Obsolete & worn out bronze cannon were returned to the U.S. Ordinance Bureau, melted down & recast. Three 1841 model 6 pdr cannons could be melted down & recast as two 12 pdr Napoleon cannon/howitzers. The current value of bronze is about $2.00 a pound. One of the perceived advantages of bronze cannon was the relative ease of recycling when they were shot out. A look with a flashlight down the bore of CW veteran bronze cannon reveals a pattern of long gouges made by the straps that held the wooden sabot to the round.
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Aimes Model One 14 pnd rifle. Chicago Board of Trade position, Stones River NB. Murfreesboro TN
This is the business end of an Aimes Model One rifle. The exterior is identical to the 1841 Model 6 pdr. #97 was new cast, perhaps by recycling metal from obsolete or worn out cannons. Aimes also bored out & rifled 1861 smoothbores. By this means, an obsolete pea shooter smoothbore was morphed into a lethal 14 pnd rifle with three times the accurate range & exponentially larger hitting power. The Chicago Board of Trade's Aimes rifles held their ground & shot attacking Confederate infantry to tatters December 31, 1862.
After Stones River, the Army of the Cumberland relegated their 1841 Model 6 pdr's to duty in fortifications. Note the dent in the side of the barrel & the corresponding chunk knocked out of the wheel of this 6 pdr or Aimes Model 1. The Army of Tennessee, on the other hand, was largely armed with Model 1841 Model 6 pnd cannon & 12 pnd howitzers at the start of the Tullahoma Campaign in June 1863. That left the A of TN gunners outgunned & out ranged. The almost clownish looking siege howitzer in the background is an example of the obsolete ordinance that armed the A of the C's works in 1863.
They may have been obsolete, but 1841 cannons & a howitzer could still pack a wallop. All shined up, they look like gold shining in the sun... from a distance there is actually a golden haze in the air around them.