A writer describing this
military establishment observes:
"During my visit I learned that since the [Civil] war began over three hundred cannon have been manufactured here for our government - the Parrott gun exclusively - to 300-pounders. The guns have done duty in our forts, on our gunboats, and in our grandly-moving armies, so sublimely sweeping through the hostile Southern States. One of these 300-pounders weighs twenty-six thousand pounds, or thirteen tons. One was being cast as I visited the place. It was a sight worth traveling hundreds of miles to see. These guns are submitted to the severest tests before turned over for service. The precipitate banks of Crow Nest are the target of the experimental trial, the distance fired being two thousand yards. Two huge bare spots, with deep indentures in the rocks, attest the accuracy of the range and force of the firing. At all hours of the day for the past four years the firing of these guns have awakened fearful echoes among these environing heights, oftentimes sounding like the roar of a terrible battle."
- - The New York Times. ? 1865
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