These are two Civil War era cannons provided, by Act of Congress, to the Grand Army of the Republic's post in Basin Wyoming. These cannons are interesting in a variety of ways. For one thing, they remain in fine shape. Secondly, however, it's amazing to think that Basin, a very small town, had a GAR post. The population of the town was probably larger in 1909 than it is now, but nonetheless, the fact that there were enough Civil War veterans in Basin, in 1909, shows how many veterans there were.
These two cannons, which managed to escape the great melt down of cannons that occurred due to World War Two scrap drives, are located outside of the library in Basin, which is located next to the Basin County Courthouse.
Prior to being given to the GAR Post these 2 3" ordnance rifles were used by the Wyoming National Guard and equipped the Alger Light Artillery which served in the Philippines during the Spanish American War. These guns were left behind when they deployed because even in 1898 they were seriously obsolete.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for that addition!
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