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

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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.