What kind of cannon is this?

[Forestclimber]

What kind of cannon is this?  It's in our local cemetery.

[GGaskill]

It's a Rodman but I can't tell what size from the pic.

[seacoastartillery]

     That looks like Greendale Cemetery in Indiana, so it must be a 10" Rodman sleeved to an 8" Rifle. 

Tracy and Mike

[Forestclimber]

It is Greendale Cemetery.

[Cat Whisperer]

I'll bet there's not a cemetary, town-square or even backyard in America that has a cannon that great-great-uncle Ephriam brought back from the war that Tracy and Mike haven't seen, logged and photographed!

OR the same for DD's ability to locate, identify and give a brief history of through his internet searching skills.

[thelionspaw]

M&T,
You ABSOLUTELY amaze me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

r

[Cannoneer]

I don't know how they do it!

[subdjoe]

I don't know how they do it!

They drive a lot?

[seacoastartillery]

     We drive a Lot!  The last trip was 6,130 miles.  We have stopped at more Inns and hotels that George Washington slept in, that even George Washington, himself!  Frustrated and tired of going in endless circles around Boston, Mass, Mike berated me vigorously on that last trip east,  "Why do you have all these small towns circled on the map?"  I replied,  "Each town has a cemetery or park with a cannon, now drive!  No, Wait! .....A Dunkin Donuts on the right ahead......Pull in." 

And so it goes,

Tracy

 

[Cannoneer]

Well Joe, that may well be, but aren't those two usually to be found conducting their ordnance investigations in oceanic vicinities, and large lakage[sic] areas within the outline of the contiguous United States (you know how they just love the h2o)?
I think there's the remote chance that M&T observed the Lawrenceburgh, Ind. lettering on the cannon's pedestal, and then googled that cities cemeteries to find that the Greendale Cem. was kind enough to appear first on the list......................................................................... 
Heck I now see that my guess was wrong, (I hate when that happens) and they're saying that they were actually at this cemetary.
Well anyways, here's how I (not driving anywhere near as much as they) would have then concluded the investigation. I would have then gotten out my trusty copy of the "National Registry of Known Surviving Civil War Artillery," and started to check the 8 & 10-inch Rodmans (the gun in the photo doesn't look bigger than that). There are a few 8'' rodmans listed as located in Indiana, but only two of those are in cemeteries, and neither is listed as a Lawrenceburgh cemetery, so that would leave me with a 10'' Rodman sleeved to 8'' rifle with register no. 30, made at the West point Foundry, and located in Greendale, IN at the Greendale Cemetery. Now this choice wouldn't be a certainty for obvious reasons, but the odds would be real good that it was correct.

[subdjoe]

Well Joe, that may well be, but aren't those two usually to be found conducting their ordnance investigations in oceanic vicinities, and large lakage[sic] areas within the outline of the contiguous United States (you know how they just love the h2o)?
I think there's the remote chance that M&T observed the Lawrenceburgh, Ind. lettering on the cannon's pedestal, and then googled that cities cemeteries to find that Greendale Cem. was kind enough to appear first on the list......................................................................... 
Heck I now see that my guess was wrong, (I hate when that happens) and they're saying that they were actually at this cemetary.

If getting from thither to yon it takes them across the inland areas, or maybe along major waterways, it would be a simple matter to get waypoints from some of the map and driving direction sites. 

[Cat Whisperer]

Well Joe, that may well be, but aren't those two usually to be found conducting their ordnance investigations in oceanic vicinities, and large lakage[sic] areas within the outline of the contiguous United States (you know how they just love the h2o)?

...

Perhaps.  But note that many 'seacoast' artillary pieces were shipped elsewhere after the conflicts as trophies and memorials.

I grew up in a house built in 1906 build by a retired sea captain - in the middle of IOWA!

[dominick]

Is that an unusual color for the barrel?  Was there another original color for Civil War barrels other than black?

[subdjoe]

Is that an unusual color for the barrel?  Was there another original color for Civil War barrels other than black?

I would almost be willing to bet that it came to the cemetery via some military post. This salute gun at the local Legion hall



came to it that colour, and they have been repainting it that same colour since. 

[The Jeff]

Is that an unusual color for the barrel?  Was there another original color for Civil War barrels other than black?

I seem to remember some discussion about whether or not the cannon in this picture was painted: http://www.old-picture.com/civil-war/pictures/Putnam-Fort.jpg

I can't remember what was decided, or it could just be the lighting in the photograph.

[Cannoneer]

I grew up in a house built in 1906 build by a retired sea captain - in the middle of IOWA!

Cat Whisperer a.k.a. Mister Muir; did the old salt's ghost ever appear to you?

[Cannoneer]

Is that an unusual color for the barrel?  Was there another original color for Civil War barrels other than black?

I've seen more than a few 19th century guns painted like that, but I don't know why people do it. Maybe they think that it's a Naval gun, and grey is appropriate because that's what they're familiar with. As far as I know, in that era the U.S. Army painted their guns black.

[Cat Whisperer]

I grew up in a house built in 1906 build by a retired sea captain - in the middle of IOWA!

Cat Whisperer a.k.a. Mister Muir; did the old salt's ghost ever appear to you?

Not yet!   

[seacoastartillery]

     I'm pretty sure we saw that Rodman cannon on our mid-America trip in  March of 2007.  We covered less ground on that trip, but it did include high points such as Mt. Vernon, IL, Hoosier National forest, Louisville, KY, Lexington, KY, Lawrenceburgh, IN, just off the Cincinnatti, OH western beltway, Mansfield, OH with all its rifled 42 pounders, Freemont, OH with famous, "Old Betsy" which did so well for us in the French and Indian War, very large Fort Meigs with huge log stockade walls and impressive tower bastions, and finally on to Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois near Davenport, Iowa and then home.

      We did some research on Old Betsy in Freemont, Ohio at the town hall and the Library right there where the gun is displayed.  If you really want to know what guns and field howitzers are good at, read up on the history of this gun.  An internet search will reveal all the grisly details of the British attack on the tiny frontier fort where this six pounder was located.  Unfortunately, a previous photo hosting service lost all those trip photos and we were not smart enough to back up our computer with an off line hard drive back then and when it crashed we lost all of the pics from that trip and about 500 previous pics taken during our early digital camera experience.  Now we have a very reliable photo hosting service, ‘FotoTime’, for $24.95 per year, a back-up drive AND I throw all camera storage cards in a fire-safe as an absolute fail-safe, and buy new ones for the next trip.

     As for alternatively colored guns we have seen famous guns painted an incorrect gray and also silver.  Speaking of gray painted artillery, an 1844, 8" Columbiad, the only chambered Columbiad, is located in a tiny park in Grassville, California.  As for silver painted guns, there is one that comes to mind.  It is a 100 Pdr. Parrott Rifle located in New York State.  This large seacoast artillery piece is actually in a homeowner's backyard in Dresden, NY.  There is quite a large pile of projectiles in front of the big rifle.  They are all painted silver and each is an 8" solid shot or 8" mortar shell with the recessed 'ears' for lifting.  For a 6.4" Rifle??  Figure that out!

Tracy and Mike

We retook this photo in 2008 of one of the four Mansfield, Ohio seacoast guns, a rifled 42 pdr. Cast in 1856 at WPF by RPP when we also covered southern NY and Penn.




This is a Capt. Ed  photo at the 2007 Mansfield, Ohio Artillery Show of  Matt Switlick, Tracy, Mike and intoodeep discussing the Freemont, Ohio cannon, ‘Old Betsy’ and her history and restoration.




A Rifled and Banded 42 pdr. Seacoast gun cast in 1859 at WPF by RPP.  We found it at Woodlawn Cemetery in Titusville, Pennsylvania.  Talk about interesting small town guns; this is it for us. 









 

[seacoastartillery]

     
    A late fifties weekend drive with my parents inspired this search.  I remember clearly a large, dazzling, shiny, cannon on the right side of a road one autumn as we drove toward Fort Ticonderoga between Lake George and Lake Champlain.  I don't remember any lakes being along the route, so it must have been Route 22 and not route 9W along Lake George.

    Here is a photo of the silver painted 100 pdr. Parrott's muzzle.  You can see that we found this gun, after a lot of driving and asking the locals,  "Where is the BIG Cannon?".  It was at the north end of Dresden Road, part of the 'Old Route 22',  50 yards short of where it meets the 'New NY Route 22'  about 20 miles north of Whitehall, N.Y. where the 100 pdr. Parrott on a cliff is located.  Only the upper carriage on that one is silver.  And, despite not being able to see the big rifle from new Rt. 22, everyone can clearly see that we did indeed finally find the Dresden, N.Y. 100 pdr. in a homeowner's backyard!!

Tracy and Mike

[Cannoneer]

I wonder if the people that own that property are delusional about that cannon somehow belonging to them.?

[Forestclimber]

It's hard telling how many times the cannon has been painted.  I would guess the group that painted it thought they were doing the right thing at the time.