The original Plattsmouth Cannon

There are many questions about the Plattsmouth cannon. Is it real? How old is it? What size is it? Where did it come from? Is it bronze or iron? Is it a Napoleon? I don't have all the questions and I certainly do not have all of the answers. What I do have is some of the answers and the photo's above.

Some background: the cannon supposedly arrived in Plattsmouth sometime around 1857. It was supposedly brought here to help prevent attack by Indians. Later, this same cannon was supposed to protect the city from Quantrel's Raiders as they ranged in and out of Missouri during the Civil War. Even later the cannon spent time in several other Nebraska cities such as Nehawka. Not sure where all it went or what it was used for at those times. What is certain is that the cannon does exist - I have personally seen and photographed it as can clearly be seen above.

I can not disclose to you where the cannon is located for security purposes. What I can tell you is that, with luck, at some point this fine example of a mid-century cannon will be on permanent display for all to see.

Now let's take a look at the cannon. Overall it has the same length and approximate weight as a Federal six pound cannon. The cannon also has several strange characteristics that if any reader can assist in identifying I would much appreciate hearing from. To start with the cannon has what appears to be an extra heavy casting where the trunions are located. If you look at the photo's that show this you will see a band cast around the barrel, a square section cast onto the band and the trunion extending from this square section. I have been unable to find any images of cannons with this configuration.

Next, if we look towards where the vent piece should be located you will see an iron band. This band is not a part of the cannon and appears to be a ring that was added so that the cannon could be mounted onto a cement stand in one of its earlier display assignments. I believe it was at this same time that the barrel was filled with cement. The vent hole is not visible due to the iron band but interestingly enough a hole was drilled in the band to simulate a vent hole.

The trunions do not appear to have any markings on them. Neither does the barrel's business end. In fact I could not find any markings of any kind on the barrel. What you can see from the photo's is that at some point in time the barrel was fitted with sights. This would have been appropriate for a cannon of this type so that's ok.

The cascabel is in tact and easily seen in one of the photo's. Typical of an 1841 pattern cannon this section of the barrel looks to match up with that type of barrel. In fact, with the exception of the strange trunion area on the gun it almost line for line matches an 1841 pattern cannon.

As it is assumed this barrel weighs in at around 800+ lbs I had no way to turn it over to see the condition of the other side or if there are any markings to be found there.

The barrel appears to be cast iron.

I wish I could provide the reader more information but that's about it except for several suggestions that were made as to the creation of the cannon as it now sits. One suggestion is that the cannon had a "belt" cast onto it at some point. This could account for the strange mid-section of the gun. It was suggested that this could have been done if the gun were cast iron and one of the trunions had been damaged beyond use. The other suggestion is that the gun is not a cannon at all but just a lawn ornament created by the Plattsmouth Iron Foundry that existed sometime before 1900. Casting large posts, columns and commercial building parts the company would certainly have had the ability to cast a cannon barrel if they so desired. One last rumor is that this very barrel was fired on a regular basis by a team of men from Nehawka who started a club around the use of the gun. The only photo of these men with the cannon shows them all wearing fire department helmets. Interesting to say the least.

Well, there you go, the cannon is real. If you can help identify its make, model and potential origins I would certainly appreciate hearing from you. If not, I hope you enjoyed reading a little bit about this historic cannon.

Thank you.