Any historic cannon experts in here?

[ClemBert]

One of the cannons is marked on the trunions as being made by C Algers of Boston in 1861 and the other is my Ames in 1842 of Springfield Mass.

Neither seems to have been marked on the muzzles.

They are maintained by the Pershing Rifles Company of the schools ROTC department.

I got the info from an article in the Newsletter of theMilitary History Center of the Carolinas "Netcall"

-kBob

Hey, thanks for the pointer to the Netcall article on the cannons. I read the article and learned a lot.

 

[kBob]

While looking for the Tom & Jerry stuff I also found that indeed a pair of M1841 Mountain Howitzers on modified six pounder carriages DID set on the steps of the Florida Capital from 1909 to 1979. One was on display at the state history museum sort of behind (west) of the capital and the other is now in the old Capital building.

-kBob

 

[expat_alaska]

I have no expertise but the guys here know a lot:

https://civilwartalk.com/forums/civil-war-weapons-and-ammunition.93/

Good luck in your endeavors.

Jim

 

[ClemBert]

Here's the Netcall article that kBob was referring to starting on page 6 regarding the Tom and Jerry model M1841 cannons that are parked on the Clemson University campus.

Netcall August 2017

Here are some highlights:

• Tom: Cast in in 1861 by C. Alger & Co. of Boston (side note: first gun ever rifled in America was made by C. Alger & Co.)
• Jerry: Cast in 1842 by N.P. Ames Foundry of Springfield, Massachusetts
• Cannons had been stored for years in the SC State Capital basement then donated to Clemson in the 1930's to be melted down to for use in the Thomas Green Clemson statue (the one that kBob was to prank...but other bronze was eventually used)
• Cannons were saved as a result of the great depression (not enough funds to complete the bronze statue project) and were stored in the Clemson industrial engineering building machine shop. The statue was cast in stone aggregate for the time being.
• In 1951 cannons were pulled out of storage and mounted on concrete pedestals overlooking historic Bowman field to make the campus "more attractive"
• In 1966 the stone statue was replaced with a bronze version from other materials and it was this bronze statue that kBob and his merry band of cadets pranked in 1972 (Clemson beat Citadel 13-0)
• In 2014 Tom and Jerry were mounted on carriages made by Steen Cannons who makes all the carriages now used in the US National Parks Service battlefield sites that have cannons on display

Since we really do know how the cannons were used prior to them being stored in the SC capital building we can only speculate what action they may have seen. For example, it can be presumed that Jerry may have seen some action in the Mexican-American war as the M1841 model was a popular cannon at that time. It can be presumed that both Tom and Jerry saw some action in the War Between the States but under's who's banner and did the cannons switch hands at some point to the CSA to explain how they ended up in the SC state capital.