“I’d rather blow up a chicken than do scrap-booking!” said Karen Johnson, an enthusiastic participant in the day’s events at George Rogers Clark Park.
The chicken was already dead. The instructors used chicken-halves from a grocery store to demonstrate what can happen to a human hand if it’s in the way of a vent near the rear of a cannon.
The 3,600-pound, Civil War-era cannon was a dreadful wartime instrument, but the mood during the hands-on part of the teaching wasn’t solemn — until safety was discussed.
At one point when re-loading the cannon, a long pole with a hook is used to remove bits of spent cartridges. If there are still explosives in the barrel and the pole is blown out, it can catch a hand on the hook.
“Your arm usually disconnects at the shoulder,” said Randy Jackson, a member of the First Mad River Light Artillery unit, the organizer of the day’s events. The unit considers George Rogers Clark Park its home base.
Jackson also belongs to the Fourth Indiana Light Artillery, which sent a cannon and members to aid with the training.
“I think this is something the community ought to be involved in,” said Buddy Townsend, a member of the Fourth Indiana. “I can give you a book to read about war, I can say the cannons boom and talk about the smoke, but you don’t know what I’m talking about until you do it.”
Townsend said that despite the steep expense of the activity, fellow members of his group enjoy the opportunity to get away from the everyday grind with something altogether different.
Townsend turned to his nearly-trained unit. “Prick and prime!” he barked.
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