Friday's Photo: Cannons in Phillipsburg, New Jersey

On the back:
South Main Street
Phillipsburg, Warren County, New Jersey
The Civil War Mortar, at the left, was built at Fort Pitt, Pa. in 1862. It was used at the Island No. 10 in the Mississippi River from 1862-1865. 

Charles Giddens 1911
Charles lost the tip of
his right index finger
in the 1909 explosion.

I don't know where I purchased this postcard. Maybe an antique shop or eBay? My interest was South Main Street as I knew my grandmother grew up living over her parents' shop on South Main. And, I was very interested in the cannon pictured as my grandmother's brother, Charles Giddens, stuffed dynamite in a cannon causing minor injury to Great-Uncle Charlie and his friend when detonated. See Monday's News: Dynamite for newspaper articles describing this event in 1909. 

My great-grandparents' store is not visible. It must be further down the street. So on to my next question, Was this the cannon used by Uncle Charlie and his friend on July 3, 1909? 

A little research told me that the item pictured was a Civil War mortar, not a cannon. According to Google, a mortar is simply a tube. The mortar shell has its own contained lifting charge and stabilizing fins.  A cannon works like a rifle with the shell casing and bullet in the tube.

This mortar was one of four mortars found in Phillipsburg - three mortars around the Civil War Memorial and one on the soldiers’ plot in the cemetery are the property of Tolmie Post. These appear to be the "cannons" granted to the John G. Tolmie Post, No. 50 of the Grand Army of the Republic in 1896.

From the Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, Volume 54, Issue 1

I re-read many of the articles about Uncle Charle and the cannon explosion and learned that the boys probably loaded the dynamite into a home-made cannon, not the mortar.  

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Diana

© 2019

Sources

“Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States - United States. Congress. House - Google Books.” https://books.google.com/books?id=1lNQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA478&lpg=PA478&dq=civil+war+mortar+phillipsburg+nj&source=bl&ots=MWZy0Pz9ox&sig=ACfU3U2D1IQLJPZkE6-74xuLXcbctLJvJA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi7jJ7roqnlAhVuhOAKHRfAAYYQ6AEwEXoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false. Accessed 8 Nov. 2019.

King, Drew. “Phillpsburg, Pennsylvania {note that this should be New Jersey not Pennsylvania} Civil War Memorial .” <i> Adventures in History</i>, https://monumentman.wordpress.com/2013/12/30/phillpsburg-civil-war-memorial/. Accessed 8 Nov. 2019.

Quinn, Diana Bryan. “Moments in Time, A Genealogy Blog: Monday's News: Dynamite.” https://momentsintimeagenealogyblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/mondays-news-dynamite.html. Accessed 8 Nov. 2019.