Unexploded Artillery Shell Found Here Now on Display at Our Visitor Center

Parrott shell and informational panel now on display in Visitor Center.

In the early 1970s, Hershell Kelly, Wilco McAvoy, and Charles Hardy Grim (owner at the time of the Kernstown Battlefield property) were plowing the field to the left as you first enter the battlefield and found the shell pictured above. Mr. Kelly took possession and in 2025 this live projectile was provided to the KBA for display, but first it had to be rendered safe.

This live round has been identified as being a 10-pound Parrott Rifle shell. It was turned over to an expert artillerist who breached the iron body using an underwater drilling system to flush out the powder. The fusing system in this shell still remains with a percussion cap used to ignite the powder, however, there is no longer any powder in the shell. The artillerist hypothesized that the reason this projectile did not explode when it hit the ground was that its trajectory was at an angle, slid into the soft ground, and did not make direct contact with the nose of the shell to activate the fuse.

We are certain that this shell was fired by Union troops on Pritchard's Hill, under the command of Col. Nathan Kimball during the 1st Battle of Kernstown. They were engaged in counter-battery fire with Confederate artillery, most notably Chew's Battery, under Col. Turner Ashby, that was located on the west side of the Valley Pike in Kernstown.

For more information and to see this important relic, please stop by the Kernstown Battlefield on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday between 10am and 4pm when the Visitor Center is open.