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The Cannon on the town square in new hope Pennsylvania
There is a Dahlgren cannon along with a small war memorial and
some cannon balls that are obviously the wrong caliber for the piece. The
Logan Inn is in the background.
There is a well worn plaque in front of the cannon with the
following inscription:
This Cannon, a 9 inch Dahlgren smoothbore gun, is on loan from the
United States Navy to the borough of New Hope since June 7, 1907, when it
was placed here to mark the approach to Coryell's Ferry. Cast at West
Point in 1858 it is a type which formed the chief ordnance of the Union Navy
during the Civil War. From 1856 until 1858 it was on the U.S.S. Minnesota, a
heavy frigate of the Union Navy. The Minnesota was in action at the battle
of Hampton Roads and the bombardment of Fischer, North Carolina. At Hampton
Roads on March 9, 1862 (illeg) Monitor and the Merrimack fought their famous
battle. The prize that day was the Minnesota grounded while attempting to
engage the Merrimack on March 8. This Dahlgren was one of the guns firing
broadsides at the Confederate ironclad, "whose shots glanced off the
Merrimack (illeg) like hailstones on a roof"
For those unfamiliar with the history of our Civil War, the
battle mentioned above was a turning point in history marked by the first battle
between ironclad warships. The Merrimack was known as the Virginia to the
Confederates.
