split Rock Road and Wolf’s Lane to Colonial Avenue (then the old Boston Post Road).  There the Americans crossed the Hutchinson River. 

As the day ended, the Americans set up artillery on the Mount Vernon side of the Hutchinson River while the British and Germans set up artillery on the Pelham side.  The two sides shelled each other all night, with little damage inflicted on either side.  The Americans withdrew.  The British and German troops camped along both sides of today’s Colonial Avenue from the Pelham Memorial High School to the New Rochelle boundary and beyond. 



Depiction of American Artillery Gun Crew During the
American Revolution.  Source:  Wikipedia - The Free
Encyclopedia, Cannon Operation.

Cannonballs and accouterments of the battle and encampment along today's Colonial Avenue have been found for many years in and around Pelham.  Old records and newspaper accounts indicate that cannonballs have been found on Washington Avenue, Highbrook Avenue, Beech Tree Lane and, now, Plymouth Street.  Other cannonballs have been unearthed during work long ago on City Island Road in Pelham Bay Park while trolley tracks were being installed.  Military belt buckles, musket balls, and other such items reportedly have been found throughout the area since the mid-nineteenth century.  According to one newspaper account, in 1921 a laborer digging the foundation for a house on Wolf’s Lane near Reed Avenue uncovered a skeleton that the local coroner concluded had been interred more than 100 years before and was “believed to be [the] skeleton of [a] body buried during the Revolution.”  I have written about that discovery before.  See:

Fri., May 19, 2006:  Possible Remains of a Soldier Killed in the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776 Found in 1921.

Though difficult to imagine, the Battle of Pelham raged across our region for one day in 1776. More remnants of that battle certainly rest hidden throughout parts of our Town, awaiting discovery in our flower beds, yards, and beneath our driveways, streets and homes. With her discovery, Resi Donovan has become the latest caretaker of an important tangible reminder of the Battle of Pelham, part of our shared history as Pelham residents.

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I have written extensively about the Battle of Pelham fought on October 18, 1776.  See, for example, the following 39 previous articles:  


Bell, Blake A., The Battle of Pelham:  October 18, 1776, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 41, Oct. 15, 2004, p. 10, col. 1.  

Bell, Blake, History of the Village of Pelham:  Revolutionary War, HistoricPelham.com Archive (visited May 9, 2014).  


Mon., Apr. 27, 2015:  Obituary of British Officer Who Participated in the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776 as a Young Man.

Mon., Feb. 28, 2005:  Glover's Rock on Orchard Beach Road Does Not Mark the Site of the Battle of Pelham.  

Mon., Apr. 18, 2005:  Restored Battle of Pelham Memorial Plaque Is Unveiled at Glover Field.  

Fri., May 27, 2005:  1776, A New Book By Pulitzer Prize Winner David McCullough, Touches on the Battle of Pelham.  

Thu., Jul. 14, 2005:  Pelham's 1926 Pageant Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Pelham.  

Wed., Oct. 26, 2005:  Remnants of the Battlefield on Which the Battle of Pelham Was Fought on October 18, 1776.  
Fri., May 19, 2006:  Possible Remains of a Soldier Killed in the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776 Found in 1921.  

Fri., Aug. 11, 2006:  Article by William Abbatt on the Battle of Pelham Published in 1910.  

Thu., Sep. 21, 2006:  A Paper Addressing the Battle of Pelham, Among Other Things, Presented in 1903.  

Mon., Oct. 30, 2006:  Brief Biographical Data About Sir Thomas Musgrave, British Lieutenant Colonel Wounded at the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Wed., Nov. 1, 2006:  Two British Military Unit Histories that Note Participation in the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Tue., Jan. 16, 2007:  Brief Biography of British Officer Who Served During the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Fri., Feb. 09, 2007:  Extract of October 23, 1776 Letter Describing British Troops in Eastchester After the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.  

Mon., Feb. 12, 2007:  Saint Paul's Church National Historic Site Opens New Exhibition:  "Overlooked Hero:  John Glover and the American Revolution."  

Thu., Jan. 18, 2007:  Three More British Military Unit Histories that Note Participation in the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Mon., Jul. 16, 2007:  Mention of the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776 in Revolutionary War Diary of David How.  

Tue., Jul. 17, 2007:  Mention of the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776 in Writings of Francis Rawdon-Hastings, Aide-de-Camp to British General Clinton.  

Wed., Jul. 18, 2007:  Another British Military Unit History that Notes Participation in the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.  

Tue., Aug. 7, 2007:  An Account of the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776 Contained in the McDonald Papers Published in 1926.  

Wed., Aug. 8, 2007:  A Description of an Eyewitness Account of the Interior of St. Paul's Church in Eastchester During the Revolutionary War.  

Thu., Sep. 6, 2007:  Information About St. Paul's Church, the Battle of Pelham and Other Revolutionary War Events Near Pelham Contained in an Account Published in 1940.  

Mon., Oct. 8, 2007:  American Troops Who Guarded Pelham's Shores in October 1776.  

Fri., Oct. 12, 2007:  Images of The Lord Howe Chestnut that Once Stood in the Manor of Pelham.  

Fri., Oct. 27, 2006:  Orders Issued by British Major General The Honourable William Howe While Encamped in Pelham After the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Thu., Jan. 22, 2009:  Another Brief Biography of Sir Thomas Musgrave, a British Officer Wounded at the Battle of Pelham on October 18 1776.  

Wed., Feb. 17, 2010:  British Report on Killed, Wounded and Missing Soldiers During the Period the Battle of Pelham Was Fought on October 18, 1776.  

Fri., Apr. 23, 2010:  Charles Blaskowitz, Surveyor Who Created Important Map Reflecting the Battle of Pelham.  


Thu., Feb. 06, 2014:  A Description of the Revolutionary War Battle of Pelham Published in 1926 for the Sesquicentennial Celebration.

Mon., May 19, 2014:  Biography of British Officer Who Fought in the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Wed., Jun. 04, 2014:  An Account of the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776 Presented and Published in 1894.  

Fri., Jun. 27, 2014:  Newly-Published Account Concludes Colonel William Shepard Was Wounded During the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Mon., Jun. 30, 2014:  A British Lieutenant in the Twelfth Foot Who Fought at the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Fri., Sep. 19, 2014:  Abel Deveau, An American Skirmisher on Rodman's Neck as British and Germans Landed Before the Battle of Pelham.

Wed., Sep. 17, 2014:  References to the Battle of Pelham in 18th Century Diary of Ezra Stiles, President of Yale College.

Fri., Oct. 17, 2014:  First-Hand Diary Account of Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Mon., Oct. 20, 2014:  American Diary Account of Events Before, During, and After the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Tue., Oct. 21, 2014:  November 1, 1776 Letter Describing the Battle of Pelham and Events Before and After the Battle.

Fri., Oct. 24, 2014:  October 21, 1776 Report to the New-York Convention Regarding the Battle of Pelham.

Wed., Feb. 18, 2015:  Young American Hero James Swinnerton, Badly Wounded in the Battle of Pelham.

Wed., Feb. 25, 2015:  Where Were the Stone Walls Used by American Troops During the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776?

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Below is an example of one of many, many brief references to discoveries of cannonballs in and around Pelham in the last 150 years.

A member of the Fairchild family kept a cannon ball that was unearthed at an unspecified location along Highbrook Avenue "years before" 1935 when a brief reference to it appeared in the April 12, 1935 issue of The Pelham Sun.  See [Untitled], The Pelham Sun, Apr. 12, 1935, p. 14, col. 1.  


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