james bolt 3.8\" diameter authentic civil war shell For Sale

Authentic James Bolt 3.8\" diameter civil war shell. 7-1/2\" tall, 12 lbs, solid iron shell. This shell pattern was successfully used by Union Army at battle of Fort Pulaski Georgia. This shell was the first \"riffled\" shell, invented and patented byCharles Tillinghast James(September 15, 1805– October 17, 1862) famous consulting mechanical engineer, early proponent of the steam mill, and United StatesDemocraticSenatorfrom the state ofRhode Islandfrom 1851 to 1857. He was killed while testing one of his shells.

This shell is a James pattern solid shot. The “birdcage” at the base would have been covered by sheet lead which, upon firing the gun, would have expanded into the grooves of the rifling and would have fallen away at firing. It was extremely accurate. This innovative shell design shortened the war and is a piece of american military history.

Fort Pulaski was constructed in 1847 as part of the country\'s coastal defense network. The imposing masonry stronghold was named for Polish Count Casimir Pulaski, who was killed at Savannah by British troops during theAmerican Revolution. The Union landed troops on Tybee Island, a mile south of Pulaski, in early 1862 and prepared for an attack. An engineering officer, Captain Quincy Gilmore, spent two months moving heavy artillery into place. These included large smoothbore cannon and smaller, rifled guns that shot conical shells at high speed and with greater accuracy than the larger pieces.

The attack began on April 10, and Gilmore\'s work paid off. The rifled cannon fired shots that penetrated two feet into Fort Pulaski\'s seven-foot-thick walls. By the morning of April 11, two huge gaps had been torn in the fort walls and a group of Federal infantry was poised for an attack. Colonel Charles Olmstead, commander of Fort Pulaski, recognized that further resistance was futile, and he surrendered the fort to Union troops.