Behind a two-story home on a rural Lowcountry road,
long-forgotten relics from a more than century-old conflict lie
marinating in electrolyte baths so that future generations might someday
see them up close.
Dozens of cannonballs, mortar
shells and other munitions used in the Civil War sit in water-filled
barrels that are juiced with a small electrical charge that travels
along a maze of wires from a battery.
It’s part of a year-long process
to remove iron oxide, salt water and rust to keep the aged armaments
from chipping, cracking and crumbling when they are exposed to the air
after years under water or ground.
The backyard operation is not part of a high-tech
laboratory or the brainchild of a noted scientist. Rather, it’s a labor
of love launched by a coastal native with a passion for history and
skills honed by decades of experimentation, trial-and-error and advice
from those who came before him.
Unexploded rounds from
the War Between the States pepper the region and are uncovered from
time to time during construction digs and renovation projects, prompting
anxious calls to local police and military bomb squads. Their solution,
more often than not, is to blow up the old rounds to eliminate any
threat to the public.
That galls some preservationists, who see each exploded piece of ordnance as another chunk of history lost.
“They don’t need to do that,” said the man with the backyard munitions collection. “This stuff needs to be seen by people.”
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