A remarkable collection of Revolutionary War artifacts that lay hidden beneath the Savannah River for nearly 240 years is now on public display in Georgia's oldest city as the nation marks America's 250th anniversary, according to Fox News.
The Savannah History Museum officially unveiled 19 cannons recovered from the river as part of its new Loyalists & Liberty: Savannah in the American Revolution exhibit. Historians say the discovery represents the largest cache of 18th-century artillery ever recovered from a single Revolutionary War naval event.
Fox News wrote that the cannons were discovered unexpectedly in 2021 after crews with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers uncovered them while dredging the Savannah River to deepen the shipping channel for larger cargo vessels.
"When they were recovered, the cannons were heavily encrusted with oyster shells and marine growth after centuries underwater," said Nora Fleming Lee, CEO of the Coastal Heritage Society. In addition to the artillery pieces, crews also found smaller artifacts, and several of the cannons still contained cannonballs and their original gunpowder charges.
Following their recovery, most of the cannons were transported to a preservation laboratory at Texas A&M University, where conservators spent several years removing salt from the iron through a specialized electrolysis process before stabilizing and protecting the m
