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AMERICAN LEGION ATTORNEY SAYS POST IS KEEPING

VA'S CANNONS -- "It's an integral part of the

post's image and pride."

 

(Blethen Maine News Service photo by Jim Evans)

 

Background on the "Battle of the Cannons" here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfJAN07/nf012407-2.htm

Story here... http://www.timesrecord.com/website/
main.nsf/news.nsf/0/761AF1F2C79955A
B8525726E0066E98F?Opendocument

Story below:

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Post's attorney returns salvo

Michael_Reagan, TimesRecord.Com

RICHMOND — The Civil War era cannons that sit in front of Emerson-Lane American Legion Post 132 aren't going anywhere, the post's attorney said.

Although members of the post on Carding Machine Road have heard allegations that the cannons were taken from the Togus Veterans Administration Medical Center years ago, officials at Togus have provided no documentation to support that, said attorney Roger Katz of Augusta, who represents the post.

Contrary to claims made by a Winslow antique dealer, Katz said he's been assured that the cannons remain in fine condition, noting that they were built for outdoor use.

"It's an integral part of the post's image and pride," Katz said of the cannons. "We're not saying the VA is not an appropriate place for them, but why now?"

Katz said Wednesday that he spoke with a VA counsel about the cannons a few months ago and has had no contact with anyone from the administration since then. Katz will meet with post members next week about the cannons, but one item will not be on the agenda.

"The post has absolutely no intention of selling them. They are part of the post's proud history. Their intention is to keep them right where they are," he said.

"The American Legion Post in Richmond acknowledged the two cannons were from Togus," wrote Jim Doherty, staff assistant to the center director at Togus, in a statement released this morning. "We are not aware of the actual circumstances of the transfer of the cannons at that time and we do not have documentation that far back. We will be contacting the Richmond American Legion Post requesting the return of the cannons for the benefit of all veterans visiting Togus."

Winslow antique dealer Todd Violette came upon the cannons by accident two years ago.

"I immediately recognized what they were, bronze cannons," he said.

Violette said he has no expertise in cannons, but was interested in Civil War artifacts and knew that bronze cannons are a rarity. He has not seen bronze cannons at monuments in Maine.

He inquired about whether legion members might entertain the possibility of selling them and was told that the post was not interested in selling the cannons in the near future. If he had bought them, Violette said he would have resold them.

During his research, he talked to Richmond resident Lawrence Bond Jr., who told him that he had gotten the cannons from Togus.

"With an item like this, I want to be sure where it came from," he said. The antiques dealer said that as he did research about the cannons, he felt concerned that they might be sold to a private entity and lost forever. Violette also expressed concern about the condition of what he believes to be the cannons' original wooden carriages, which have deteriorated. At a place like the Maine State Museum in Augusta, he said the cannons could be cared for, secure and in a place where everyone could enjoy them.

State historian Earle G. Shettleworth Jr. visited 110 Civil War monuments in Maine last year. He noted that cannons often accompany the statues or monuments and he has taken pictures and written down the inscriptions as a way to document them. Many of the cannons are from the Civil War era.

Shettleworth noted that town monuments in nearby Bowdoin and Bowdoinham include Civil War cannons that came from Fort Popham. The cannons came to Bowdoinham in 1909 and Bowdoin in 1907.

In Bangor and Brewer, cannons from the Penobscot expedition of 1779 are in display, after being pulled from the Penobscot River. The Revolutionary War expedition was a failed naval effort by Massachusetts patriots to recapture Castine from the British.

Putting cannons on display is not just an American habit either, as seen in Quebec.

"There's cannon everywhere. Particularly when you get to the fort," Shettleworth said.

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Larry Scott

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