The Grand Army of the Republic, organized by Civil War veterans, included the Cannon Falls George McKinley GAR Post #92, whose members resolved on February 1, 1897, to obtain a Civil War cannon for Cannon Falls as a symbol of their shared sacrifice and to honor Colonel William Colvill, hero at the battle of Gettysburg. After more than 10 years, a Civil War cannon was shipped in 1910 from the Benicia Arsenal in California. This original 3-inch wrought iron ordnance rifle, made by the Phoenix Iron Company in Philadelphia, was one of the most reliable and accurate guns of the Civil War, able to fire a 10-pound shell over a mile at 5-degree elevation or use canister at closer range, and the tube weighs 817 pounds. More than 1,000 ordnance rifles were manufactured and around 350 remain today. Historians are confident this one saw action in the Civil War because of its low serial number, N183, and its early manufacture in 1862. The cannon was placed in the cemetery where Col. Colvill had been buried in 1905 and where his statue was erected in 1909. Its carriage is an exact replica with an oak frame and cast aluminum wheels, and funds for the restoration came from local and other interested supporters. The cannon also evokes Gettysburg on July 2, 1862, when General Hancock commanded Col. Colvill and approximately 290 men of the First Minnesota to charge those lines; the Union won the fight there that day, and it is generally thought the battle was the turning point of the war.