Civil War cannonball found in Kansas City area tree

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. – A worker has found what’s believed to be a Civil War cannonball lodged in a Kansas City area tree that he was hired to take down.

KMBC-TV reports the small cannonball fell out as the worker was chopping the diseased tree on the grounds of the Overfelt-Johnston house. The house was used as a hospital during the First Battle of Independence, Missouri, which was fought across the street in 1862.

Fourteen people were killed and 18 wounded as nearly 800 mounted Confederates overpowered the 350 men of the town’s federal garrison.

Property owner Randall Pratt says a cannonball also was found when the property was restored in 1980. That cannonball, which had been shot into a wall, is in a county museum. Pratt plans to keep the latest find at the home.

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Information from: KMBC-TV, http://www.kmbc.com