Unexploded Civil War Shell At Kennesaw Mountain To Be Neutralized; History Buffs Outraged

COBB COUNTY, GA — While conducting an archaeological survey of the preserved Civil War battlefield at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park on Friday, archaeologists made a shocking discovery: an unexploded cannon shell, sitting just 10 inches below the surface.

They notified the Cobb County Police Department bomb squad, and bomb technicians carefully dug it out of the battlefield, a Cobb police recruiting page posted on Facebook.

The 157-year-old explosive was moved to the bunker for storage until the bomb squad can blow up the cannon shell. Experts say the shell was used extensively in the Civil War by the Union Army during the bombardment of Atlanta.

In the comment section of the post, Civil War history buffs voiced their outrage about the news, saying it's simple to have the bomb defused and preserved instead of countercharging it.

"What a waste of a perfect historical artifact," Depths of History Land & Water Search & Recovery commented on the post. "Any historian would know that these items can be defused, preserved, and put on display. It's time to preserve history instead of destroying it."

"To [sic] bad you will not just let someone make them safe by taking the wet powder out. Then they could be displayed for everyone to see. But I guess it's all about destroying history," the popular History Seekers Facebook page commented.

Cobb police officials replied to several comments in defense of the decision to countercharge the shell with the same statement.

"The bomb squad stated that they would love nothing more than to preserve this piece of history, however there is no way to safely render it without countercharging it," the recruiting page wrote. "They try to use the smallest charge appropriate. This charge is very small and will perforate the case. Unfortunately, even small amount of live explosives can set the whole shell off."

Heath Jones of History Seekers, who is a former law enforcement officer in Alabama, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution the situation is more complex than it looks. The archaeology team was likely just following protocol, he said, but there are ways to preserve the shell nonetheless.

"Civil War shells were made with black powder," Jones told the news outlet. "Black powder becomes inert when it gets wet."

Jones added it's highly likely that groundwater got into the shell and saturated the black powder inside since it's been there for 157 years, and it's likely not explosive anymore.

In the comments, Jones offered to connect Cobb police and bomb technicians with Steve Phillips, one of his collaborators, who has defused more than 2,000 shells similar to the one found at Kennesaw Mountain over the years.

Jones told the Marietta Daily Journal the shell was likely fired by the DeGress Battery of the Union Army.

"It's a very important part of the battle for Atlanta," he said to the MDJ. "It's something that they can display, this item — it helps tell the story of what happened there ... rather than just have a picture and then blowing it up."