Live Civil War cannonballs removed from KSU building, detonated

By Christopher Quinn

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Call it the second evacuation of Kennesaw, thanks to the Civil War.

Enlarge photo

John Spink, jspink@ajc.com Students waited outside the building for the all clear Monday. A Kennesaw State University classroom building was evacuated Monday because of Civil War relics that authorities feared were dangerous.

Related

• Grenade report was false alarm downtown
• Man digs pet's grave, finds grenade
• Grenade in foreclosed house
• Well, it LOOKED like a grenade

More Atlanta area news »

• Beryl may bring rain, wind here
• Suicide call leads to pot bust
• Not all cheating the same at APS
• Sneiderman battle recalls 1989 saga

When General William T. Sherman rode through in 1864, folks got out of the way; and hundreds of Kennesaw State University students were evacuated from a classroom Monday because of two live cannonballs on campus.

They were not uncovered during construction or an archeological dig, but had been gathering dust in a display case for three years on the third floor of the Social Sciences building. The room had limited access.

Sgt. Dana Pierce of the Cobb County Police said that a school staff member began wondering Monday whether the old Civil War era ordnance was still a threat to life and limb. So the person contacted the campus police, who contacted the Cobb Police bomb squad.

Student Audrey Gray, 27, said campus police were opening doors for students to enter the building for class when she arrived around 11 a.m. Shortly after she sat down in her classroom, the police came knocking on doors and askied students and teachers to leave.

"We just figured it was a drill," Gray said.

KSU began texting students, telling them of the situation and letting them know morning classes in the building were canceled.

Gray said everyone left the building calmly, and the police asked them to stand back at least 100 feet from the building.

Pierce said the Cobb bomb squad removed the cannonballs from the building and took them to an isolated location, where members used explosive to blow the old shells up. It is impossible to say if the old shells were dangerous, though they had fuses in them. When the second one was exploded, it did have a louder blast than the first, he said.

Classes in the building resumed at 2 p.m.

Staff writers Mike Morris and Larry Hartstein contributed to this article.