CONFEDERATE GRAPE SHOT-BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS, Virginia, May 5-6 1864

One of the most complex and bloodiest battles of the civil war with nearly 30,000 casualties total. The horrific fight at Saunders Field which caught fire resulting in the wounded of both sides on the field burning to death. We have eight Confederate grape shot, recovered in the early 1900’s when the area was still being farmed. These are iron, about ¾” diameter each having lost some surface due to degradation from burial, with intact remnants of the sprues used to cast them. The broken sprues, are demonstrative of the expediencies necessary to the Southern effort late in the war. Union grape shot were finished round, both for better performance and humanity considerations. Each.