Looks like a little boat, doesn't it? I dug it from very near the Confederates most southern artillery emplacement, South Fort, which overlooks the Mississippi River. For that reason, I think it certainly was the Confederate soldier's intent to carve a minie ball in the shape of a boat or ship - a trinket in the shape of his enemy - the boats of Porter's and Farragut's armadas firing at the fort and the trenches along the ridges from the river below.
