Almost scrapped during WWII, Civil War treasures in a small Kansas town

SWMODave

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Both photos courtesy Waymarking​

Back in 1986, while visiting relatives in Hutchinson, Kansas, I was taken to visit their Soldiers and Sailors Monument, which is located in the center of their town. The monument is beautiful, with soldiers on the four corners depicting infantry, artillery, cavalry, and a sailor, topped with Abraham Lincoln. As part of Wilson’s Creek artillery demonstration crew at the time, it was the two bronze cannons behind the monument, that caught my eye. I wasn’t knowledgeable enough on the piece’s to know anything about them, beyond they appeared to be similar to the 6 pounder I fired at Wilson’s Creek, but I did know they were valuable enough to be more secure. None of the trunnion plates or wheels were secure. Not something a few teenagers could haul off in the back of a pickup, but still… I let my relative know of this concern, and as he was an employee with the city, this lack of security was somewhat rectified, shortly thereafter. In 2004, the carriages were replaced with iron carriages. I recently did some research (gotta love the internet and all that information now immediately available) to see what the story on these two cannon were. Apparently, a few years after I had visited the pieces, word began to spread on what jewels Hutchinson had sitting in its downtown area.

According to the 2004 edition of ‘Field Artillery Weapons of the Civil War’ by James C. Hazlett, Edwin Olmstead, M. Hume Parks, these are the two guns Hutchinson, KS has pictured above.

#1 Quinby and Robinson, Bronze and Iron 6-pounder guns - Quinby and Robinson, also known as Western Foundry, in Memphis, Tennessee, produced thirteen 6-pounder guns by June 1862, all but one of them of bronze. The first of these to be found, reported in Hutchinson, Kansas, is said to resemble a Federal Model of 1841. Because of a fire which destroyed the machine shop, some rough castings were shipped elsewhere for machining. One 6-pounder casting was tallied as finished by A.B. Reading and Brother, and two others by A.M. Paxton and Co., both of Vicksburg, Mississippi.

#2 A. B. Reading and Bro., Bronze 6-pounder Guns - A. B. Reading and Brother of Vicksburg, Mississippi, cast 35 and completed 32 bronze 6-pounder guns similar to the Federal Model 1841(appendix 8D). They are represented by only four survivors with marks, two of which, numbers 10 and 11, were last reported in Southfield, Michigan. Both dated 1862, are 65.75 inches long overall. Data for the third, at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, are unavailable except for its number, "35." The fourth has recently been found in Hutchinson, Kansas. Two other pieces were recorded in Atlanta in I864, No. 14, dated 1862, was received at Atlanta Armory on 19 April 1864 and sent the same day, presumably for remelting, to Colonel George Washington Rains of the Government Foundry and Machine Works in Augusta. On 15 June, 1864 “6-pdr bronze gun, A.B.R.&B. Vicksburg No 9” was issued to Colonel Claghorn in Augusta.

In the September 15, 1942 edition of the Hutchinson News, Mayor Willis N Kelly announced the two bronze cannons, would probably be donated to the war effort as part of a state wide scrap drive. They were saved, thanks to the efforts of the ladies auxiliary, and in 2001, the city was offered $90,000 for the cannon barrels, with replica replacements supplied as part of the offer. That offer, as had all former offers, was rejected.

Each barrel has been appraised at $100,000 each and they both sit in downtown 'Hutch' to this day. They do appear, at least in the photo, to be a little more secure than they were 30+ years ago.

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Thanks for sharing. Great photos and story. People just don't realize how many cannons were scrapped for the metal drives of WW2.
 
...In 2004, the carriages were replaced with iron carriages...

I would hope that they are instead the wood-grained and painted aluminum carriages of the National Park Service pattern. More weather-stable than iron, and more replaceable (as NPS die) in the event of intentional or disaster damage. At least it's typical for ACW guns displayed at civic monuments all over the country.

Next time you're there try a magnet on one.
 
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Far too often, this was the fate of those "old relics".

One cookie re-ward to whoever can identify the gun.

CLINTON — Memorial Day makes local historian Robert Betsinger think of a Civil War cannon that used to sit in Springdale Cemetery.
Betsinger’s father told him the gun was fired every Memorial Day. “He used to go up there with his grandmother,” Betsinger said. Both of his father’s grandfathers were in the Civil War.

The cannon sat near the Springdale Civil War memorial until the 1940s when it was dismantled for a scrap drive during World War II. Betsinger remembers a photo in the Clinton Herald showing people trying to cut it with a blow torch. You can’t cut cast iron with torch, Betsinger said.

The cannon sat on a base that said “American Defender 1861-1865. The cannon looks large, Betsinger said. “It wasn’t as big as you think it was.” The barrel was about five feet long and had a 2 1/2- or 3-inch bore, Betsinger said.

https://www.clintonherald.com/news/...cle_b50358d2-b821-11eb-9d16-e35a94947566.html
 
I wonder if the scrap drives in WW2 actually did any good, or were just propaganda? I’ve never seen any data that talks about how much scrap collected was actually useful... but based on what I know of the Great Leap Forward (which was fueled by a similar scrap drive) I doubt much of it was. So much of our history was lost in those drives.
 
Regarding the WW2 scrap drives - in the 1980s, John Kenneth Galbraith, who was working for the Govt on committees that assigned war priorities and price controls, said in an interview on PBS that the WW2 scrap drives were all orchestrated to get the the American public more involved in the War Effort. They actually did not need or use any of the scrap metal that was given them. He laughed thinking about it.
 
Keep on Scrapping: The Salvage Drives of World War II
Hugh Rockoff
NBER Working Paper No. 13418
September 2007
JEL No. N42

ABSTRACT
During World War II Americans were called upon repeatedly to salvage raw materials for the war effort, often during brief, highly publicized "drives." Stories about the salvage drives are a staple in both popular and scholarly histories of the home front, and in film documentaries, because the drives appear to demonstrate the potential importance of non-economic motives such as patriotism and community spirit. Here I reexamine economic effects of five drives: aluminum, silk, cooking fat, and the two most important, iron and steel, and rubber. The drives, it turns out, had a more limited impact on the economy than might be imagined from some of the enthusiastic portrayals in the popular and historical literatures. At most, the drives increased scrap collections by relatively small margins above what would have been collected during a prosperous peacetime period. The impact of economic incentives on the supply of scrap materials, and the impact of the maneuvering of special interests for advantage, moreover, can be seen at every turn. If the drives were important it was through their impact on civilian morale.

Hugh Rockoff
Department of Economics
75 Hamilton Street
Rutgers University
College Avenue Campus
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1248
and NBER
[email protected]


Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
Fort Bliss scrap drive claims general's hitching post, 'Blue Whistler' McGinty cannon
Trish Long
El Paso Times

While researching last week's column on the theft of a cannon from the Pershing Gate at Fort Bliss, I came across another interesting article. In September 1942, the post was holding a scrap drive to aid in the war effort. Among the items sent to scrap was Maj. Gen. Innis Swift's hitching post and the "Blue Whistler" McGinty cannon that played a large part in the early history of El Paso and Mexico.

Five tons of posts went the way of all scrap last week at Fort Bliss – to the piles that will help keep steel mills running. Since Sept. 1, 20,000 pounds of ornamental pipe and fencing have been collected on the post. Lt. I.L. Harper, in charge of the Fort Bliss drive, estimates that there are still about 10 tons of available scrap on the post in the form of ornamental fencing. Two bronze cannons, weighing 1,250 pounds each, have been uncovered in the ordnance and contributed to the drive. Lieutenant Harper estimated that at present there are about 1,750,000 pounds of scrap in the Bliss collection.


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Standing by the McGinty cannon in this Sept. 24, 1942, photo, from left, are: Lt. I.L. Harper, salvage officer at Fort Bliss; Mayor John E. Anderson and Henry P. Hanwick, commander of American Legion Post No. 36.

A few days later, Sept. 24, 1942, an article reported that the "Blue Whistler" McGinty cannon would be added to the scrap:

The McGinty cannon, "Old Blue Whistler" of the Civil War and veteran of the Madero Revolution of 1911, is on the warpath again. The pioneer brass gun, which with the caisson weighs a ton, is to be scrapped for the Big Scrap drive. McGinty today, with three World War No. 1 guns, 3-inch field pieces, was hauled to Fort Bliss from the American Legion Home at 519 North Santa Fe St. The guns are a gift to Uncle Sam's war sale at the fort from the American Legion Post No 36, with the consent of Mayor Anderson for the city. Back in battle. "We are giving them back to the government," said Henry P. Hanwick, commander of Post No. 36. "It's time they got streamlined and did some more fighting." Lt. I.L. Harper, Fort Bliss salvage officer, today at the Legion Home with a soldier crew that hauled them away, received the guns with ceremony from Legion officers.


The McGinty cannon boomed its way into Southwest history on the Federal Forces' side at the battle of Val Verde, N.M., in 1862. It was one of eight cannons captured from the Yankees by forces under Capt. T.T. Teel, commander of the western artillery division of the Confederates. When reinforcements to the Yankees came, Captain Teel and his men retreated hastily, taking the guns with them. They buried four of the guns at Albuquerque and four at San Marcial, N.M. In 1889, Teel, who had emerged from the Civil War as a major, met Charles Crawford in Kansas City on legal business. Crawford had served with the Federal Army's scouts in the Southwest and knew about the guns. The two veterans decided to go to Albuquerque and dig up the guns. They found them, using an old map of Teel's. One of the four cannons was presented to St. Joseph, Mo., birthplace of Mr. Crawford, a second was left at Albuquerque; a third was sent to Denver for the Capitol grounds.

The fourth cannon was "Old McGinty."

"I am going to keep this cannon," said Major Teel. "The Federal soldiers called it Blue Whistler because of a peculiar sound it made when discharged. The Confederates adopted the name." The cannon was given to El Paso's famous McGinty Club, a social organization of prominent El Paso men. Blue Whistler was placed on the knoll known as McGinty Hill, amid a fanfare of publicity and public celebration. It was fired every July Fourth. In later years, after the passing of the McGinty Club, the gun became the property of the Pioneer Club. It was in the plaza when the Madero Revolution reached its zenith. On April 17, 1911, the cannon disappeared from the plaza, creating excitement and resulting in a wide search. It developed that prominent citizens, sympathetic to Madero's cause, had smuggled it across the Rio Grande under a wagonload of hay and furniture. The cannon was used in the battle of Ojinaga, 200 miles south of Juárez. Subsequently, Mexican citizens returned the cannon to El Paso. The city turned it over to the American Legion Post No. 36.

Trish Long may be reached at [email protected].


Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
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