The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-04-24
WAS A BIG ARSENAL
The City Of Pittsburgh in Times
Of Trouble.

its Resources Drawn Upon During the
Civil War - Experiments and Sue
cssses In the Building Of
Great Cannon
Pittsburgh has at all times been an
important point from which war sup
plies of all kinds have been obtained.
In every war engaged in by the United
States our citizens have been active.
Not to mention the splendid corps Of
rangers organized in western Pennsyl-
vania, under Col. Cresap, to help Wash
ington in the siege of Boston, the can
non and balls with which Commodore
Perry fought the battle of Lake Erie.
near Put-in-Bay, were made in Pitts
burgh, as were also the chains, anchors
and other fittings for his feet, at the
foundry Of Joseph McClurg, which was
then the great resource and depend
ence of the United States government.
The remarkable fact, says the Chron-
icle-Telegraph, that Gen. jackson was
onl y enabled to fight the battle of New
Orleans through the supply of war ma
terial of all kinds manufactured hero,
is one of the proud points in our local
history. Maj. Foster, United States
quartermaster, induced the whole pop
ulation of the then borough to engage
In the patriotic work, and ON a bleak
December evening the second steam
boat ever built on western waters, the
Enterprise, put off from our shores on
its vital errand.
The Mexican war proved a great OPP
portunity to show what Pittsburgh
could do in the way Of furnishing
powder and cannon balls, not to men
ton battery and cavalry furnishments
of all kinds A young ieuten-
ant was then stationed here on behalf
of the United States army, and he is
known to every boy. He was the gal
liant w. I. Sherman, the hero of the
march to the sea.
A few years after that time a studi-
GUS ordnance lieutenant was quartered
at our arsenal, and he had some notion
of improving the artillery. His name
also became famous the world over, and
the experiments carried on, by the per-
mission of Messrs- Knapp & Wade in
their foun dry, located short distance
above the Fort Wayne railroad bridge
over the Allegheny river, had conse-
quences little dreamed of at the time.
The name of the lieutenant was T. J.
Rodman, and every sailor and soldier
of the late war has felt thankf ul for
his grand achievements. Mr. Rod mans
Idea fn hn1loxr ho<
they might cool from the center, and
1t is one of the evidences of the mys-
ferrous ways in which Providence
moves, when it is stated tn At no less q
person than Jefferson Davis then Sec
rotary of war. very esse ntially helped
the young ordnance officer in perfect
ing and testing his invention, by get
ting from congress an appropriation of
fifty thousand dollars to this end. The
Rodman idea involved a complete
revolution In artillery, not only as to
casting, but also as to the very shape
Of cannon. Dahlgrsn afterward took
np the subject for the navy, and thus
were ornaments provided ahead Of
anything else in the world. Rodman
paved the way for Armstrong and
Krupp.
The fine charcoal iron Of western
Pennsylvania, with tensile strength
of $4,000 pounds. was drawn upon by
Rodman. and aftsr 8 and inch guns
had stood tests at the proving grounds
located at Turtle creek, b eing fred
many more times than ever exacted
fha of ~
cannon Of 15-inch bore was under
taken. It was named the Union,
prophetic of the grand instrumentality
shown afterward. Its weight was no
less than $4,000 pounds, and that such
q huge mass of iron could be cast
without flaw or hitch waslong thought
by the best metallurgists
abroad or at home. The ball fred by
the 15-inch guns weighed 700 pounds,
and the 2o-inch gun cast subsequently
served a projectile of not less than 1000
pounds in weight.
The Fort Pitt foundry, organized
when the war came for the specific
purpose of making cannon and their
by Messrs. Knapp,
Wade & Co., with Mr.. William Metcalf,
as manager, proved of stupendous i'm
portance. 1t was grand sight to see
40 less than twenty-five of the giant
dogs of war under the lathes at one
time. Fully thousand men we're en-
oloyed, and the casting time was al
ways one of spectacular interest; five
,upola furnaces, ranged to pour their
liquid metal under the intense, and at
times vigorously emphatic, superIn-
.endence of Joe Kaye
No less than three thousand cannon
we're cast and finishe at these works
Turing the war. and hundreds of forts
Ind batteries all over the grand theater
IF conflict belched forth their shot and
ihell-a testimony of the ingenuity,
rrit and enterprise OF Pittsburgh's ar
Ulcers. The resources of the works
we're grandly illustrated al the siege
If Vicksburg. After months of weary
fort, Gen. Grant and his officers
struck the idea of bombardment
orders were sent in hot haste to Pitts
,urgh for thirty of the hugest mon
tiers ever made. and inside of thirty
days they were on their way
outh, floating on specially constructed
,arges, built by Monroe & Co. The
nortars fred thousand rounds each,
md threw thousands of tons of Pitts |
,urgh iron into the doomed town, with |
result that proved the turning point |
Il the war
Named After a Dutch Navigator.
Cane Nav takes its name from Carr.