Menomonie's Old Cannon

I had hoped to have this up by the Fourth of July, but as things go, they are. Here is a side trip from the brickyard research. The cannon that disappeared from downtown long ago. Herstory, if you will indulge me.

Many of you will remember an old cannon with many layers of gray paint in Downtown Menomonie. The cannon resided on a wheeled gun carriage and later a solid concrete mount. The cannon sat alongside the flagpole, between the Mabel Tainter Memorial building and the Post Office. The cold gray beast is gone without ceremony, but it has a colorful and historical ‘record,’ so I had a desire to find the truth, separate the legends from fact and finally tell the interesting tale of the bronze model 1841 6PDR #426.

Menomonie was getting its feet under itself when the Civil War broke out. Eliza Wilson had made her plea to the men of the town that they should stand up for their country and join the fight to keep it united. In 1861 she marched off with the men she had recruited fulfilling her promise to them that she would be by their side. While the men of Wisconsin and Minnesota were gone to war, the home front was less than quiet and peaceful. In 1862 near New Ulm, Minnesota an uprising of the Dakota’s took place with a massacre of the settlers there. This news, along with the shortage of men left to guard the locals created nervous fear. With most people left poorly armed, Captain William Wilson is said to have requested armaments from Madison for protection.

Allegedly, the capitol at Madison responded to the call from Captain Wilson by sending munitions north in the form of one bronze cannon, several muskets, and ammunition. The Pinery Rifles of Menomonie were steady at war in the south and with no formal Armory, Knapp Stout & Co. Company stored the cannon and muskets on company property. Captain Wm Wilson and Captain Andrew Tainter acquired the title of Captain from piloting steamboats on the rivers for their company. Neither man had given service in the military although the Honorable Wm Wilson served as the first Senator to represent this area in 1857. The first order of the ‘Pinery Rifles’ was assigned to the Wisconsin 5th Regiment, Company K under Captain William Evans.

The Indian scare of 1862 faded quickly, the Settlers and the Indians equally in fear of each other. With that, the cannon rested in the liveries of the Knapp Stout & Co gathering dust and pigeon dung. At the close of the Civil War, the cannon was donated by the State of Wisconsin to the local chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic as a war memento. It remained in the possession of Knapp Stout & Co for lack of better storage facility. Rumors made light decades later involved a concocted story of Abraham Lincoln personally ordering the cannon sent to the Menomonie Militia under the “command of Captain Andrew Tainter” after the war ended. Another tall tale surfaced whereby the locals played a game of hide and seek with the Army that was sent to collect the cannon in 1863. Yet another story concocted in the 1990’s traces the cannon to Minnesota in 1862 “according to a story in the Dunn County News of July 27, 1930”, an edition which does not exist.

This cannon was built in the Ames foundry at Chicopee, Massachusetts in 1853 and likely was purchased by the State of Wisconsin. It is a model 1841 6PDR bronze cannon, a smooth bore ‘six pounder’ field artillery piece, the smallest of the artillery weapons. The cannon sports a 3.67-inch caliber, bore length of 57.5 inches, an overall length of 65.6 inches, a base ring diameter of 10.3 inches all weighing in at 880 pounds. The serial number is #426, one of over 540 manufactured at Ames Foundry and was considered obsolete in 1861 due to the new, more accurate rifled barrel models. To this day, it is one of only ten known to exist in Wisconsin, but it no longer resides in Dunn County. I believe a “sister cannon” built at the Ames Foundry with a serial number adjacent to this is on display at Irvine Park Chippewa Falls. Herein lie the tales and travels of 6PDR #426.

In 1917, an interview with Jeremiah Burnham Tainter, inventor of the ‘Tainter Gate’ and brother to the late Andrew Tainter, livened up the true adventures of #426! The cannon sat quietly biding its time until 1864 when the lumbering concerns in Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire contacted Menomonie asking for help. They feared there was trouble brewing and some rivals were going to send a gang to cut the boom by Nine Mile Slough. The Knapp Stout crew gathered small arms and hauled the cannon along to Waubeek and waited ready for the scoundrels to appear. Four or five days passed, and nothing came of the threat so #426 was hauled home where the pigeons undoubtedly missed her. In 1866, Messrs. Tainter and Wilson decided to take the cannon on a hunting trip up north. The old Moore Farm consisted of 2500 acres around the area now known as Tainter Lake and was owned by the Knapp Stout & Co firm.

About six miles from the Moore Farm, on the Hay River was a small lake known as ‘Goose Lake’ where the geese were as thick as a nuisance. Hunting them was merely to fill the larder, reduce the flock, and save grain for the farmers to harvest. The team of Tainter and Wilson set up the cannon on the edge of the lake, hidden by the blind they had constructed. Tainter filled the barrel with proper powder and buckshot then they awaited the geese. As evening came, so did the geese by the hundreds settling in on the quiet lake. Tainter waited for the right moment with hundreds of his prey in range, cigar stub in hand, touched off the powder charge! POOF went the ignition charge and the geese rose off the lake looking for a quieter place to roost. The charge failed to fire, the hunt ended, and Mr. Wilson returned to Menomonie skunked. Mr. Tainter, a true sportsman at heart, was not about to give up so he revived his hunt the following evening with a fresh charge at the ready. As the evening fell, the geese came in by the dozen until the flight had settled in. Once again, Mr. Tainter at the ready with is cigar stub, touched off the cannon and what remained of the flock lit out for Canada or another asylum. Darkness came too soon but the following morning Tainter collected his bounty of twenty-four geese from one single shot! No doubt a record that still stands today. He swore that if the powder charge had ignited the previous night, the count would have been at least a hundred! This may have been the beginning of the tradition of the boss giving his employees a goose for Christmas!

One version of the story not told by J. B. Tainter took the count from the goose massacre at 82 geese! Another tale relates the attempted rapid fire of the cannon. One member of the crew lit off the charge and it blew off the mans’ arm. J. B. Tainter debunked that myth stating that Robert Phillips lost his arm because of the premature explosion of an old iron piece one fourth of July. He also told of a group of kids who loaded the gun on July 3, 1902. They fired it where it sat on Main Street creating enough concussion to blow out the shop windows of Metzgers Saloon, Holstein & Tilleson Meat Market, and the A. Thomas Shoe Store. A later version of the story had the barrel loaded with rocks and aimed down Main and occurred in the 1930’s but that does not prove out. Mr. Tainter also professed that for twenty-seven years, the cannon had been trundled through the streets as part of the Loyalty Parades, for the 4th of July and other patriotic occasions. In John Holly Knapp’s diaries he mentioned that on July 4, 1870, “We were awakened this morning at 4 o’clock by the firing of the brass cannon on top of Meadow Hill…”.

After Andrew and Bertha Tainter lost their daughter ‘Chasing Mabel’ and constructed the Memorial Building, the Wm Evans Post of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) requested and was granted permission to “erect a 60-foot flagpole on the grounds and at its base will be placed the cannon belonging to the Knapp, Stout & Company Company”. Even as early as this, in 1892, the cannon had been erroneously considered to be the property of Knapp Stout & Co. but was clearly the property of the GAR post. The Mabel Tainter Memorial had two rooms that were set aside for the sole use of the GAR. Prior to the windows incident in 1902, someone had tried to “spike” the cannon, but it was drilled out enough to make it usable for celebrations. The 1902 windows caper sealed her fate and silenced old #426. Mr. A. J. Bailey successfully spiked the cannon with lead, and she spoke no more. The original term, ‘to spike’ a cannon comes from the orders to disable munitions in case of imminent capture. Field artillery had orders to disable the cannon so it could not be used by the enemy once captured. The procedure involved using a headless spike driven flush into the vent hole of the cannon. A ramrod or cannon ball was then jammed down the barrel bending over the spike making it unable to fire until it had been taken back to a machine shop to re-bore and line the vent hole with a new copper sleeve. Mr. Bailey surpassed that endeavor and filled the barrel.

Three days after Armistice Day November 11, 1918, a hurried parade to celebrate the end of the war marched through Menomonie led by the military section. First was the Flag and Ludington Guard Band, it included the S.A.T.C. with military overcoats and muskets, the state guard, and the GAR cannon and caisson drawn by a city team. Occasionally, the cannon took short tours of the town setting itself up in front of schools, shops, and other fine targets. The morning sun highlighted the prank and old #426 was escorted back home by the flagpole.

The years had not treated the wheeled gun carriage very well and without proper maintenance was rotting away exposed to the four seasons. In 1955, the Rotary Club spent two years repairing the carriage. In 1960, the Women’s Relief Corps closed its books after disbanding in 1954 donating the balance of their funds to have the cannon painted with Norman Miller-Menomonie Paint donating the paint and Don Knutson did the painting. Fearing for the safety of children who might climb on the carriage, the Public Works Department was tasked to check the cannon over. In 1965 the council members voted to repair the cannon by removing it from its carriage and permanently affixing it to a concrete pier. The once proud gleaming bronze cannon on sturdy wooden carriage became a painted gray hulk filled with lead and concrete silently strapped to a concrete pier. Legs bound and mouth gagged for the crime of being ignored so long.

Recent years prove no easier tracing of Old #426 now that she occupies at least two different spaces in time and record keeping was not a favored endeavor. From here, I will take the knowns and try to piece the cannon back together. The carriage and caisson went into storage at the Armory until a few years later, the Fraternity Phi Sigma Phi managed to secure it for their own. They rebuilt the carriage and made a barrel from 3-inch steam pipe with a 2-inch wall, welding on a back-plate. Fiberglass covered the pipe and gave it an authentic look. The proud members used the cannon to salute touchdowns made by the Blue Devils. Sometime around 1991, Menomonie retired the cannon from its storied post at the Mabel Memorial returning it to the rightful owners, the National Guard Armory. There the cannon was displayed on concrete, painted gray and barrel stuffed with lead.

The temptation of having an authentic Civil War era cannon returned to its original, refurbished carriage drove the Phi Sigma Phi Fraternity to make it happen. After years of challenging work, dedication and fundraising, the Phi Sigs made that dream come true. In 1993 the completely rebuilt wheeled carriage was reunited with the opened and fire capable barrel returned to her bronze glory. Old #426 was made whole once again, given legs and ready to speak. Let no good deed go unpunished or at least without liability insurance! The Phi Sigs were shot down by their own cannon after restoring her to complete glory. Not able to fire her at football games due to lack of liability insurance, Old #426 was lost from the City of Menomonie that held no interest in keeping her.

Not all a sad and mournful tale, our hometown girl grew up and at 146 years of age moved away from home to begin her renewed life as an actress in the cause of Civil War Re-enactments. She is the star of many a stage laid before men, women, and children. Curious onlookers who hide their faces and cover their ears as she roars her soliloquy in the only voice she knows. Bright, bronze, wheeled and supple, at once alluring yet frightening. She wonders if they tremble from fear like geese or do they desire her like the frat boys of her college days in Menomonie, Wisconsin.

Proud cannon, Model 1841, 6PDR, bronze lady that gave historic tales to State of Wisconsin, protected the town of Menomonie, filled the larders of the lumber barons, played hide, and seek with townspeople and grew into a glorious maiden of the stage for many centuries to come. For that, we give her our gratitude and place her amongst the significant members of our community history. You may have the opportunity to see her one day. She was given in custody to the Eighth Battery Wisconsin Veterans Light Artillery and performs across the country. She has returned home to Menomonie on occasion as the star attraction at ‘Taste of Menomonie’ and to open the Civil War exhibit at the Rassbach Museum in Wakanda Park. Stated as one of the joys of his life, Frank Kennett, past president, curator, and Civil War expert of the museum had the privilege of firing her at that opening. I dare say that the geese were much safer under the cannonade of Mr. Kennett than they were of our other noted citizen, Andrew Tainter. Many thanks to the people who cared enough to tend to her, bring her back to full station and to those who keep her alive today.