Continued from July 24th.
From Civil War Talk Famous Weapons.
The 45th Illinois, the Washburne Lead Mine Regiment, entered Cheraw and discovered much abandoned ordnance from Charleston "muskets, sabers, small arms, artillery ammunition, limbers, caissons, and twenty-five pieces of artillery." Several of these were turned on the retreating Confederates including the Blakely, whose plaque positively id'd it. Unfortunately, the plaque is no longer with the gun.
The cannon ended the war in the service of the Third Battery, First Michigan Light Artillery. After the war, ot ended up stored at the US Rock Island, Illinois, Arsenal.
Jonathan White, then Jo Davies County treasurer, had been in Co. D of the Washburne Lead Mine Regiment, 45th Illinois, and had entered Cheraw, SC, that day back in March 1865. He found out that the Blakely Rifle was at the Rock Island Arsenal, about 100 miles away.
In April 1896, he related the story to Major Thaddeus Bermingham and they decided to try to get the gun. and present it to the Grant Park Commission for permanent display, hoping to have it in time for the Grant Birthday Celebration on April 27th.
They enlisted the aid of Congressman Robert Hitt, who expedited it and on April 22, 1896, both houses of Congress passed the bill "with hurrah" and it was signed by President Cleveland.
Thaddeus Bermingham and E.W. Montgomery helped defray shipping costs and the gun was presented at the celebration.
Now, That Was Some Fast Moving. Less Than a Month. --Old B-Runner
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