. The Civil War . Courtesy G. L. Dehcatnp FIGURE 1. This is a photograph of the recently discovered barrel of a small cannon. Taken just two months shows a small square hole near the breech in the lower left-hand corner of the picture. Two metal wedges and atray to hold them have been removed to expose the holes. FIGURES 2 and 3 on page 2 show the breech before thewedges and other attachments were removed. Note the number 5 which appears on the trunnion, the metalsleeve around the middle of the barrel from which the cylindrical rods which rested on the carriage protrude. LINCOLN LORE. F
. The Civil War . Courtesy G. L. Dehcatnp FIGURE 1. This is a photograph of the recently discovered barrel of a small cannon. Taken just two months shows a small square hole near the breech in the lower left-hand corner of the picture. Two metal wedges and atray to hold them have been removed to expose the holes. FIGURES 2 and 3 on page 2 show the breech before thewedges and other attachments were removed. Note the number 5 which appears on the trunnion, the metalsleeve around the middle of the barrel from which the cylindrical rods which rested on the carriage protrude. LINCOLN LORE. FIGURE 2. This photograph showsthe right side of the breech. Thetwo metal wedges rest one atop theother in the tray. The lower wedgehad a handle which protrudedparallel to the axis of the barrel. Bypushing it away from the barrel, itcaused the wedges to work againsteach other, loosen the interiorbreech mechanism, and finallyslide out into the tray. The ringsprobably had chains on themwhich kept the wedges from beinglost from the barrel. All modern accounts of the Ellsworth gun, for which nopatent models, drawings, or plans have ever been found, arebased on Bruces pioneering study, and here is the substanceof that account: Having bought manufacturing rights to B. F. Joslynsnew breech-loading rifle, the imaginative Yankee |EliThayerJ applied the same design to a little breech-loadingfieldpiece and sent a dozen specimens out to chastise theKansas border ruffians. In April 1861, when the conflictflared up again on a continental scale, Thayer sold two ofhis litfle cannon to the Union Defen
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectweapons, bookyear1861
