Civil War Fort Morgan Area Target Strap Iron

gainesville

Cadet
Joined
Jan 9, 2019
Purchased 1989 east of Mobile Ala. Knew strap iron from my dads 1890 recreated blacksmith shop. All hand rivets. This is in the form of a man with right arm raised about 6 foot tall. It is either a target for sighting practice from the Fort Walls or a beach silhouette set out at night to discourage landing parties. May be both or some other use.

The story to this interesting item is that two brothers Korean war veterans found this and other things with a surplus mine sweeper. They dug this in the area of Ft Morgan. That is all the information which may be true or false.

About 20 years ago a Mobile Ala resident sent a text with pictures showing some of these staged for a US Navy gun test on an island near Ft Morgan. There were several maybe 20 or more. All were probably destroyed by the Guns. My thought is that they found these in storage and put them out along the with the guns that were set out for the practice. Why would they make them up for this test and why would the they use mid 1800s labor intensive methods?

So the question remains what was it used for and what is it? And yes if the Ft Morgan folks would like it for their museum we would have interest to get it to them.

We will do better pictures once we learn how to post this page.

WIN_20200416_18_43_04_Pro.jpg


WIN_20200416_18_43_00_Pro.jpg
 
Some closer photos of how the crosspieces are attached and of the metal itself would be helpful. Just from the photos and having dug a few shells fragments at Ft Morgan, just not enough rust and pitting for iron to be CW.
 
Purchased 1989 east of Mobile Ala. Knew strap iron from my dads 1890 recreated blacksmith shop. All hand rivets. This is in the form of a man with right arm raised about 6 foot tall. It is either a target for sighting practice from the Fort Walls or a beach silhouette set out at night to discourage landing parties. May be both or some other use.

The story to this interesting item is that two brothers Korean war veterans found this and other things with a surplus mine sweeper. They dug this in the area of Ft Morgan. That is all the information which may be true or false.

About 20 years ago a Mobile Ala resident sent a text with pictures showing some of these staged for a US Navy gun test on an island near Ft Morgan. There were several maybe 20 or more. All were probably destroyed by the Guns. My thought is that they found these in storage and put them out along the with the guns that were set out for the practice. Why would they make them up for this test and why would the they use mid 1800s labor intensive methods?

So the question remains what was it used for and what is it? And yes if the Ft Morgan folks would like it for their museum we would have interest to get it to them.

We will do better pictures once we learn how to post this page.

View attachment 355217

View attachment 355218
One would think the carpenter shop could supply these made of wood much more easily, but worse decisions have been made by commanding officers.
 
Some closer photos of how the crosspieces are attached and of the metal itself would be helpful. Just from the photos and having dug a few shells fragments at Ft Morgan, just not enough rust and pitting for iron to be CW.
Hello and Thank you for the reply. I am challenged how to post pictures so regret I can not give you more. Some more details,

the Navy cannon test was done 1909 according to comment by a Mobil resident. A picture exists which I do not have, of these placed around a cannon soon to be destroyed by ship fire. They looked old then. Another comment is that my close buddy Ray Giron thought it to be of the era and wanted to buy it but I did now want to sell it more interested in the history of it. Ray was a great CW expert and collector. So I can send from my phone pictures of more detail. 352-213-8189.
john
 
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