Civil War cannon discovered in Michigan

Posted 3:43PM on Thursday 28th November 2002 ( 22 years ago )

AUGUSTA - A piece of rusted iron unearthed six years ago by utility workers in Petoskey, Mich., has been found to be a Confederate artillery piece made in Augusta. The 1,000-pound iron cylinder sat unwanted in a field until local authorities asked a Civil War group to take the relic off their hands. ``They said they had an old cannon, and did we want it,'' said Fred Knoodle, a Harbor Springs, Mich., member of the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War - a northern equivalent of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. After examining the artillery piece, Knoodle discovered an unusual inscription in the cast-iron trunnion: ``Govert. Foundry & Machine Works, Augusta.'' The cannon turned out to be the only known iron cannon from the Augusta foundry, which typically cast bronze artillery pieces. ``It's major,'' said Gordon Blaker, the curator of the Augusta Museum of History. Now that the cannon's origin has been discovered, the Civil War history buffs are trying to figure out how ended up in Michigan, more than 1,100 miles away. ``Nobody can figure out how it ended up way up here,'' Knoodle said. It was found by sewer line workers 6 feet underground behind a century-old hotel. The barrel tip is broken off the cannon, which could muddy efforts to trace its origins, which likely date between 1862 and 1865. ``A lot of the vital information would have been inscribed on the missing portion,'' Blaker said. ``The serial number, date and weight all would be on the muzzle, so with that gone, there's not much more we're likely to find out unless someone finds other information.'' Augusta Museum officials would welcome a chance to examine or perhaps acquire the cannon. But for now, Michigan historians plan to keep it in the town where it was found. ``It was donated to our group with thoughts we could restore it and put it in a suitable location in Petoskey,'' Knoodle said.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/11/187191