The Courthouse Cannons

The cannons at the courthouse were removed on December 17, 1942, during a WWII scrap metal drive. Loading one of the mammoth guns onto a truck were county workers A.M. Clemans, Dave Blatt, and Delmer Bailey. (Kankakee County Museum Photo Archive)

By Jack Klasey

May 24, 2025

For some 45 years, from 1897 to 1942, a pair of huge iron cannons flanking the Kankakee County Courthouse served as a highly visible reminder of America’s Civil War.

Each of the 11.5-foot-long guns weighed 10,000 pounds (five tons) and could fire a 100-pound shell a distance of a half mile. During the Civil War, the cannons that would later come to Kankakee were used in coastal defense. They were part of the armament of Fortress Monroe, a large Union Army fort guarding Hampton Roads, a vital naval port on Chesapeake Bay.

Called “Parrott guns” or “Parrott rifles,” the cannons were designed in 1860 by Captain Robert Parrott of the Union Army. The barrels were machined from cast iron, with a thick wrought-iron reinforcing band around the breech. Spiral grooves, called “rifling,” were cut into the cannon’s bore; the grooves caused the projectile to spin, improving accuracy and range of the projectile.

Parrott rifles were manufactured in a variety of sizes, designated by the weight of the projectile—from 10 to 300 pounds. Most widely used by the army as field artillery were the 10-pound and 20-pound guns. Naval vessels made use of a larger number of sizes: 20, 30, 60, and 100-pounders. Forts providing coastal defense employed the largest (100, 150, 200, and 300-pound) models.

Readers of the November 4, 1897, edition of the Kankakee Gazette were informed of plans to install and dedicate the pair of cannons on the courthouse square. “The unveiling of the Parrott guns, silent reminders of the nation’s strong defenses, will be attended with quite elaborate ceremonies on Thursday, Nov. 11,” the newspaper reported. “The two relics from Fortress Monroe will be set in position some day this week or the first of next.”

Ceremonies at the Kankakee County Courthouse got under way at 2 p.m., when members of the County Board of Supervisors presented the guns to the Whipple Post, the local unit of the Grand Army of the Republic (the GAR was the national organization of Union Civil War veterans).

Beneath the heading, “Grim Relics of Carnage Honored by Whipple Post,” the Gazette described the scene at the courthouse: “This afternoon, under the blue blouses of nearly a hundred war veterans, hearts beat with lively response to the sentiment aroused by the dedication of the war cannon. The great crowd of spectators that surrounded the veterans realized how much today’s event signified to these brave old soldiers, and hundreds of hearts beat as one with sympathy and respect and appreciation. So long as a single survivor of the late war is with us, there will exist the impulse to lift the hat and bow the head in grateful token of the part he took in his country’s history.”

The ceremonies began with the members of the Whipple Post forming a square around one of the guns, which was draped with a large American flag. Inside that square, County Board Chairman T.H. Dyer formally presented the cannons to A. T. Keeble, Commander of the Whipple Post. Keeble responded with thanks for “the generous and patriotic part you have taken in procuring these emblems of war, now to be dedicated to the more peaceful work of teaching history, patriotism, and love of country to the rising generation.”

A musical selection, played by the Chebanse Drum Corps, featured fifer B.J. Wakeman, who had served in that musical capacity throughout the war. Next, L. E. Mohler, Whipple Post Officer of the Day, detailed a guard of honor and ordered the men to unveil the guns. The guard of honor then was directed to set up symbols of the Navy and the Army. The Navy was honored with an anchor and crossed cutlasses placed in front of one cannon; the Army was represented in front of the other gun by a stack of muskets with fixed bayonets, a cartridge box, and a canteen. 

Following the ceremony at the courthouse, members of the Whipple Post and many of the spectators crossed Court Street to the National Guard Armory to hear “An inspiring and patriotic address by Rev. Joe Bell of Streator.” The speaker observed that, “When we step in the lines of march, [we realize] that our once-elastic steps have lost their elasticity, and that we are growing old together…We are growing fewer in numbers, and in ten years there will be but a man left here and there as living reminders of the fight for freedom. This occasion gives us the opportunity of instilling a lesson into the minds the rising generation. This is really a memorial occasion, for the guns we have dedicated today will stand as a reminder for all time of the objects that we fought for.”

Unfortunately, the cannons at the courthouse did not “stand as a reminder for all time.” On December 17, 1942, the massive iron guns were removed from their pedestals as part of a World War II scrap drive and trucked away to be melted down and “made into modern weapons of war.”

Jack Klasey is a former Journal reporter and a retired publishing executive. He can be contacted at jwklasey@comcast.net.