Revolutionary War Iron Cannonball Recovered from the Continental Navy Gunboat “Philadelphia”, sunk at the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain, October 11, 1776, and raised in 1935, relic, accompanied by copies of museum paperwork will be included in provenance packet to winning bidder, Fine.
This likely Swivel-gun Cannonball, is consistent in size with a slightly heavier class of ordnance carried aboard the Philadelphia, recovered from the Continental Navy gunboat at the time of her raising in 1935. 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. 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, withdrew to Canada, postponing the British invasion by a full year and allowing the Continental Army to regroup in time for the pivotal American victory at Saratoga in 1777. The Philadelphia was struck 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 before being raised by Lorenzo Hagglund in 1935. She 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. The slightly greater size and weight of this example suggests it may derive from a different gun aboard the vessel. Accompanied by copies of museum provenance packet paperwork.

[American Revolution, Revolutionary War, Battle of Valcour Island] [Benedict Arnold, Continental Navy, Battle of Saratoga] [Weapons and Ordnance, Militaria, Relics]