Marking the fall of Vicksbur 150 years ago in Presque Isle

    It was July 4, 1863 when Vicksburg fell during the Civil War and the end of the war with victory for the Union Army was in sight. Several Presque Isle citizens had secretly been making preparations for a little celebration as they awaited the expected news.
Joseph W. Hines who had a shop in the vicinity of the present-day Main Street near the intersection of Main and State streets, had arranged for the news to be sent to him as soon as Vicksburg was captured. On July 6 the expected rider carrying the news to Mr. Hines came galloping on his horse into Presque Isle to tell Mr. Hines that General Grant had surrendered Vicksburg.
As it happened, George W. Whidden was in Mr. Hines store that night when the rider arrived. Mr. Hines asked if he and Mr. F.A. Bishop, who was a local blacksmith, had everything ready “to wake the snakes,” as Bishop expressed it. Mr. Whidden assured Mr. Hines that everything was indeed all ready. At that, Mr. Hines reached under his desk and produced a can of black powder, saying “use this.”
In June the three co-conspirators had hatched up their secret plan when it appeared the Civil War would soon be coming to an end. They decided to build a cannon and fire it off “with some of the loudest thunder ever heard in Presque Isle,” when the news arrived.
Mr. Bishop built the cannon and as Mr. Whidden described it, “it was made of rings of iron one-half inch thick and about three and a half inches wide and welded together around a piece of shafting for the first tier, for a bore, and larger rings to be shrank on over the first, a breech welded in, and knobs and trunions fitted by screw threads and drilled sockets. It was not turned and polished, but it was a good strong gun.” Mr. Whidden built the carriage for the gun from lumber he “supposed to be strong enough for six small cannon.” The cannon was mounted to the carriage and hidden away under Mr. Bishop’s work bench on Second Street, where Mr. Whidden was then working as a carpenter.
It was late at night when the news arrived in Presque Isle and most people in town had already retired for the night. Mr. Hines was finishing up the accounting from his business and getting ready to head home himself when the rider arrived. Mr. Whidden left Mr. Hines’ store with the container of black powder. The story of what happened next is told by Whidden.
“I went up to Bishop’s and rapped on his window, for he was asleep, told him the news and of the powder. He sprang out like a steel trap and we hustled out the gun and went down to the shop and closed the doors after us, dismounted the gun and stood it on end at the anvil, poured in a good lot of powder and wadded it in with the chips of the shoemaker who occupied the chamber above, using a wagon spoke for a rammer, and tamped it down with a sledge hammer so that it was nearly full to the muzzle, remounted and placed it on the opposite side of the road in the ditch pointing up the hill.
It was nearly in front of the David Dudley house, and so as not to injure the glass in his house, the bank of the ditch there offered some protection from the firing of the gun, and so it resulted. The gun was primed and a fuse laid across it and lighted. We retreated to the shop door. The fuse sputtered and we waited for the ‘awakening of the snakes.’ It came with a crash and a profound roar, which echoed and re-echoed around town. The glass in that end of the shop fell in a chorus of falling horse shoes and iron in clouds of dust and ashes.
When the salute was preparing we could plainly see Uncle David Dudley, his store door open, sitting in his chair, his back to the counter, lamp on it, his feet on a dry goods box, reading his newspaper, innocent as a lamb of the news we were almost ready to burst, and all alone, and Bishop says with a chuckle: ‘See Uncle David when she goes.’ He startled as if a young earthquake had come, and a few came to see what happened.
The cause of this racket soon got around, and more thunder was called for, but the gun had flown. It was a total wreck. The back of the seat of Isaac Bartell’s old Concord wagon, which was on the street side near the Hines store, where green grass then grew (no sidewalks then) that was on the ground in the rear of the wagon, and if the old horse had not been taking a lunch, or had his head checked up, as is now the cruel fashion, his head would have been smashed. How thankful he must have been. And the smoking gun was resting nearly in the middle of Main Street. It was lashed by a chain to a log and I heard its thunder on my happy journey home that night. Four miles south Isaac had to sit up straight on going home that night but he did not despair for a victory for the Union had been won, and Bishop (who had two brothers fighting in the war) joked and smiled as the next day he repaired the old Concord wagon free of charge for Isaac.
The gun is gone, I know not where. It may be resting in some old junk shop, or in the possession of someone who does not know its history. If I had it, it should be made a monument, a remembrance of the capture of Vicksburg. The ludicrous sallies of my friend, F.A. Bishop, the stalwart patriotism of F. Dyer, and the generous hearted J.H. Hines, they are gone, but their memories are ever green with us. Presque Isle will remember when Vicksburg and Richmond were taken. Our enemies are forgiven and peace and prosperity attend the nation.”
    The above story titled “Story of the News at Presque Isle of the Capture of Vicksburg,” by George F. Whidden was published in an unidentified local newspaper in approximately 1909, and clipped out and saved by Philip Phair in his scrapbooks now located at the Mark and Emily Turner Memorial Library.