Did you happen to notice that Wiscasset’s historic town cannon is back alongside the Veterans War Memorial? Next time you drive past, stop and have a closer look. The 1861 gun recently underwent a complete overhaul by a group of hardworking Wiscasset High School students.

As you might expect, motivating a group of guys to work on a cannon wasn’t a problem for Robert Cronk, technology education teacher. Cronk suggested his students undertake the job as a community project. As reported in the April 16 edition of the Wiscasset Newspaper, high school students are required to do six hours of community service each year. The cannon’s reconditioning that began in the early part of April took many hours and was only just completed. 

On Monday morning, in between downpours, the cannon was carried from the high school’s industrial arts workroom to its place of honor outside the town office. 

Cronk and his team of students have Bob Blagden of Wiscasset to thank for that. Blagden donated his wrecker truck and his expertise to move the gun, which weighs over 500 pounds.

The students, under Cronk’s watchful eye and thoughtful supervision, did all of the work. The job included removing and sandblasting the gun barrel and its four steel wheels, stripping off the old veneer from its oak carriage and then carefully reassembling everything. A coat of rust-blocking black enamel was applied to the barrel. The carriage was also painted for the first time; the team chose light gray after contacting a cannon restoration expert.

Two weeks ago, this reporter paid a visit to the WHS tech department to check on the cannon’s progress. Cronk was down on his knees helping one of the students, Chayse Reed, fashion a new wooden wedge for the gun carriage. Reed, a junior, was working by himself that morning because the other guys, all seniors, were away on their class trip. These included BJ Blagden, Nate Haley, Dan Delano and Ben Chadwick, all members of the cannon restoration team.

The “wedge,” Reed explained, is what’s used to raise and lower the gun barrel. Soldiers manning the gun would use this triangular wooden block to elevate or lower the barrel. They would also vary the “charge,” the powder used to fire the gun to change the distance a cannon ball traveled.

Cronk added that Wiscasset’s cannon can no longer be fired because both its muzzle and touch-hole have been plugged.

Originally, Cronk’s team hoped to have the cannon finished by June 14, Flag Day. That didn’t happen, but they made it with time to spare for the Fourth of July and that’s probably more appropriate.

This year the Fourth of July marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. The town of Wiscasset purchased the cannon at the start of hostilities between North and South for protection of the harbor. Fortunately, it was never needed to fend off a Confederate attack.