Friday, June 13, 2008
Celebrate the USA with a Bang!
With the 4th of July coming up, I got curious about the history of celebrating Independence Day with fireworks and other noisy displays. Did you know that the United States doesn't really have national holidays? It's up to state or local jurisdictions to determine their own official holiday schedules. Even though the Federal government sets holidays only for its own employees, most states observe the eleven Federal holidays. I guess that's why we call them "national holidays."
Of the eleven unofficial national holidays, Independence Day is the only holiday that celebrates the United States of America and from what I can tell, the very first celebration was a noisy one. On July 4, 1777 in Bristol, Rhode Island thirteen guns were fired, once in the morning and then again at night. Philadelphia also celebrated the first Independence Day with 13-gun salutes. Over the next couple of years, the tradition of firing guns and cannons was adopted nearly everywhere:1
In 1778, General George Washington ordered a Fourth of July artillery salute, a salute was fired from a captured enemy cannon at Princeton, New Jersey, and guns and "sky rockets" were fired in Philadelphia.
- In Boston in 1779, ships fired a "grand salute" from their cannons and in Philadelphia, an official dinner was followed by a display of fireworks.
- In 1782 in Saratoga, New York, the "officers of the Regiment" of the Continental Army celebrate with toasts and a "volley of Musquets at the end of each."
- In 1783 the governor of South Carolina gave a dinner at the State House. The guests drank 13 toasts, the last one accompanied by artillery guns firing 13 times.
We have a super loud 25-inch field cannon with an automatic charger mechanism and flint ignitor. That means it handles rapid, multiple firing, which I'll need to pull off a "50-gun salute" with only one cannon. No need to worry about safety, the cannon operates on the same principle as a car's gas engine.
You just add powdered calcium carbide "ammo" and water in the chamber of the cannon, which forms acetylene gas. The auto flint firing mechanism creates a spark to ignite the gas and BOOM! This cannon even produces a realistic flash that makes it seem like a cannon ball has been fired.I can't wait to see the look on my nephew's face when he sees this Thing on the 4th of July. If my sister will allow it, I'll even let him fire a few rounds. The cannon is made of metal with a heavy-duty cast iron chamber and wheels, so it's sturdy and safe, but we recommend adult supervision for kids under sixteen.
Happy Independence Day. I'll see you next week,
Bobby
1. http://www.american.edu/heintze/fourth.htm#Notable
Posted by Bobby at
10:07 AM
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