It stood propped up — minus the wheels — against the concrete garage wall out of the weather for 12 years. I had gotten it from the pump house of a well-known Civil War collector in Atlanta. He and his son had been asked to haul it off in the 1950s from the center of a small town south of Atlanta because of its state of disrepair.
Then one day, after I had it for about four or five years, I showed it to John Johnston, the Mississippi artilleryman. He knew exactly where to look to find the maker's mark and date. That's when I knew I had something special. It said:
U. S.
Allegheny
Arsenal
No.4
1857
Through research done later, I learned that the Allegheny Arsenal (in Pittsburgh, between the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers) was one of the "arsenals of construction" which incorporated the new design changes which, I believe, included double-loop lock chains.
According to Matt Switlik, an authority on Civil War artillery support equipment, this caisson is the earliest-known dated new design with double loop lock chains to survive the war.
It sat for about five more years, and then Charlie Westbrook and I decided to bring it back to life. Charlie is half-owner of the caisson and a fellow member of the Historical Artillery Association.
As four of us moved it from its 12-year-old spot, I realized the caisson was as solid as the day it was made and certainly as heavy. Maneuvering it through a two-foot wide opening in a fully upright position proved to be a strenuous task. Then off it went to Charlie's home shop in Lilburn, Ga., to be reborn.
Over the next two years it came from a state of disrepair to a fully functional caisson using most of the original wood. As the bolts and nuts started coming apart after 140 years, we started to see how well a Civil War caisson was built and to understand the benefits of its design.
Charlie had ordered the design book from Don Lutz which further helped us out. The only piece of wood which we decided not to use was the stock (the piece which the lunette ring attaches to). It was completely severed at the footboard. We discussed splicing it but decided that, if the caisson were ever used in a funeral, we didn't want to risk the stock breaking while being drawn by horses.
Over its lifetime the caisson had lost all of its paint; thus came the decision whether to paint it or leave it. After several conversations with Matt Switlik, we decided to protect the wood with a mixture of linseed oil and turpentine.
"Sometimes you can see the original pencil marks on the wood," Switlik had said. Also, we decided, the new owner could still paint it if he wanted to.
I was able to find a piece of dried white oak on my wood yard and sized it to 4" x 5" and Charlie fitted it to the lunette ring and the rest of the caisson.
It was very interesting to note that at the rear end of the right side rail was a fairly large structural knot — it just goes to show that Mother Nature doesn't often make perfect wood and they used what they had rather than wait for a better piece.
Another interesting fact about this original caisson was the joinery, which fit together like a glove. They were able to make beautiful fittings and joints without the use of power tools. What great workmanship!
The wheels were a separate story in themselves. When the unit was picked up 12 years ago, four wheels came with it — two 57-inch width mismatched hubs and two slightly smaller ones with mismatched hubs. However, one hub of the smaller wheels matched a hub of the larger wheel, so we took all four to Don Cornett, a master wheelwright in north Georgia.
He agreed with us that the two hubs were originals with hammer welded bands and tires and original nave boxes. Don set to work and put new spokes and fellies in the wheels, using the original forge-welded tires, and they turned out strong and pretty.
Back in November 1999 I was itching to try out our handiwork before the new wheels were built. I took the original caisson to Charleston, S.C., along with the original limber that Charlie re-wooded, which belongs to Stephens' Light Artillery and the Historical Artillery Association, and hauled four Confederate sailors four miles in a funeral procession that had been organized by Steve Riggs, an artilleryman from Charleston, S.C.
This occurred before Don built the new wheels and the old wheels were very loose. The old ones did make it through, but I was worried about them falling apart.
After we got the new wheels from Don, I took the caisson back to Charleston. The original caisson and limber, drawn by four horses, was used to carry one of five crewmen of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley in the four-mile procession from the Battery to Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston.
The bodies of these five had been discovered in an abandoned mariners graveyard over which the Citadel stadium had been built. The remains of this second Hunley crew were reburied in the plot by the Ashley River that holds the bodies of the first Hunley crew that was lost. It was an exhilarating feeling to march beside this original caisson as it was put back in service.
Matt Switlik knew of only five surviving caissons in private hands, and none can boast of the fact of carrying five Confederate dead to their final resting place. What an honor!
(About the Author: Richard R. Williamson is a founding member of Stephens’ Light Artillery of Taliaferro County, Georgia, who does custom oak sawing for limbers and carriages and disarms and saws shells. He is a director of the Historical Artillery Association, a non-profit group which promotes education and preservation of black powder muzzleloading artillery.)