Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-09-05
TRIAL OF TIE GREAT UNION GUN.
The MRaSF R%Sss % aa aSSs seos o. S9S lie sS0s.
ICorrosponeenee ofthe N. Y. Trlbune.l
FoRTRRss MONROE,


Old Point CONTEXT Aug. %, 1861.
Yesterday took llace the drst experiment
tai firing with the great gun "Union" II
was conducted by Lieut. Baylor Of the Ord
nance Department, and was Witnessed by
Major Generals Wool and Butler, and con-
course Of officers, soldiers and Others, The
carriage of the gun was turned so az to throw
The shot into the bay, the design being sole
ly 10 test the gun, which had never before
been fred. and to ascertain Its range. Be-
lore going further It may be well to recapit-
ulate in regard to the gun itself. Its weight |
is 81, 600 pounds extreme length, l6 feet
length Of bore, l3 feet IL inches diameter |
OF bore, IL inches ri6ed. Il is mounted on
an iron carriage, placed on q platform Of
solid masonry. Like all rihed projectiles, |
the shot are conical, the solid shot weighing |
42S pounds, and the shell $50 pounds, with |
bursting charge Of pounds. The charge
of powder used varies according to eircum-
stances, from forty to fOrty-6ve pounds. The
powder used on this occasion-and which,
no doubt, will be uniformly used-Tas the
Rodman grain powder, the separate grains OF
which varied from the size Of walnut 10 a
hens egg.
All In,ngs being ready, the process of load
/ ing the gun was commenced. Sergeant
Welch at the head of his black battalion of
punners, had already cleared the decks,
wheeled the monster so that his guage was
over the waters, and arranged the platform
or staging on which the men could stand and
be up even with the muzEel. First the swab,
which two men insert, cleans the INTERIOR
then comes a man with red flannel bag,
| filed with powder, on his shoulder; 1t is the
cartridge; and the ramrod, worked by four
men, senJs it home. Then comes the process
of getting the shot to its place, a mass of
metal that four men carry with difficulty.
It is first rolled into an iron cradle or wide
strap. looped with rope, through which a
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 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 balanced on its trunnions.
The printing wire performs its Office, the fuse
is inserted aud the lsnyardis attached. Then
Lieut.. Baylor, who, though everything has
been done under his minutest inspection, has
moved about more like a modest spectator
than the responsible director, gives warning
that the gun has never before been fred, and
rnoyes a 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 is up. The man with
the lanyard retires to its extreme length.
aReady," SAYS Sergeant Welch. Lieut. Bay
, Ior gives the word: "ReAdy-fre" A ter
|, rife crash, sheet Of fame and the tremb-
ling of the eartL follow.
At the same time there is a screech and a
scream caused t.5 the shet, black mass
, which you can see in Its flight yelling like
an infuristed devil let loose from the internal
regions. We count the seconds, and watch
! TO see the shot strike. A column of water
. away of on the bay shoots up to- the height
of a ships mast The elevation Of the gun
was but ten degrees, little more than blank
shot, consequently the distance was not great
say two miles the time of fight, fifteen
E seconds. The terrible engine, the echoes Of
: whose thunders have scarcely yet died away
! over the waters and along the shore whose
breath dark sulphurous cloud, floats before
e the wind-the thing which we would natu-
rally associate with the idea of glowing
. fiery monster the embodiment of all the fu-
T. ries, Is next the object of attention. It is as
1
: pats familiarly its massive smooth breech,
:, the smoke ourls slowly from the mouth Of
the chamber from which the 24O pound shot
. has Just been vomited, and fol the instant II
# is difficult to reconcile the crash, the fame,
the trembling esrth and the screech, with
e the thing that neither trembles, nor glows,
e nor makes other sign of its truly awful and
# almost supernatural endowments.
4 - I'M = e. a
s range, but it fails to explode. And here let
me remark that both shot and shell seemed
j 70 be not the thing for the Gun- The, set
e snd tew in all directions when only a few
d hundred feet from the gun, so that one might
< mistake the pieces for charge of grape from
D q howitzer. TIE idea of filing the grooves
, and thereby obtaining & rotary motion must
: have been bat imrerfectly realized.
2 The gun was again loaded With a solid shot,
e and elevated twenty-eight degrees. This and
g the next shot, which was at the same eIeva-
ton, were very fne features of the expert
I ment. As you watched the progress of the
] shot, which in its circuit attained an eIeva-
! ion probably of not less than 800 or 900
feet, you might easiy convince yourself that
It was wild, screaming, roaring monster,
flashing through the skies, mad at the sun,
or an afrighted spirit from the bowels of the
earth seeking safety in the clouds The range
was about three and half miles; the time
thirty seconds.
Two shells with percussion fuse were then
fired into sand hank not more than Is feet
from the gun The result gave some idea of
what the gun would do against sand bate.
ries. The sand was thrown in every direc-
ton, and the experiment seemed to prove that
the shell accurately fred would undermine
and destroy sand battery quite as rapidIv
as battalion of men with shovels The
shell burst into great number of pieces, the
parts found weighing but a few pounds.