Gettysburg Greg
First Sergeant
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2010
- Location
- Decatur, Illinois
I find one of the more interesting vignettes from the Battle of Gettysburg to be the story of the Gettysburg Gun which I'm sure many of my friends here are at least somewhat familiar with. This refers to one of the guns in Brown's Battery B, First Rhode Island Artillery that saw action around the Copse of Trees on July 2nd and 3rd. During the artillery bombardment prior to Pickett's Charge, the battery was in action just south of the Copse of Trees. As one of the guns was being loaded with powder, a very accurate or lucky Confederate shot struck the muzzle of the gun killing the loader and severely wounding the sponge man. The surviving artillerymen attempted to ram the solid shot down the barrel, but the shell was now stuck in the distorted muzzle. They even resorted to using an ax in their attempt to dislodge the round, but as the hot barrel cooled, it welded the solid shot in place. This disabled gun having been struck three times was then moved to the rear. The gun eventually was put on display in the Statehouse in Providence, Rhode Island, where it remained until 1963 when it was decided to bring the gun back to Gettysburg for the Centennial Celebration. It was prior to this move that someone thought of asking about the powder charge still in the tube behind the stuck shell. So the 1863 powder charge was removed by drilling two holes into the back of the tube and flushing out the charge. The Gettysburg Gun made it to the Centennial and then was returned to Providence where it can be seen today resting on a rare Civil War carriage. On the left in my photo, is the gun and the carriage on display in Providence and on the right is a close up focusing on the damaged muzzle and the solid shot that has been stuck in place since July 3, 1863.
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