cannon sighting in Fairfield, TX...big pics

[Don Krag]

While camping in East TX in the snow over Easter weekend......yes, snow in TX in April....we spotted this outside the courthouse. This is an original field cannon brought back from the battle in Mansfield, LA. It's in sad shape. The bore is filled almost completely with rusted crud. If I had the space and materials, I'd make them an offer to restore it. The built a large cover and lots of plaques and memorials...you'd think they'd at least repaint everything! Here's the pics (I left them original size for detail):

http://home.armourarchive.org/members/krag/TXcannon1.JPG
http://home.armourarchive.org/members/krag/TXcannon2.JPG
http://home.armourarchive.org/members/krag/TXcannon3.JPG
http://home.armourarchive.org/members/krag/TXcannon4.JPG
http://home.armourarchive.org/members/krag/TXcannon5.JPG
http://home.armourarchive.org/members/krag/TXcannon6.JPG

[Div Arty]

   
     Don

     Those are great shots for carriage information, besides just having plans.  Where ever you point the cursor and click, it enlarges that part.  Didn't know you could do that.   It will realy help in my project. 
                    Thanks   Div Arty

[Santa Dave]

Nice Pics!
At least a couple coats of Thompson's would be nice!
Santa

[Artilleryman]

Div Arty,  There are several errors in this carriage.  The large pointing ring should fold.  The eye bolt and chin bolts have been switched, the eye bolt should be in front and the chin bolt to the rear.  The linstock socket is too far forward.  The D-rings are missing as are the implement hangers.  The trunnion straps are not one piece, and of course the axle and wheels are from a wagon.  There are some other errors.

Having said all this the people of Fairfield back when this carriage was fabricated had their hearts in the right place.   It's too bad that they have let this monument get in such bad shape.

[Don Krag]

The carraige looked odd to me, especially the wheels/hubs. CW era items aren't my focus, so I really didn't know. All the hardware used looked to be fairly coarse grained wrought iron, so it looks like they stripped down an original and used what they could. I'd like to find out when it was put up on display and what all was rebuilt. The barrel is a travesty of gun ownership with active surface rust an no boreplug!

Still neat to run across something like this where you wouldn't expect it, though!

[Artilleryman]

Don did you happen to get the information stamped into the muzzle, or the trunnions?

[seacoastartillery]

Don,

     I was wondering the same thing as Artilleryman.  Do you have another pic of the muzzle which might reveal more than the inspector's initials we can see here, CCC?  He inspected these Ordinance Rifles which were made at Phoenix Iron Works in Phoenixville, PA. during the war years.  According to the National List of Surviving Civil War Artillery formerly compiled by the late Wayne Stark and others, this gun should be 816 Lbs. with a registry No. of 528 and a Foundry No. of 562, made in 1862.   Having right-hand rifling of a 7 groove design, these field guns were well thought of by the men who were assigned to serve them.
 
     Thank you for including the photo of the plaque.  Without this, most of us would not be aware of this gun's extremely unique story.

Mike and Tracy

P.S.  I just found the inspector's name who was the Union Army's ordinance inspector at the Phoenix Iron Works from 1862 to 1867; it is Clemens C. Chafee.

[Don Krag]

We'll be going fishing out there fairly often May/June. I'll be sure and get the pics then. My camera's batteries were dying when I took these, so the last two pics never actually took. I had a closeup straight on the muzzle. It was so rusted out, you couldn't even tell it was rifled!

It was kinda funny how we found the cannon. It was snowing hard enough we didn't feel like cooking over a campfire so we drove into town from the lake. My wife's cousin leans over at dinner and says "hey, how'd you like that big cannon we drove past?" I said..."cannon...what cannon?" On the way back I saw it and told my wife we'd be stopping on the way out the next day! I think we were in too much shock from snow in East Texas, in April to have noticed it the first time. Funny thing is, I had driven by it several times already and never noticed it!

I have several 50+" iron tires and lots of oak. I might have to write city hall and make them an offer. A friend of mine here built some really nice carraiges for guys and is retired now. I'm sure I could enlist his aid. They have most of the hardware. I could forge out what they don't have. I'd hit them for about $500 for materials, so it would be quite a deal for them!

[Double D]

Remember these were buried and dug up.  Google Val Verde Battery for a lot more info.