Civil War-era artifact turns out to be live explosive, Texas officials say

A man in South Texas had what he thought was a dummy Civil War-era ordnance in his home for years, but it turned out to be a live explosive, local officials said Tuesday. 

The Atascosa County Sheriff’s Office said the man called deputies just before 8 a.m. and told them that a military friend of his saw the artifact and suspected it was active.

“The caller told deputies that he had owned the ordnance for years and had always thought it was a dummy round,” the sheriff’s office said in a social media post.

Sheriff’s deputies said they sent over an explosive disposal team from Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, which is about an hour north of Atascosa County, out of an abundance of caution. The team then confirmed the caller’s suspicion.

The device was a live “parrot round,” the sheriff’s office wrote. It was transported to an explosive range at Camp Bullis, where officials safely disposed of it.

No one was injured and no charges are pending, officials said.

The Parrott rifle, invented by West Point graduate Robert Parrott, is a muzzle-loading cannon commonly used by the Union in the Civil War. It is known for its thick iron reinforcing band wrapped around the breech, according to the National Park Service. 

The weapon came in different sizes, ranging from 10 to 300 pounds. It’s unclear how big the live round was.