The Cannonballs on the Square

In 1911, George Ferner, head of the Washington Post of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), wrote a letter to the War Department asking for an obsolete cannon to be displayed in the soldiers’ lot in the cemetery.

The GAR was a group of Civil War veterans. The Washington group, Bogardus Post No. 474, was still active but had lost many members as the Civil War became quite distant and members passed away.

Ferner received his reply in May 1911, notifying him that the war department had no more cannons to give away. However, they did have some bronze handguns that they could sell for their metal value ($150 at the time), and they also had a good number of 8-inch cast iron shells (cannonballs) that they would be willing to donate.

Ferner chose the cannonballs.  On June 19, 1911, 1,710 pounds of cannonballs arrived in Washington. These shells were created for use in the Civil War and would have been filled with explosives if put into use.  Washington originally received thirty-eight cannonballs, creating a 5-tier pyramid that was set on the northwest side of the square rather than in the cemetery.

In 1942, it was recommended that the cannonballs be donated for scrap to the War effort, but that did not occur. Washington donated tons of scrap metal and rubber during the war years, including a 7-ton tractor, but the cannonballs did not end up being part of that sacrifice.

What some of them did not survive, however, is the malfeasance of some of the local youth.  Stories of cannonballs living in local residences or being bowled down Peoria Street or at the local bowling alley were hinted at.

By 1959, the remaining cannonballs had been removed and put into storage due to theft and other shenanigans. The Washington Historical Society, which was organized in 1980, then took over the care of the cannonballs.

In the summer of 2009, at least fifty years since their removal, Jo and Dick Miller refurbished and welded together the remaining cannon balls and replaced them in their original spot on the square, where 26 of the 38 original cannonballs remain to this day.