I can understand if, at the time of the removals, there were no means for preserving the guns and they were sent areas that could provide that care. However, as it looks it the case of the mortar that went to San Francisco- there is no historical link between that mortar and its history during the Civil War at Pensacola. Unless you have that information published with the gun on display - who would know? Thousands of people see and touch that weapon every year, thinking it was actually used at Fort Point- a fort that NEVER saw any action-that sits under the Golden Gate Bridge- blocked in by the southern bridge tower and the suspension cable anchorage.

I can't complain too much because Battery 234 at Fort Pickens came from somewhere else- I believe Virginia? The gun at Battery Cooper came from New York? But neither of these guns were fired in a historical battle. The mortar at Fort Point most probably was fired during the war in combat in Pensacola.

But there are plenty of examples of abandonment and historical disconnect. You can find in the cities of Pensacola and Mobile old cannons on the sides of streets or little parks without any information to why they were their or where they came from.

I thought the gun in the picture below was "Lady Slocom" from Spanish Fort until I "discovered" the real "Lady Slocum" in New Orleans lying on the ground- rusting - in front of the Confederate Museum. I had looked all over for that famous gun and almost cried when I finally found it. Only the name plate told what it was, and I identified the missing trunning that had ended its career- but the history of that gun was not there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fancyhorse/3384241266/

Lady Slocum in New Orleans

http://www.flickr.com/photos/officiallouisiana/4720296562/

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David Upton