Muscogee County GaArchives Photo Place.....Breech Cannon & Iron Works 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Christine Thacker http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00033.html#0008100 April 25, 2007, 11:00 am

Source:             Special Sesquicentennial Supplement II Ledger-Enquirer
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                      Breech-Loader 

Cannon Never Made It Big in Civil War, But Columbus Iron Works Contributed

  Since the Columbus Iron Works was founded in 1853 by William Riley Brown, It 
has made many contributions to Columbus and the South.
  The local firm boasts a famous first. The first breech-Loading cannon was 
cast here.
  The cannon made in 1863  was bored from the, wheel shaft of the sunken river 
steamer, John C. Calhoun. It was invented by Capt. W. J. McAlister, steam boat 
captain and engineer. Lathe work on the gun was by Jacob G. Burrus.
  A description of the work done on the cannon was found in research paper 
prepared by John C. Meyers, a former student at the University of Georgia, 
Columbus Center in 1961.
  Quoting George J. Burrus: Meyers wrote:
  "On a visit to my brother at the Columbus Iron Works, I found him engaged at 
the lathe turning the gun. When completed, it was tested three times, but the 
recoil broke the stirrup through which the breech screws passed for holding the 
breech plug in place.   "It was finally  pronouced a failure. The federal 
raiders broke off a tunnlon to prevent its further use. But it did service as a 
cornerpost at Springer's corner. "
  Though the cannon can't be called a rousing success, there is a marker 
compiled by the Georgia Historical Commission in 1954 and placed at the Iron 
works in 1954 which reads:
  "Columbus Ironworks . .. established 1863 was operated by the Confederate 
Government as Naval Iron Works, making cannon and other war ammunitions  and 
two gunboats. This plant wascredited with making the first Breech loading 
cannon." The cannon's history is also related.
  Though the cannon never made it big, the Iron Works contributed much of the 
artillery used by the South in the war. .
  A report submitted Nov.1, 1864, by John L. Porter, chief constructor of the 
Confederate Navy, revealed that the boilers and machinery of six of the 10 
gunboats then in use by the Confederacy were manufactured by the  Columbus 
Naval Works.

Special Sesquicentennial Supplement II
Ledger~Enquirer, Sunday, April 23, 1978, S-28


       



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