Gettysburg gun, 1st Rhode Island

[Ray Newman]

"For almost 100 years, the Gettysburg Gun stood watch over the north portico of the new State House on Smith Street in Providence, until a theory was brought forth that the cannon was still loaded with its original black powder charge. Mrs. Robert Dunn, of Coventry, presented a 1908 affidavit sworn to by her great uncle, Pvt. George R. Matteson, an original member of the Gettysburg Gun crew, which proved the theory.[6] On August 27, 1962, naval ordnance personnel aided by Rhode Island National Guardsmen, submerged the bronze tube in a tank of water and used a drill to widen the barrel’s vent hole. Using air and water pressure, they flushed more than two pounds of black powder from the gun’s barrel.”
https://emergingcivilwar.com/2024/09/25 ... sburg-gun/

[jeepnik]

Strange stuff happens with military equipment and arms. In the rush to put war behind we often just walk away from stuff.
In 1973 I was part of a detail assigned to clean out a quonset hut that had been assigned to the FD for storage. It apparently hadn't been opened in decades. Inside were hundreds of WWII/Korea era web gear. All "new" and never issued. After a bit of liberation, the equipment was turned over to base supply.
I975 or 1976 the USAF was widening the main gate on a USAF base in Germany. Excavation occurred and the crew hit a large piece of buried concrete. Without notifying anyone a bunker was uncovered. The construction crew thought better of going inside after recalling stories of boobie traps left from WWII. Turns out it was a smart move. The EOD folks took one look and decided to blow it in place.

[GunnyMack]

A few years before I attended gunsmith school in Trinidad CO a couple of students started to investigate what parts were needed to get a field piece back in working order. They only needed a firing pin I believe. They then turned a projectile and one night loaded it with a hand turned shell and fired it. The round supposedly knocked the train caboose off the rails in the town square.
The next day all the artillery pieces had their bores filled with concrete. True or not but someone should have known better than leave field pieces in usable condition around a gunsmith school!!