How to melt the breech of an M1838 6-pdr bronze field gun

[Cannoneer]

This Cyrus Alger & Co. M1838 6-pounder field gun is currently located on the lawn of the Gasconade County Courthouse, in the city of Hermann, Missouri.

Forgive the odd syntax of this article; I copied it from a website about Hermann, MO, and it was written by a reporter for The Advertiser-Courier on the 9th of October, 1907.

"On the afternoon of October 4th, 1864, the advance of Gen. Marmaduke's army in their march westward made its appearance on the hills on the east side of town. The town which maintained a militia company composed of infantry and also a section of artillery had received before the war from Gov. Stewart a cannon, and this on the arrival of Gen. Marmaduke's army a handful of desperate citizens picked up and from the railroad track at the high school fired at the intruders who were coming around what is now called Frank's Bluff. Our gunners in a jiffy pulled their cannon on the hill where the Catholic church stands and fired at the Confederates on the opposite hill, from here they went into the wineyards of the new Stone Hill Wine Co., and kept up the shooting till their ammunition gave out. The Confederates figured that all of the western hills in town were fortified with artillery and checked their advance for an hour or more. The gun had in the meantime been spiked and thrown in the river.... The cannon was later fished out of the river by some soldiers and taken to Jefferson City, but again restored to the town by Gov. Gamble.
For the celebration commemorating the 50th anniversary of Hermann's founding, the cannon was to be fired 50 times. However, on the 48th firing, the barrel burst irreparably."

It's a shame that the townspeople celebrating Hermann's 50th anniversary didn't do a little more research on bronze cannons, because if they had, they might have learned that quickly firing a number of successive shots in a bronze gun could cause it to overheat; even to the extent that the barrel might be "irreparably" damaged.

[cannonmn]

Thx for posting the pic, i was in that town not long ago and didn't know about the cannon.  I'm oot sure the failure was from excessive heat, I'd think more likely a bore obstruction such as using some kind of wad that could become jammed.  A hot gun could have been a contributing factor but i think basic prob was otherwise, perhaps even using wrong kind of powder.

[Cannoneer]

You may be right, either of your conjectures (pehaps even both combined) could be the correct one concerning the cause of why this gun actually burst. One could only hope that the committee that organized the firing of this cannon, at least did some valid homework on the subject, and/or got someone that they believed to be knowledgeable about firing BP artillery, before they gave the green light to the salute; but then again, who actually knows. The phrase "almost anything is possible," covers a lot of territory in any attempt at trying to discern the truth about an event that took place in the past. If I were forced to accept just one of your suppositions, I'd choose your theory that the cannon may have been loaded with the wrong kind of powder. I have personally witnessed individuals (who of course made claims as to having all kinds of hands-on experience handling BP artillery) loading a real cannon with a BP granulation that was intended for use in pistols, and (just to add the cherry on top of this iced cake) when they were informed by someone with practical knowledge in the handling of BP, that this was not a desirable practice due to the fact that using fine grained powder would lead to excessive pressure building up in the barrel, their response was 'this powder was all that was available for purchase at the time'. This may be the type of expert that these townspeople found, or hired to guide them in trying to reach their ultimately unreached goal of firing 50 celebratory salutes from this cannon; who knows? Whatever the case may be, it would certainly be very interesting to be able to read a firsthand account of this occurrence, and also have the opportunity to examine the real barrel.   

I enlarged and cropped the photos.

[KABAR2]

There is a mountain Howitzer abused by some miners out west some where,

they used blasting powder and bulged the barrel in a similar fashion. I will see

if I can find the link.

[RocklockI]

i'm not familar w/an 1838 cannon , so i'll ask if the trunions were below center . if they are/were then it looks upside down....?

did they have to beat the pieces in to fit the mount ? was the cement mount now the same one as when it burst ?

looks like it melted as the relationship between the bore and muzzle ends are so misalgined .

to bad they blew it up . ....i can heard it now       ...'what say boys..we'll load her up good for these last couple shots?/' or the old 'hold my beer...' it must take a long time to shoot 48 shots and as no 'real' balls where being fired they may have imbibed just a little around....the first shot .....boom 'cheers boys' salute !

well 47 more booms and it may be good they didnt make it to 50....?

maybe not .... nothing against the great state of Missouri...im just sayin....

[gary michie]

Hi:
It looks to me that the poor thing got hot tha t breech just slumped.It looks much lower than the true line of the barrel and there is a sign of the extra roll of metal at the rear of the trunnions.

[Ex 49'er]

Looks like it was rode hard and put away broke. Bad children! Can't they learn to play nice and not break your toys?   

[Cannoneer]

i'm not familar w/an 1838 cannon , so i'll ask if the trunions were below center . if they are/were then it looks upside down....?
did they have to beat the pieces in to fit the mount ? was the cement mount now the same one as when it burst ?

Rocklock, the Model 1838, bronze 6-pouder field gun had its tunnions located on the centerline of the bore. I think the gun is mounted right side up, it may appear the way you describe because the breech of the tube is "drooping."

I'm guessing that when the townsfolk were firing their anniversary salutes that this gun was mounted on a carriage, and sometime after it was damaged they had it mounted on the display base that is shown in the photos.