Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1861-09-06
Trial Of the Great Union Gun.
from the N. Y. Tribune, August 90. i

Yesterday took place the first experimental
firing with the great gun "Union," near
Fortress. Monroe. 1t was conducted byiLieut.
Baylor, of the Ordnance Department and was
witnessctjby Major-Generals Wool and But
| Ter, and concoursc of officers, soldiers and
others. The carriage of the gun was turned
so as to throw the shot in the bay, the de-
sign being solely to test the gun, which had
never before been fired, and to ascertain it's
range. Before going further it may be well
to trccapitulate in regard to the gun itself
Its weight is 81, 900 pounds; extreme length
IS feet; length Of bore, 13 feet, l 1 inches
diameter Of bore, II inches, rihcd. 1t is
mounted on an iron carriage, placed on a
platform of solid masonry. Like all riflcd
projectiles, the shot are conical, the solid shot
weighing 423 pounds, and the shell 352 lbs,
with bursting charge of forty-fivc pounds
The charge of powder used varies according
to circumstances, from 40 to 45 pounds
| The powder used on this occasion - and
which no doubt will be uniformly uscd--was
the Rodman grain powder, the scperate grains
of which vary from the size Of a walnut to a
hcu's egg.
| All things being ready, the process of load
ing the gun was commenced. Srrg. Welch,
at the head of his black battalion of gunners,
had already cleared the decks, wheeled the
mon stvr so that his gage was over the waters,
and arranged the platform or staging on
which the men could stand and be up even
with the muzZle. First, the swab, which
two men insert, cleans the interior; then
comes man with red flannel bag, filed
with powder, on his shoulder; it is the cart
ridge and the ramrod worked by four men,
sends it home. Then comes the process of
getting the shot to its place, mass of metal
that four men carry with difficulty. 1t is
first rolled into an iron cradle or wide strap,
looped with 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 the 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 it's trunnions. The
printing wire performs 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 modest spectator
than the responsible director, gives warning
that the gun has never before been fired, and
moves short distance to the rear, in which
he is initiated by others. The men who are
to calculate the fight of the shot are at their
table. The flag is up. The man at the Ian
yard retires to its extreme length. Ready"
says Sergeant Wclch Lieut.. Baylor gives
the word Ready--fre y A terrific crash,
sheet of fame, and the trembling of the
earth follow. At the same time there is a
screech and scream caused by the shot. a
black mass which you can see, in its flight,
yelling like an infurated devil let loose from
the internal regions. Wccount the seconds,
and watch to see the shot strike. A column
of water away off on the bay shoots up to
the height Of a ships mast. The elevation
of the gun was but ten degrees, little moro
than blank shot, consequently the distance
was not great, say two miles, time Of flight
fifteen seconds. The terrible engine, the
echoes of whose thunders have scarcely yet
died away over the waters and along the
shore, whose breath, a dark sulphurious
cloud, floats before the wind--the thing which
we would naturally associate with the idea
of glowing fiery monster, the embodiment
of all the fairies, is next the object of atten-
ton. 1t is as passive as anything can be-
The sergeant pats Familiarity its massive
smooth brecch, the smoke curls slowly away
! &c rom the mouth Of the chamber from which,
the 42o pound shot has just heen vomited
and for the instant ii is difficult to reconle
the crash, the fame, the trembling earth and
the screech, with the thing that neither trem.
bles or glows nor makes other sign of its tru.
ly and almost supernatural endowment.
The next time, shell is fired, at the same
range, but it fails to explode. And here lei
me remark that both shot and shell seemed
to be not the thing for the gun. The soft
metal with which they were coated, stripped
and flew in all directions when only a few
hundred feet from the gun, SO that one might
mistake the pieces for a charge of grape from
a howitzer. The idea of filing the grooves
and thereby obtaining rotary motion must
have been but imperfecly realized.
The gun was again loaded with solid sho,
and elevated twenty eight degrees. This and
the next shot, which was at the same clcva
ton, were very fine features Of the expert
ment. As you watched the progress of tlis
shot, which in its circuit attained an cleva
ton probably of not less than 500 or 10ot
feet, you might easily conceive yourself tina
|it was a wild, screaming, roaring monster
dashing through the skies, mad at the sun