Lt.Arty Confederate Cannon

Interesting that Alger is mentioned on the memorial. There was camp named for him in and around Fairfax County VA outside Wash DC once war was declared against Spain. Many volunteer militia units were sent/stationed there, some being re-activated National Guard regiments. My great-great uncle was camped there briefly before it departed for Florida and eventually to Cuba at Santiago. He was in the First District of Columbia Volunteers, company C. Good thing he didn't stay at Camp Alger for long. Most of the camp suffered from dysentery due to poor sanitary engineering and fouled water/rotten foodstuffs; disease became rampant within a month. What made things worse for the troops stationed there was that the women brought out to the camp from the D.C. brothels were carriers of all kinds of nasty venereal diseases. Enlisted men and officers both suffered from all of the above.

My relative was lucky to avoid all of that at Camp Alger, but like so many others got malaria in Cuba. He was sick for years with it. He finally recovered, got a law degree and was practicing law in D.C. He re-enlisted in 1917 at Ft. Meyer when Wilson declared war on the Central powers. He served as major in rank with the 80th Division AEF as judge advocate. Served in France during all three phases of the Argonne offensive. Remained over there after the Armistice as part of the occupational forces. He met a young French girl 20 years younger than him and married her and brought her home here.....that was a happy ending for him....
 
Interesting that Alger is mentioned on the memorial. There was camp named for him in and around Fairfax County VA outside Wash DC once war was declared against Spain. Many volunteer militia units were sent/stationed there, some being re-activated National Guard regiments. My great-great uncle was camped there briefly before it departed for Florida and eventually to Cuba at Santiago. He was in the First District of Columbia Volunteers, company C. Good thing he didn't stay at Camp Alger for long. Most of the camp suffered from dysentery due to poor sanitary engineering and fouled water/rotten foodstuffs; disease became rampant within a month. What made things worse for the troops stationed there was that the women brought out to the camp from the D.C. brothels were carriers of all kinds of nasty venereal diseases. Enlisted men and officers both suffered from all of the above.

My relative was lucky to avoid all of that at Camp Alger, but like so many others got malaria in Cuba. He was sick for years with it. He finally recovered, got a law degree and was practicing law in D.C. He re-enlisted in 1917 at Ft. Meyer when Wilson declared war on the Central powers. He served as major in rank with the 80th Division AEF as judge advocate. Served in France during all three phases of the Argonne offensive. Remained over there after the Armistice as part of the occupational forces. He met a young French girl 20 years younger than him and married her and brought her home here.....that was a happy ending for him....
Great family story . Alger was a highly regarded Colonel of the 5th Michigan Cavalry during the Civil war.
 
If you Google " Civil War Confederate Cannon-Charlevoix Emmet History " you will find a lot more info . There is a number "ADP09192008A" shown and "Govt. Foundry Machine Works Augusta". Also great images before restoration .
Here's that link. You'll have to scroll down to see the pictures of the cannon prior to restoration. Seems it was just found in 1996.
 
An interesting find, I will have to take a look at this gun when I am next in Michigan though I suspect I can’t add much more to what has already been said here.

The guns in Mackinaw City are all Dalghren guns from the USS Hartford, Admiral Farragut’s flaship at the Battle of Mobile Bay. Somewhere I have pictures of them, though probably not very good quality but digital at least.
 
The serial number on the one trunnion interests me... it seems 20th century to me. Possibly this is one of the last guns to get turned over to the GAR, after the US Army had added a later serial number to it? I also wonder if the gun was buried to save it from a scrap drive during one the World Wars? A

I think the supposition that it was damaged during a firing is sound, but I suppose without a detailed study of the fracture that is anyone’s guess. I don’t think a damaged gun would have been issued out as a monument though.

A neat Confederate Napoleon none the less.
 
A neat Confederate Napoleon none the less.

I can't help but think that there might be details hidden in a local article, starting circa 1899.

Newspapers.com search, anyone? Starting with https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10105540/col_bryan_arrives_to_cannon_fire_in/
I'd suggest working backwards from that date through area newspapers.

There are two other data points to work - Augusta Arsenal (like this https://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?1987-Augusta-Arsenal-Cannon-s ) and the 1996 re-discovery.
 
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I can't help but think that there might be details hidden in a local article, starting circa 1899.

Newspapers.com search, anyone? Starting with https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10105540/col_bryan_arrives_to_cannon_fire_in/
I'd suggest working backwards from that date through area newspapers.

There are two other data points to work - Augusta Arsenal (like this https://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?1987-Augusta-Arsenal-Cannon-s ) and the 1996 re-discovery.
Interesting . Bay View is a Methodist resort dating to the 1870s . It is in Petoskey . It obviously was a big deal to have William Jennings Bryan speak . Could be the same cannon.
 
So what we don't know, or 'are we asking the right questions'? -

1. Where in the Augusta Arsenal timeline was this cannon manufactured?
2. To what CSA unit was it assigned?
3. When, where and by whom was it capture?
4. Why and when was it sent to Petoskey?
5. Why did is disappear from the public eye?
6. Was was the last 12" of the tube destroyed / missing?
7. Is 6 related to 5, and would this even have made the papers? My gut says someone tried to fire it and did something stupid
8. Seems like it was relegated to filler material, per the 1996 rediscover. Are any of the discoverers still around?
 
So what we don't know, or 'are we asking the right questions'? -

1. Where in the Augusta Arsenal timeline was this cannon manufactured?
2. To what CSA unit was it assigned?
3. When, where and by whom was it capture?
4. Why and when was it sent to Petoskey?
5. Why did is disappear from the public eye?
6. Was was the last 12" of the tube destroyed / missing?
7. Is 6 related to 5, and would this even have made the papers? My gut says someone tried to fire it and did something stupid
8. Seems like it was relegated to filler material, per the 1996 rediscover. Are any of the discoverers still around?
Without muzzle or trunion info, question 1 will never be answered.
Questions 2 and 3 can not be answered, because those records were never kept
Questions 4, 5 and 6 are mysteries! :smile:
 
Without muzzle or trunion info, question 1 will never be answered.
Questions 2 and 3 can not be answered, because those records were never kept

You're focusing on the CSA official records side of things, without considering that the information may have been recorded in Federal records somewhere or recorded in a newspaper article (or personal account) somewhere.

Questions 4, 5 and 6 are mysteries! :smile:

Mysteries are solved all the time. Sometimes, right on these pages.
 
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