From the Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise:
Questions surround use, disappearance of Fitchburg’s Civil War era cannons
Decades ago, four Civil War-era cannons graced each corner of Main Street’s Monument Park.
This summer there may not be any.
The location of two of the cannons is a decades-old mystery.
The Board of Parks Commissioners is considering keeping the remaining two indoors to preserve them, according to board President Angelo Bisol.
Currently, they sit inside one of the garages in the Department of Public Works yard on Broad Street, tucked in between trucks and equipment for safekeeping, but the parks commissioners are looking for a permanent home.
Photos attached to the article clearly show two 12-pdr Confederate Napoleons. Secondary references (The Big Guns) list two Macon Napoleons in Fitchburg.
The article goes on to provide background on the guns. Four guns arrived in Fitchburg in 1877, loaned from the War Department. As with many such “town” guns, these were used in celebrations, even firing salutes. But in later years, the guns went back to the “field” so to speak:
According to [a February 1960 article], all of the cannons were loaned that year to a re-enactment group called the Massachusetts 9th Light Artillery Battery for a Civil War centennial celebration, which offered to refurbish them at no cost. Six years later, none of them had been returned to the city, according to a June 7, 1966, Sentinel article, and there were rumors they had been split between Princeton, Holden and Winchendon. Another article later that month pointed to Barre, Bolton, Salisbury and even as far as Georgia. Former members of the re-enactment group, defunct by this time, claimed to have known of only two cannons, not four.
There were also rumors that they had been sold to the group for $1 each and had become their property, but city officials then said there was no evidence of these fees ever being negotiated or paid.
Eventually, the city secured the return of two cannons. The fate of the other two is unknown.
The problem here, from a legal standpoint, is the proper title to the guns. I can’t say for sure, but it sounds like the guns were not given or sold to the city, but rather loaned out by the War Department. This is not uncommon. The military often loans out old hardware for memorials and displays to municipalities and veterans organizations. At times, the military has exercised ownership rights and secured those old guns, tanks, and planes (as with the Memphis Belle). But not often.
Given legal issues some collector might find with such weapons, they are often reluctant to discuss what is in the storage shed. One cannon owner has personally told me he fears some government agency showing up one day to repossess his antique guns. So I would guess the two Napoleons are sitting in someone’s collection, and that’s where they will stay for some time.
But I do have some advice for the town of Fitchburg. If they place the two remaining guns on display, coat them with a good acrylic paint. Wood carriages can be rebuilt. But the guns can’t be “remade” without losing their authentic feel.
