On Tuesday, officials in South Texas reported that a man discovered he had been storing a live Civil War-era explosive in his home for years, believing it to be a dummy. The revelation came after a military friend identified the ordnance as potentially active.
The Atascosa County Sheriff’s Office received a call just before 8 a.m. from the homeowner who had owned the ordnance for years. He always believed it was a nonfunctional round. His military friend, however, expressed concern that it might be active.
The caller told deputies that he had owned the ordnance for years and had always thought it was a dummy round.
In response, the Sheriff’s Office coordinated with an explosive disposal team from Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, located approximately an hour away. The team confirmed the ordnance was indeed live.
The ordnance, identified as a live “parrot round,” was safely transported to an explosive range at Camp Bullis, where experts disposed of it securely. Fortunately, no one was hurt during the process, and no charges have been filed.
The Parrott rifle, used by the Union during the Civil War, was invented by West Point graduate Robert Parrott. According to the National Park Service, this muzzle-loading cannon featured a distinct thick iron reinforcing band around the breech. These cannons varied in size, from 10 to 300 pounds, but the specific weight of the round found remains unclear.