Hvy.Arty Cannons roar

BillWright

Private
Joined
Jul 15, 2021
Some of you are familiar with firing civil war cannon, but have you ever fired a 13 inch mortar with a 5 gallon paint can as a projectile? We used the powder unloaded from 6.4 inch shells. The cannon fired across the Mississippi into Louisiana.
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Since that isn't a very good photo of the mortar itself, here are a couple of shots of it that were taken during our visit to Grand Gulf Park as part of our annual CWT Muster that was held in October, 2019. (This year we're going to Antietam next month!)

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Very Nice. A few questions. What was in the paint can in order for it to fire that far and how many 6.2 inch rounds did you have to use to get the powder to fire it?
 
Did anybody see the two reports I wrote on Grand Gulf? They used to sell them at Grand Gulf.

I'm sure many people have read your reports !

I’m down to one copy.
Please keep this copy !!

You can easily convert your research into a digital format ... and keep those details for everyone interested.

And I will say again, Grand Gulf is one of the most remote and hidden treasures along the Mississippi River.
I honestly hope it never becomes a tourist attraction.

But I doubt we have to worry about that ... as WBTS sites all over the USA seem to be "verboten" these days !

:frown:
 
My first visit to Grand Gulf Military Park in March 2018. Been there twice and wanna go again.
Off topic from the Grand Gulf artillery, (but as I haven't been down there in many years), I've got to ask ... did the
1920's era "whiskey prohibition" submarine survive the Mississippi River flood around 2008 ?

That was a cool little 1920's submersible !
( complete with a Model-T Engine)

:smile coffee:
 
Off topic from the Grand Gulf artillery, (but as I haven't been down there in many years), I've got to ask ... did the
1920's era "whiskey prohibition" submarine survive the Mississippi River flood around 2008 ?

That was a cool little 1920's submersible !
( complete with a Model-T Engine)

:smile coffee:
It was there when we visited for the Vicksburg Muster in Oct. 2019 but I don't know about now. (I see no reason for it to have been moved though.)
 
(I see no reason for it to have been moved though.)
I'm glad to hear it !

I should have asked a more specific question.

The 2008/2011 floods inundated that little museum ... and the "prohibition submarine" was in the Backyard.
( I do think those very rare Civil War era ambulances & hearses were saved).

I'm actually going over to Lake St. John, Louisiana in about three weeks.

I had planned to include an extra day in Natchez.
Now I'm thinking about a second day at Grand Gulf.

The small staff at Grand Gulf have always worked wonders.

Should I detour to GG, I will post images.
 
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