Lilly Irons, Shackles, Ball & Chains

[Steve]

As a lover of genealogy, I really liked the look at the life of Eliakim Lilly and his multifaceted military career. I found Lilly's Find A Grave entry with a photo of his grave (his grave does not have a marker):

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1566...akim-lilly

Lilly Irons got their name from a type of whaling harpoon. Here's an image of a lily iron harpoon:

http://www.gcihs.org/archives/items/show/15239

Here's a link to an 1855 news article describing a lily iron harpoon being used against a snake in a New York lake:

https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SDU18550920.2.4

(The article was reprinted nationwide and might be a promotional hoax for P.T. Barnum, but it describes the lily iron harpoon and its use.)

Here's a whaling supplies dealer in Honolulu advertising lily irons among its wares on page 6 of the 30 June 1859 Pacific Commercial Advertiser (below the bold type Hemp Canvas):

   

The earliest advertisements for lily iron harpoons that I could find is from February 1850, so I'm guessing they probably first appeared sometime in the 1840's. I don't know how the harpoons got the lilly iron moniker, whether they were invented by someone named Lilly or not. During the Civil War naval sailors, some of whom presumably used to be whalers, gave the shackles that nickname.

I also found this article about a prisoner restrained with lilly iron shackles in the 28 Dec. 1875 edition of the Wilmington Daily Commercial (DE) that I thought would be worth sharing: