BRONZE FIELD GUNS
Type and Model - 6-pdr Bronze Field Gun M1841 / Foundry - Ames N.P. Ames Co. of Springfield, MA / Year 1847 / Weight 886
Type and Model 6-pdr Bronze Field Gun M1841 / Foundry - Alger A. & Co. (Clyde Alger & Co.) of Boston, MA / Year 1857 / Weight 863After being used by General Winfield Scott in the Mexican American War (1846-1848), the Ames Field Gun was being stored in a federal arsenal along with the Alger field gun (produced in 1857) when they were stolen by Confederate sympathizers in March of 1861 in the beginning of the American Civil War. They were used June 3, 1861 at the Battle of Philippi, Virginia, now West Virginia, by Confederate forces under the command of Colonel George A. Potterfield. The Battle of Philippi was the "first land battle of the Civil War" or the "first inland battle of the Civil War." In September 1861 the field guns were recaptured by Union forces commanded by General George B. McClellan during the Battle of Cheat Mountain September 12-15, 1861 which took place in Pocahontas and Randolph County, Virginia, now West Virginia. The canons remained in Union service throughout the rest of the American Civil War ending in 1865.
In 1909, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) James Shields Post 57, Wellington, Kansas, requested from the War Department in Washington, D.C., the loan of a canon for a memorial. These two bronze canons or field guns were delivered to Wellington in July 1915.
The field guns were on display in Prairie Lawn Cemetery, at the north and south ends of the GAR Memorial Circle, from 1915 to 1961. They were then placed on either side of the entrance to City Hall which at that time stood on this very site.
Plaque donated by
Wellington Community Foundation
Sumner County Historical and Genealogical Society
Wellington Area Chamber of Commerce/CVB
Area Citizens
2016
