Destruction of historic cannons at Ft. McNair, Washington DC

[cannonmn]

Rubbings often help since you get better contrast (gray  on white)

[cannonmn]

I called the person listed on the Army letter as the point of contact, but he's out until 8/18, so I left him a voicemail.  I'm sure when the Army looks at the pictures of their Spanish rifled 4-pounder that's had the engraving stirpped off of it, and the intact weapon of the same model in the side-by-side photos, they'll be asking themselves how all that bronze was removed from the gun.  Hopefully they'll wonder what they can do to prevent the rest of their priceless bronze trophies from suffering the same fate. 

Of the fine French short 4-pounders they have outside, I'd say none have corrosion damage as great as that seen on the rifled Spanish gun, although I didn't photograph the pair in the General's front yard this trip.  When I was taking pictures at that spot in '83, the entire MP force rolled up in several cars and asked me to go away, so I did.

The French short 4-pounders at Fort McNair now or since I've been checking on them consist of: 

2 ea. painted black, at Inter-American Defense College, excellent condition

2 ea. in front yard of General Officer's quarters, condition uncertain but appear from a distance to be corroding.

1 ea. near flagpole (pictured in this discussion), fair condition, ongoing corrosion

2 ea. in front of academic building near Nat. War College, one in shade in very good condition, one in sunlight in fair conditon with ongoing corrosion.

2 ea., were in front of officer's club ca. 1980, since replace by two US 24? pounder field howitzers, M1841.  Present location of the two French 4-pounders unknown.

[cannonmn]

What the Army needs to do is to move all of the endangered cannons under a roof ASAP, that will stop the ongoing corrosion until they decide on a more permanent solution.

If the Army can't find the funds to pay for the equipment and operator, I'll provide it at no cost to the government. I'd move any or all of the pieces from their present locations to a sheltered location on the post, as long as each piece is under 4200 lbs.

[Cat Whisperer]

I can see the National Campaign to Save the Cannons now.

 

[cannonmn]

http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/acidrain/2.html

[cannonmn]

Yesterday I talked to Jeff Kimball, Chief Conservator of the Army Museum System, about the cannons.  It is the first time I'd gotten to talk to anyone about it except some previous exchanges via email and letter.  I also talked to some folks about a large facility being built at Fort Belvoir VA, which is called the "Museum Support Center."  It will be completed in 2010, well ahead of the new National Museum of the United States Army nearby (that completes in 2013.)  The new Museum Support Center would of course be the ideal place to carry out whatever they decide is required for the Fort McNair cannons. 

The only "wrong answer" as far as I'm concerned is that nothing will be done to preserve, move, or conserve the cannons.

I've also contacted some philanthropists who I have good reason to believe would be inclined to make donations to fix the cannon situation at Fort McNair.  I'm coordinating that with the Army Historical Foundation to make sure we do that right.  Any donations would go directly to them, since none of my companies are set up as 501C(3) nonprofit organizations.

[GGaskill]

It would be interesting to note if there were any weights recorded when the guns were placed.  If so, they could be weighed now for an indication of how much metal has been lost.

[cannonmn]

if there were any weights recorded when the guns were placed.

I can guarantee you there is no such record.  No one I've talked to knows when the guns got to their present locations.  I haven't been able to find anyone who knows of any inventory of them taken at any time.  I'm not sure they have any list now, other than maybe something like "bronze cannon in front of Smith Hall, approx. 5 feet long."

There are two different old inventory numbers marked on each bronze cannon, one on the muzzle, of the form "No. 27."  Then near the vent there's another, different number of the form "14."  Both sets are stamped in with large (at least 1/2 inch) metal stamps, with a 20th C. number font.  One person I talked to at Ft. McNair thinks those numbers may have been put on by WPA people in the 1930's.  There were a great many such military history projects the WPA was assigned back then.  No one knows what happened to any lists that may have been compiled using those numbers.  I told them one problem of not having good ID and descriptions of the cannons is that they are quite valuable and if one "goes missing" you don't have a good chance of finding it or convicting anybody unless you have a very good description of it.  I'm not even sure they have any photos of the cannons, it is a case of near total neglect.

[cannonmn]

Yesterday I got some feedback which told me there's no interest in doing anything with the cannons at Ft. McNair, within the Army or the official Army charities.  That's going to make it a little harder to get something done, but not impossible.

In all fairness, I do have the Army letter saying they have let a conservation contract (which may or may not address the cannons.) 

I think I have a good case that I can sum up like this:  The people in charge of those priceless historical treasures are only temporary custodians, the cannons don't really "belong" to them.  They belong to the country.  The temporary custodians have an unwritten obligation to protect such treasures for the enjoyment of future generations, and also out of respect for the heroes that used them or captured them as the case may be.  The excuses I'm getting like "we don't have money in the budget to do that" are lame ones.  The folks at the Center of Military History which is located at Ft. McNair are the temporary custodians, and some of them are being paid 6-figure salaries by the US Government.

To put it quite bluntly, as a taxpayer I expect someone making 6-figures to be smart enough to figure out a way to get something done about this pathetic situation.  When you get to that kind of paygrade, you're expected to be at least a little bit creative.  Hopefully someone is doing that and just isn't able to keep me informed so as not to compromise the strategy. 

Meanwhile I've talked to a friend, an Army officer, who has suggested some different tactics to get this done, and I'm going with his suggestions.  What I've been doing is essentially making a daytime frontal attack, which allows the other side (I hate to call them "the enemy") to take cover in their foxholes, use all weapons with planned optimum fields of fire, etc.   It is probably the time to employ stealth and more enlightened strategy and tactics.