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The Cannon

CannonThis gun was cast by John and Henry King at Woolwich in England in 1810.  It was known as a three pounder as it fired a cast iron ball weighing about three pounds or 1.4 kilograms.  Small brass cannon of this type were designed for use in the colonies or in mountainous areas, and this particular cannon may have seen service in India between 1811 and 1840.

It was almost certainly brought to British North America with a detachment of the 6th Regiment of Foot (The Royal First Warwickshire Regiment), which garrisoned the Red River settlement in 1846 under Major John Folliot Crofton's command.  When the regiment returned to Britain in 1848, this cannon was either left at Red River or York Factory and was taken over by the Hudson's Bay Company.  The Company then shipped two or three of these cannon to Fort Edmonton.

Cannon EngravingWhen the fort was dismantled to make way for the Legislature Building, two cannon were mounted on reproductions of naval carriages and displayed outside the Legislature Library.  In 1967 the cannon were given to the Provincial Museum of Alberta.  The third Fort Edmonton gun may have been sent to the Victoria Armoury before being melted down for scrap metal during the Second World War.

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