Object

Cannon

Date:

c. 1770

About this artifact

During Shays' Rebellion, the Massachusetts militia stationed at the United States Arsenal in Springfield, Massachusetts, fired a cannon like this at the approaching Regulators. It took a trained team of artillery men to load and fire a cannon. One gunner primed the cannon and loaded it with powder, while a second gunner stood ready to fire on an officer's command. Other soldiers stood ready to ram the powder and ball down the muzzle, and sponge out the barrel once it was fired, to extinguish stray sparks before it was re-loaded. Like the cannon the militia used at the arsenal, this cannon from the Saratoga National Park fired three-pound iron cannon balls.