GULF SHORES, AL — Five small cannonballs from the Civil War turned up in a passenger’s suitcase at Gulf Shores International Airport, where a TSA officer spotted an opaque object during a routine X-ray screening on July 18.
The discovery began with a cautious glance at the bag and ended with a reminder that even old munitions can still trigger alarm in an airport. The relics were wrapped in paper towels, and the officer who opened the luggage initially worried he might be looking at something live.
What The Artifacts Were
The items were not just old metal balls. TSA said the objects were artillery cannonballs, which are prohibited items on airplanes even when they are inactive and contain no explosive material or active components.
The largest were described as about the size of grapefruits and roughly the weight of a shot put ball. Officers said the shape and size made them easy to mistake at first glance, especially inside a suitcase where the X-ray image showed only a large, opaque mass.
Lead TSA Officer Justin Dupree said he could not see a fuse and feared he might be holding a live explosive. Supervisory TSA Officer Richard Cash said it was only the second incident of its kind since JKA opened in May 2025.
How Investigators Traced Them
Police later linked the cannonballs to Fort Morgan by matching paint markings applied to the artifacts by fort staff. That identification helped confirm both where the relics came from and that they dated to the American Civil War.
The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office said the cannonballs had been stolen from a storage area at the fort. Officials also said a juvenile took them and placed them in a grandmother’s checked bag, while the grandmother told officers she did not know the items were stolen.
The fort did not respond to an email seeking comment, but investigators said the institution declined to press charges. The artifacts were then returned to Fort Morgan.
From Fort Storage To Airport
Fort Morgan is a historic Gulf Shores fort that played a significant role in several military conflicts, including the Civil War. The cannonballs appear to have been kept in storage there before they were taken and carried off in ordinary luggage.
That path, from a protected historic site to an airport checkpoint, is what made the episode unusual. What could have looked like a routine screening problem quickly became a case involving a stolen artifact, a family member’s bag, and a set of munitions with wartime origins.
The sheriff’s office and TSA did not describe any wider theft pattern, and the source report does not say how long the cannonballs had been missing before they were found.
What Visitors Can Learn
For visitors, the episode shows how historic objects can still cause very modern security headaches. Cannonballs may be inactive, but they remain classified as artillery munitions and can stop a traveler in an airport line.
For researchers and preservation staff, the case underscores the value of markings on historic objects, since the paint applied by fort staff helped identify the pieces quickly. It also shows why storage areas at heritage sites matter as much as exhibits.
At Fort Morgan, the returned cannonballs remain part of the site’s Civil War history. At the airport, the incident became one more example of TSA’s summer screening haul, which has also included smoke grenades, an inert grenade, a pipe bomb look-alike and a samurai sword hidden in a guitar case.
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