Revolutionary War Iron Cannonball Relic, Recovered from the Continental Navy Gunboat “Philadelphia” sunk at the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain, October 11, 1776, and raised in 1935, diameter of about 1.5 inches, 0.66 Pound, accompanied by copies of museum paperwork will be included within a Provenance packet, Fine.
This likely Swivel-gun Cannonball was recovered from the Continental Navy gunboat Philadelphia, one of the most historically significant vessels in American naval history and the only surviving intact warship from the Revolutionary War era. The Philadelphia was one of a small fleet of gunboats hastily constructed on Lake Champlain in the summer of 1776 under the Command of Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, built to contest British control of the lake and delay the southward advance of British General Guy Carleton's army from Canada.

Artifacts recovered from the Philadelphia at the time of her raising are among the most direct material survivals of the Naval campaign that helped turn the tide of the Revolutionary War. This cannonball is roughly 0.66 Pounds and has a diameter of about 1.5 inches, accompanied by copies of museum paperwork that will be included in a provenance packet to winning bidder.
At the Battle of Valcour Island on October 11, 1776, the American flotilla engaged a vastly superior British fleet in one of the most consequential naval actions of the Revolutionary War. Though heavily outgunned, Benedict Arnold's fleet fought with extraordinary tenacity, and the delay imposed on the British advance proved decisive. General Carleton, unable to proceed south before winter set in and withdrew to Canada, postponing the British invasion by a full year. The action allowed the Continental Army to regroup in time for the pivotal American victory at Saratoga in 1777.

The Philadelphia was struck by a cannonball below the waterline during the engagement and sank within hours, coming to rest in the cold, preserving waters of Lake Champlain where she remained for 159 years.

She was raised in 1935 by Lorenzo Hagglund and is now permanently displayed at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., where she remains the oldest intact surviving American warship.
[American Revolution, Revolutionary War, Battle of Valcour Island] [Benedict Arnold, Continental Navy, Lake Champlain] [Weapons and Ordnance, Militaria, Relics]