The "Earth Shaking, Air-Blasting Boom" Story

10-pounder Parrott Cannon

It was an ordinary day.  Checking in the paper for viewing times for the movie "Lincoln."  We have been bombarded with stories in our local paper about the movie and it's ties to Lancaster County.  Seems like one of the former Mayors of Lancaster has a big interest in the movie that is directed by Steven Spielberg.  Charlie Smithgall owns one of the most extensive privately owned collections of antique cannons in the country and he furnished 12 guns that play a big part in the in the movie. Now, these aren't just any guns mind you, they are huge weapons weighing tons and tons.  They contracted with him for his huge 30-pound Parrott gun and his massive 4 1/2-inch rifle.  Each weighs about six tons and is mounted on a wooden carriage with wooden wheels.  The Parrott gun was invented by Robert Parker Parrott, a West Point graduate who resigned from the service in 1836 and became the superintendent of the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, New York.  His first gun was made in 1860.  Parrotts were manufactured with a combination of cast and wrought iron.  They were manufactured in different sizes, from 10-pounders up to the rare 300-pounder.  The 100-pound naval Parrott could achieve a range of 6900 yards.  The poundage number refers to the weight of the projectile that is fired from the cannon.  The movie also used Charlie's 24-pound howitzer, a 12-pound howitzer, two 12-pound Napoleons and a 10-pound Parrott.  The Napoleon gun was a French weapon and made of bronze.  The howitzer was a weapon that was developed in Sweden and differed from the other two in that it had a barrel that could have the trajectory changed.  The film also used five of Charlie's 3-inch Ordnance Guns which fired projectiles that were 3 inches in diameter.  The movie was filmed two years ago, primarliy near State Farm, Virginia which is about 30 miles west of Richmond on a property that had thousands of acres of open ground.  Filmed in the same location as "John Adams," the 2008 HBO miniseries.  The guns had to be transported on two flat-bed tractor-trailers as well as Charlie's small trailer.  Got quite a bit of attention on the journey from this area to the south.  For all the hassle of moving the guns, they were used in only three scenes in the movie: Lincoln's arrival at City Point, VA where the guns are hub-to-hub, another set which represented Petersburg, VA battlefield where Lincoln toured on horseback and the guns were placed in the Union defenses, and another scene in Richmond itself where the original Confederate White House was made up to resemble the White House in Washington and Charlie's guns were used in the background.  Smithgall reported that during a break in the filming, he and the art director sat down and ate lunch at the table where, in the movie, Lincoln and General Ulysses S. Grant confer.  Pretty neat!  Only disappointment was that at no time during the filming were the guns fired.  Wow, all the money used to transport the guns and never getting a chance to fire them ...... bummer.  But, the people of Lancaster do get to hear Charlie's cannons being fired every Fourth of July at the Longs Park celebration during the playing of the "1812 Overture" by the Army Band.  Most times he brings 17 cannons to the park on the west side of the city.  Full charges of gunpowder are loaded into each cannon; the same size charge that would have been used during the civil war.  Gives the cannons their signature earth-shaking, air-blasting boom.  And no matter where you may be in Lancaster County when they go off, you can hear them and feel the earth shake.  A real treat.  For now, I'll just have to do with seeing the cannons on the big screen when I take in "Lincoln."  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.