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 display 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 was getting quite distant and members were passing away.

Ferner received his reply in May of 1911, notifying him that the war department had no more cannons to give away. 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 (cannon balls) that they would be willing to donate.

Ferner chose the cannon balls. On June 19, 1911, 1,710 pounds of cannon balls 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 cannon balls, creating a 5-tier pyramid that were set on northwest side of the square rather than in the cemetery.

In 1942 it was recommended that the cannon balls 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 cannon balls ended up not being part of that sacrifice.

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

By 1959, due to theft and other shenanigans, the remaining cannon balls were removed and put into storage. With the organization of the Washington Historical Society in 1980, the cannon balls were then entrusted to their care.

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 cannon balls remain to this day.