We own some property directly above Spring Lake in San Marcos and there were two cannonballs found on the property years ago. The best I can find is the Spanish came to the area in the early 1800's and fought with the Tonkawa and Apache Indians in the area- especially around the springs. I would assume the cannonball is from that era and was a product of the Spanish. Is anyone here familiar with the area and have any insight on the history of the cannonball pictured here? We'd love to know more!
What is the diameter of the shot? I'm more of an Ohio and War of 1812-Napoleonic artillery specialist but 2-pounders would have been very small for any use besides swivel or saluting guns. Grape shot and canister shot (a sort of shotgun shell for muzzleloading artillery) used smaller iron balls--such as this example. The tricky part is that grapeshot was used continuously between the early 18th century and the American Civil War, and didn't vary much from this example http://www.civilwarartillery.com/projectiles/canister/IIIA30.htm My impression is that Texas Revolution field artillery was more often made up of six-pounders and six-inch howitzers (24-pounder bore): the former would have had a smaller, 1 inch grapeshot. 8-, 9-, and 12-pounders could also be mounted and brought out as field artillery and would have fired stands of grapeshot. So this could have been from a early settlement swivel gun, a Texas Revolution era 12-pounder field gun or a later Civil War era gun-howitzer (or of course a shot put or bocce ball or some kind of round weight).
Do you know what the weight is and whether it has any markings?
