The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Replica Cannon to Fort Macon

From the Dec. 12, 2010, ENC Today.com web site.

A 7,000 pound, 20-foot-long, working replica cannon designed and built by Wayne Community College students was delivered to Fort Macon State Historic Site this past winter.

The 32-pdr (so named for the weight of the shot if fired) was placed on an open bed trailer and left from Goldsboro, North Carolina and stopped along the way at the CSS Neuse State Historic Site in Kinston and in New Bern at the Historical Society and Civil War battlefield near Taberna.

I imagine it drew some glances from folks driving along US-70 along the way. Definitely something you don't see every day.

Over the last 18 months, mechanical engineering, machinery and welding students studied 1840's-era drawings of original cannons and chasses.

New plans to fit today's materials and technology were drawn up. Parts were created out of rectangular aluminum tubing. The barrel the pieces hold together was built elsewhere.

The project was sponsored by the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation and cost $20,000.

Always Good to Have Another Cannon in a Fort. maybe They Can Make Some More for Fort Fisher. --Old B-Runner

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