Gettysburg - What are the odds of this happening?

[Fishook]

I really am not sure where to post this but will try here. My wife and I recently visited Gettysburg PA and spent two days at the battle site. While visitng the National Park museum, I saw something that really amazed me. On display were two rifle/musket rounds that collided in mid-air and were fused together. First, what are the odds that two rounds would actually connect with each other and secondly, what are the odds that someone would find it? I know it is virtually impossible to calculate the odds but they would have to be astronomical. There had to be an increible amount of lead flying during the three days of battle at Gettysburg. It is an unbelievable place where a key part of our great country's history took place. We will retrun someday.

[Bear55]

Interesting story Fishhook, thanks for sharing.

[ac777]

Very interesting. You got any pics?

[bigbucks]

It is amazing, but when you think about 150,000 men or whatever it was that were killed there & all the bullets flying back & forth, there was probably more than one that actually hit each other. Maybe no others that hit so perfect to fuse together. It's an amazing place, some place I definitely want to go after my parents were there & told me about it.

[mrklean]

pretty cool

[CNCMike]

I think the odds would actually be pretty good for that to happen in the battle at Gettysburg, to be honest. There were 10's of thousands of soldiers there fighting in very close quarters due to the accuracy and distance the musket balls could travel. Nearly face to face with the enemy were those who fought there. 2 soldiers raise their guns at one another and fire, assuming the close proximity, they would be hard pressed to not be aiming at nearly the same place and firing at the same time. I would think that there could be dozens, if not hundreds, of the these fused together balls on the battlefield. The odds of finding them are pretty good as well considering how many people have walked the battlefield and continue to do so every year.

Of course, I could be wrong, I mean, I got married didn't I?

[pinkfloyd4ever]

the mythbusters TV show on discovery did a test of it and they were able to get two musket balls to fuse, but they were not able to get them to fuse by firing at the same time - the amount of gun powder on each would screw up the timing - but they positioned one musked in a frame loosely and fired the other and got them to fuse

[Powerstroke]

I agree that it wouldn't bee all the amazing for it to happen considering all the bullets flying in the old style of warfare. I know lots of people have ventured out on some of those old battle sites and excavated looking for artifacts. I can only imagine what that would've like to find such a treasure.

[Roop-Dogg]

according to the Battle of Gettysburg Resource Center--

union = 23049 casualties include 3155 killed, 14529

wounded, 5365 missing

confederate = 20451 casualties include 2592 killed, 12709 wounded, 5150 missing

[Big Tom]

So many of the key battlefields are gone. I can highly recommend Vicksburg and Shiloh.

[icehousebob]

From what I've read about Gettysburg, there were sometimes ranks of men standing upright 15 or 20 yards apart firing as fast as they could reload. Supposedly, some could fire three rounds a minute. There were trees cut off by small arms fire. One Civil War buff told me that several pairs of fused together minnie balls have been found. Not a fun battle to be in.

[Ferny]

I should go back now that I have a greater interest in history. I just breezed through while in the military and heading to D.C.

I have seen 2 Civil War rounds together on TV.

Believe it or not Minnesota played a role in Gettysburg!

Courtesy of DCmemorials you can Google it for pics!

Sacrifice of the 1st Minnesota

"Every man realized in an instant what that order meant - death or wounds to us all, the sacrifice of a regiment to gain a few minutes' time ...

Lieut William [?] U.S.A.

1st Minnesota Infantry"

Late in the afternoon of July 2, after the collapse of the Union line at the Peach Orchard, Confederate infantry in front of you threatened to pour through a gap in the Union line here. When Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, commander of the Union Second Corps, rode up to assess the situation, only one regiment was at hand to stop the Confederate tide -- the 1st Minnesota.

"My god, are these all the men we have here?" Hancock asked. It was, but they would have to do. "Charge the lines!" shouted Hancock, and immediately the lone regiment swept down the slope "double quick." With levelled bayonets, the Minnesotans crashed into Brig. Gen. Cadmus M. Wilcox's Alabamians who outnumbered them 4-to-1.

The charge broke the Confederate ranks and stalled the Southerners long enough for Union reinforcements to arrive. The Union line was saved, but at a terrific cost. According to a regimental officer, of the 262 Minnesotans in the charge, only 47 escaped death or injury.

The 1st Minnesota Infantry Monument

marks the spot where the Union charge began. The bronze infantryman with fixed bayonet indicates the direction of the charge.

Ferny