Three Civil War cannons pulled from South Carolina river

Sep 30, 2015, 11:42 AM

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/29/us/south-carolina-civil-war-cannons-pee-dee/index.html

For 150 years, the cannons were burrowed in sand and mud that formed protective cocoons.
That isolation ended Tuesday when a team of University of South Carolina archaeologists used heavy equipment to raise 35,000 pounds of iron weaponry from the Pee Dee River.
They are headed to a lab for a couple years of conservation and, eventually, display at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs building in nearby Florence.
Researchers marvel at their condition. Spared more corrosive effects if they had rested in saltwater, the cannons are in "fabulous" shape, said state archaeologist Jonathan Leader.
Foundry marks and stamps made by inspectors are clearly legible.

A 6.4-inch Brooke rifled cannon that was cast in Selma, Alabama, in 1863, is brought to the shore from the Pee Dee River in South Carolina.

"This stuff looks like it was the day that it was put on," said Leader.

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Ohiophinphanmoderator

Sep 30, 2015, 06:23 PM

A 9-inch Dahlgren cannon, which had been recovered by the South from a sunken Union vessel, and two Brooke rifled cannons manufactured in Selma, Alabama, were "premier naval weapons of the Civil War,"

Wow! These are not the typical 10 pound Rodman's, 3 inch ordinance rifles, or 12 pound Napoleons which adorn so many courthouse squares and Civil War memorials. This is premier naval artillery. Major find! Thanks for sharing the info.

OHIOPHINPHAN
Witness to the first ever practice of the Miami Dolphins, 1966.