HISTORY OF THE OLD CANN0N
*****
FROM  WHICH THIS SOUVENIR MEMENTO
IS MADE .
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IN December, 186o, Secretary Floyd ordered all the
cannon in the Allegheny Arsenal, Pittsburgh, to
be shipped South.
While the guns were being loaded in steamboats at
the Monongahela Wharf, the plot to “ scuttle”' the
Arsenel developed ; loyal men shouted “shame” ; the
cannon were turned back and the object: of the traitorous
Secretary defeated.
In November, 1893, the Congress of the United States,
by an unanimous vote, donated to the Citizens Executive
Board, having in charge the arrangements for the 28th
National Encampment of the G. A. R., in Pittsburgh,
September 10th, 1894, one of the old cannon in the
Arsenal before the late war, to be made into Souvenir
Badges for the delegates.
On Washington's Birthday, February 22d, 1894, it
was remove, amid the cheers of thousands of people,
from the Arsenal to the front of the new Postoffice
Building.
The cannon was a 12 pounder; muzzle loading ; 90
per cent, copper ; 10 per cent. tin ; weight, 1,756 pounds;
founder, N. P. Ames, Springfield, Mass.; date, 1842.