[Cannoneer No. 4]

Owned by a 5th Co. member, the bronze heavy 12-pounder shown in this sepia-tinted photograph was originally a Confederate artillery piece. At the end of the War, it was surrendered to the Federal Army and sent to Washington, D.C. as one of the "spoils of war", where it went into storage. The Federal Army stored it in the basement of Ford's Theater, the same theater in which John Wilkes Booth assassinated Federal President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. It sat in storage there for more than 120 years before finally being sold as surplus.

The photograph records the first time since the end of the War Between the States that this specific Confederate piece had been fired. The last man to pull the lanyard on that cannon prior to Private Cangelosi is unknown to us by name; but it was a Confederate private who last stood at that position with that cannon.

When the bronze heavy 12-pounder fires, it rings like an old plantation bell. The resemblance to the sound of the deep, resonant tones of a plantation bell is even more striking when a live round is fired from the cannon.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

The Washington Artillery of New Orleans - 5th Company and The 6th Massachusetts Light Artillery

[tet68]

I was always in awe of the British gun competitions, where
the teams have to dismantle the gun(I don't remember what kind, small maybe 3 pounder?), cross a ditch, go over a wall, through a door way, set up and fire, then go back and set up and fire. Archaic and a good way to lose a finger or two, generally appeared to be something in the way of casualties no matter how well it went.

[vetvetdoug]

The 1841 12 Pounder I owned was stored at Ford's Theatre and shipped to Chalmette, Louisiana, for some reason back in the early 80's while Ford's was undergoing restoration. Note the dolphins above the trunnions in the picture you linked to. These guns are beautiful but heavy as the devil. I got the cannon in a trade with the NPS for a very historic saddle and accouterments, a saddle that was owned by a MOH recipient and a former commander of the XIV Corps of Sherman's Army.

I have seen the one in the picture at several reenactments and we even pulled it a couple of times. The cannon I owned is now in a massive collection of cannon located in Clear Lake, Wisconsin.

I am limited in my knowledge of artillery but my area of expertise is the horse drawn equipment of 1840-1865. I have horse artillery equipment that I donated in museums at Ft. Leavenworth (Ringgold's equipment), Fort Sill, and Savannah, Tennessee.

Ironically, years ago horse drawn artillery equipment was in barns all over the country and recognizing this, I traded my vet fees for the old equipment if the farmer would trade. It was a gold mine for about ten years until I exhausted the "mines".

A real close friend of mine, Doug Ray Kidd, just recently redesigned the saddles and tack for the Old Guard. The old McClellans were too vertical and did not fit well upon the backs of the modern horses and pathology was developing in the lumbar regions of the horses. He refitted the horses with McClellan looking saddles with the bars wider and better suited for the modern horses. Also, over the years the Old Guard had lost some knowledge about all of the equipment necessary to effectively pull a caisson. Straps from the hames to limber pole had been "lost" and several other Mordecai safety features had been left out resulting in a couple of funeral runaways....(Can one imagine at a funeral the caisson with the casket running away out of control...talk about a cluster...)They have fixed the problems at the Old Guard...it was nice to see reenactors and the current Old Guard get together to make the funeral caissons look and perform well.