I'm looking for a volunteer in the Savannah area or someone visiting any Civil War parks in the area to eyeball the markings on any confederate cannons to verify an old story for me. It has been rumored through the years that a "Prattville, Alabama" stamped confederate cannon was seen at a Civil War park in Savannah, GA.

If this cannon exists, it would lend a lot of credibility to the stories of ammo, guns, & artillery being produced at the Daniel Pratt Gin Factory in Prattville.

Daniel Pratt was once a business partner of Samuel Griswold who produced the Griswold & Gunnison pistol for the confederacy. E.C. Griswold was living in Pratville in 1850 with his wife Elizabeth and their five yr old son, Sam.

Pratt's factory was also used by William Penny & Co. under a C.S. Naval contract, an outgrowth of Penny & Chadwick of Milton, Florida. When that area came under Union control in 1862, Penny apparently moved his works to Prattville, where it came under Confederate navy control. Penny & Company operated as a part of the C. S. Naval Iron Works, Columbus, Georgia. The works were commanded by Chief Engineer James H. Warner, C. S. Navy. The Navel Iron Works became the largest producer of marine steam machinery in the Confederacy. Engines and boilers for the Tennessee, Savannah, Huntsville, Tuscaloosa, Columbia, and other Confederate warships were furnished by the Naval Iron Works. When the Pratt Foundry was torn down in the early 1960's, the wrecking company found stacks of buried pig iron under the foundry kiln. A Confederate Pay voucher for Penny & Co. of Prattville, Alabama is in the archives of Continental Gin, present owners of the Pratt Gin Fatory properties. Daniel Pratt's son-in-law Henry DeBardeleben is listed as a machinist on the payroll. The voucher is a who's who of the Prattville Shop.

Barry