The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-07
KOKOMO,s COLuMBIADs.
A Gift That Causes Much Dfssatisfac
ton in South Carolina.

Charleston Is. CO, Special to st. Louis
Globe-Democrat.
The proposed removal of two of the threa
10-inch Columbiads from Fort Sumter to-
a public park at Kokomo, Ind. has excited
no little comment here, and, were it not for
the fact that Congress has already passed
an act authorizing Chief of Ordnance Fla
g1er to issue the necessary orders for their
removal, the citizens of Charleston would
now be taking steps to keep the war relics
here. AS 1t now stands, efforts are being
made by the leading business men and
commercial organizations to secure for one
of the parks of this city the few remaining
constructed fortress. The guns in question
never saw service at Sumter, save in salut-
and historical value Tor the reason that
they were at Fort Sumter when it was
evacuated on the 18th of February, 1865.
Maj. John Johnson, of the Corps of En-
%gineers, Confederate States of America, now
an Episcopal clergyman and an authority
on matters pertaining to Fort Sumter, says
that it is a difficult and almost impossible
task to trace the whereabouts OF the guns
used at Sumter during the war. When Maj.
Anderson s~urrendered the tort 70 the Con,
federacy, the guns which We're there passed
into the service of the Confederate forces,
and some of them were used in the engage
mentS which followed. Inc exact history
of these guns, as well as the guns which
were brought to the fort from time to time,
will never be told, for the reason that II is
not known and never will be. Many of the
engagements were severe and protracted,
and the guns were frequently dismantled
and damaged TO Sucn an extent as 10 rem
der them worthless. Some of the guns
which were sent to the fort were never
used. 1t was a common occurrence for de-
mands to be made upon the ordnance OFF,
GERS of the fort to supply both rifles and
mortars to other fortiications. Guns were
frequently rejected after a test. and sent
elsewhere. 1t is in consequence of the dis
mantling and frequent removal of the guns,
Major Johnson contends, that their history
and subsequent disposition will never be
known. The Tredegar iron works at Rich
mond, Va, and a foundry at Selma, Ala,
were the makers of the guns used at sum-
ter. The rifiing and banding of old pieces
were done in this city. When Admiral Du
Points ironclad squadron was repuised on
sisted of a total of eighty-1ve guns and
seven mortars. OF this number, however,
only twenty-five guns were used.
on Aug. II, 1863, the first day of the
great bombardment by the naval and land
forces under Admiral Dahlgren and Cen
Gilmore, the armament Of the Tort con-
sited Of ~thirty-eight guns and two mortars.
In the course of the next sixteen days
many of the guns were dismantfed and
buried in the ruins, while others were de-
stroved by fracture. From twenty-five to
thirty guns and two mortars were taken
out of the fort during the bombardment
and mounted, for the defense of the inner
harbor, on the Stands surrounding the
city.
From Sept. /, 1853, to October of the same
wear the fort was without armament, save
a 32-pound smooth-bore, which could only
be used in saluting the flag. Later On,
three 10-inch ColumDiads We're mounted in
These guns, a rifle banded 3~2-pounder and
a large, heavy gun on the western or city
front, constituted the entire armament OF
Fort Sumter at the time it was evacuated.