According to reports one ball left the muzzle before the other and the two balls pursued an erratic circular course plowing up an acre of ground, destroying a corn field and mowing down some saplings before the chain broke. Then the balls adopted separate courses, one killing a cow and the other demolishing the chimney on a log cabin. Those observing the test firing scattered in fear of their lives.

Later, some reports claimed that two or three spectators were killed by the firing. The reports of the deaths have not been substantiated. The Watchman, a local newspaper, promptly reported that the test was an unqualified success.

The cannon was then sent, at Gilleland’s insistence, to the Augusta Arsenal for further tests. Colonel Rains, arsenal commandant, tested the gun and reported it a failure for the purpose intended. Colonel Rains had tested a similar weapon at Governor’s Island in 1855 with the same results.

Gilleland, however, was still of the opinion that the gun was a perfect success and engaged in a heated correspondence with the Confederate Secretary of War. Gilleland contended the cannon had been fired successfully and James W. Camak reports one successful shot. Camak also stated that the cannon was very effective if both barrels were loaded with canister or grape shot and fired simultaneously.

Further persistence proving futile Gilleland then approached Governor Brown in an attempt to interest the state in his gun. Brown declined to provide money for further experiments and the cannon was returned to Athens.

For the next few years the double-barrel cannon was used as a signal gun for the town of Athens, to warn of the approach of Union soldiers. There have been claims that the gun was also used against Union infantry, by Lumpkin’s Artillery when they repelled Stoneman’s Raiders at Barbers Creek on August 2, 1864. The cannon was said to be used with canister. The Athens papers did not describe this action in any detail, so further information about the use of the double-barrel cannon in this action is not known.

After the war the cannon was mounted on a carriage and placed in the town square. Today this cannon can can still be seen in the square, mounted at the corner of College and Hancock Aves, in the town of Athens, Georgia.