Civil War Cannonballs Removed From Museum After Being Deemed Explosive
PETERSBURG, Va. (AP) -- Bomb disposal experts removed four Civil War-era artillery rounds from Virginia's Siege Museum after X-rays showed several artillery rounds stored there are capable of exploding.
News outlets report that two cannon balls and two Parrott artillery shells were removed Wednesday afternoon from storage at the museum, which depicts how residents of Petersburg lived before, during, and after the Civil War.
Police guard Siege Museum in #Petersburg after live #CivilWar era ammunition found: https://t.co/cTNoOaBFPj via @NBC12. #VA pic.twitter.com/eJPSJGbl2x
— Greg H (@Topographic23) March 23, 2017
Four Siege shells removed from Petersburg museum https://t.co/ceUAvNSHal pic.twitter.com/KwNXrMdXky
— The Progress-Index (@ProgressIndex) March 22, 2017
A military bomb squad had been called in after a Virginia State Police bomb technician determined Tuesday night that the artillery rounds were potentially lethal.
Petersburg city spokesman Clay Hamner says the artillery rounds did not have fuses in them, and they were not going to explode unless someone lit them somehow.
The museum has been closed for 18 months.