The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1861-09-04
FIRING THE GREAT UNION GUN AT
FORTRESS MONROE.

Yesterday took place the hrst experimental
firing with the great gun Union" 1t was con-
Quoted by Lieut.. Baylor, of the Ordnance De
partment, and was witnessed by Major Generals
Wool and Butler, and a cOncourse of officers.
soldiers and others. The carriage Of the gun
was turned SO as to throw the shot into the bay,
the design being solely to test the gun, which
had never before been fired, and to ascertain
its range. Before going further, it may be well
to recapitulate in regard to the gun itself. It.
weight is 52,O05 pounds; extreme length, Is
feet; length of bore, Is feet III inches; diane
ter OF bore, IL inches rifled. 1t is mounted Oh
an iron carriage placed on platform OF solid
ma-Onry. Like all rifed projectiles. the shot
are conical, the solid shot weighing 423 pounds,
and the she'll 352 pounds, with bursting
charge of 45 pounds. The charge of powder
used varies according to circumstances, from
40 to 45 pounds. The powder used on the Oc
casiOn-and which no doubt will he uniformly
used-was the Rodman grain powder. the sepa-
rrte grains of which varied from the size OF
walnut to a hens egg.
All things being ready. tke process Of loading
the gun was commenced. Sergeant Welch. at
the head of his black battalion of gunners. had
already cleared the decks. wheeled the monster
so that his gauge was over the waters. and
ranged the platform or staging on which the
men could stand and be up even with the muz-
Zle. First, the swab, which two men insert,
cleans the interior then comes a man with a
red flannel bag, filled with powder on his shoul
der-it is the cartridge; and the ramrod. work
ed by four men, sends ii h0me Then comes
the process Of getting the shot to its place, a
mass of metal that four men carry with diff
Guilty rolled into an iron cradle or wide strap.
looped with a rope. through which piece OF
strong wood several feet long, is inserted.
Thus slung, the men tug the shot up the steps
of the platform, some ten feet high, to the
| mouth of the gun. Another lift brings it on a
level. and it is slid into the muzzle and pushed
to its place. The gun is then elevated by
means of an iron bar, the gun being nicely bal
anced on its trunions. The prming wire per-
forms its office. the fuse is inserted, and the
lanyard is attached. Then Lieutenant Baylor
| who, though everything has been done under
his minutest inspection. has moved about more
| like a modest spectator than the responsible d.
rector, gives warning that the gun has never
| before been fired, and moves short distance to
the rear in which he is initiated by the others
| The men who are to calculate the flight of the
shot are at their table. The flag up the mar
with the lanyard retires to its extreme length
| Ready" says Sergeant Welch. Lieutenant
Baylor gives the word: '.Ready-fre!' A ter
| rible crash. sheet of fame, and the trembling
of the earth follow. At the same time there i:
a screech and a scream caused by the shot, q
black mass which you can see in its fig ght yell
| ing like an infurisied devil let loose from the
Internal regions. We count the seconds and
wait to see the shot strike. A column of watel
away off on the bay shoots up to the height o
a ships mast. The elevation of the gun va
but ten degrees, little more than blank shot
consequently the distance was not great. sa,
two miles, the time of flight fifteen seconds
The terrible engine, the echoes of whose thun
ders have scarcely yet died away over the va
ters aad along the shore, whose breath. darl
sulphurous cloud. floats before the wind-th
thing which we would naturally associate will
the idea of glowing fiery monster. the embod
iment of all the furies is next the object OF al
tention. 1t is as passive as anything can bt
The sergeant pats familiarly its massive smoot
breech. the smoke curls slowly from the mout
of the chamber from which the 420 pound sho
! has Just been vomited. and for the instant it
difficult to reconcile the crash, the fame th
trembling earth and the scfeech, with the thin
that neither trembles nor glOws nor makes ott
er signs of its truly awful and almost superna
; ural endowmentA
The next time, shell is fred, at the sam
range. but it fails to explode. And here Jet N
remark that both shot and shell seemed to Q
not the thing for the gun. The soft metal VII
9 which they were coated stripped and few IN
p directions when only q few hundred feet frol
# the gun. so that one might mistake the piec4
q for charge of grape from howltzer. ID