Five Lead Balls (FOUS 2704) - Public domain natural history illustration

Five lead, .50 caliber musket balls for a muzzle-loading gun. Like FOUS 181, 1023, and 1450, these balls were probably used in a musket such as the Northwest Trade gun. Inventories, letters, and orders indicate that Fort Union kept large quantities of this gun in stock to trade with hunters or to exchange with tribal headmen for buffalo robes and other furs.