This non-excavated
specimen is the standard-style canister round for the 20-pounder Parrott rifle. It
contains rows of iron balls packed in sawdust. It is 3" longer than the
standard-style 6-pounder canister, also of 3.67-inch caliber. Standard canister are
found with iron or lead balls stacked in tiers; the interstices are then filled with dry,
sifted sawdust which is packed with a pointed stick so that the balls will hold by
themselves. The wooden sabots found on field canisters have two grooves cut into them. The
cartridge bag was tied onto these deep grooves cut into the wooden sabot in a complicated
fashion. The canister cylinder was commonly made of tin, which was dipped into a lacquer
of beeswax dissolved in spirits of turpentine, to prevent rusting while in field service.
