Parrott Civil War Cannon

Nearly 12,000 memorial cannons were donated by the U.S. Government between 1872 and 1916 to local Posts of the Grand Army of the Republic and other civic and patriotic groups for display as veterans' war memorials, formally dedicated by surviving veterans as "silent-sentinels" honoring those who served and sacrificed during the American Civil War. The Grand Army of the Republic also initiated the national observance of Memorial Day on May 30, 1868, and communities have long held tributes to veterans near Civil War monuments, giving these memorials cultural as well as historical importance. Fewer than half of the original cannons remain, and only 5,467 are estimated to have survived the scrap-metal drives of World Wars I and II. The cannon in Niles is a Model 1861 6.4-inch 100 pounder Army Parrott Rifle, invented by Robert Parker Parrott, a graduate of the West Point Class of 1820. It was cast at the West Point Foundry in New York on June 1, 1863, inspected by Ordnance Officer Alfred Mordecai Jr., and used primarily by the Army as a siege and fortification weapon, while also serving aboard U.S. Navy ships during the Civil War. It could fire a 100 pound solid shot or long shell about 6,900 yards in 28 seconds. Of the 233 accepted by the Army between 1861 and 1865, only 53 remain as veterans' memorials, and the 9,747 lb. cannon in Niles is one of them. Frank Graves Grand Army of the Republic Post 64 in Niles petitioned the U.S. Ordnance Department and received the cannon for its veterans' memorial; it arrived on May 13, 1897, from Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois with 20 ten-inch shells from Allegheny Arsenal in Pennsylvania, and the donation was recorded in the 1899 Annual Report of the U.S. War Department's Chief of Ordnance. Niles also served as the site of Camp Barker, a regimental rendezvous point and training camp established at the village fairgrounds between Superior, Michigan, 11th and 9th Streets, where fair buildings were converted into barracks and recruits built more structures. Ten barracks housed the ten companies of the 12th Michigan, the oval fair race track was used for drills and marching, and recruitment took place in the fall and winter of 1861-1862 with companies drawn from Cassopolis, St. Joseph, Buchanan, Albion, Niles, Lansing, Lawton, and Berrien Springs. After rudimentary training, the 12th Michigan marched across town on March 18, 1862, boarded trains for St. Louis, Missouri, fought in numerous battles, and was mustered out on February 15, 1866, at Camden Arkansas.

Niles, Michigan · United States