Dear Major Corby:

I am sorry your letter instructing us not to do any thing with the cannon came so late as we have already tested the cannon and used up all the cannon balls you sent us. You'll be happy to hear that the cannon didn't blow up or hurt anybody.

But those grooves seemed to change the way the cannon worked, quite a lot.

To begin with, we mounted the cannon on the carriage in our shop and she fit on there perfect. Then, in the middle of the night to protect security on it, we hitched up Hugo (that's my horse) and pulled it out in the woods along Feather Creek about 20 miles out of town. Ther's a valley out there where no one lives and we thought that'd be a good place to try her out.

We got it in place about eight o'clock in the morning, all staked down and aimed alongside a clump of trees at a place in the creek be where we thought the cannon ball would land. We watched cannons being fired when we were kids during the French and Indian War and were pretty sure of how it would work. Captain Hawkins rode out in the morning to watch and said he'd seen a cannon fired down in Hartford about a year ago.

Leonard poured in the powder and I dropped in the cannon ball and tapped it in real good. Then we tied Leonard's flintlock musket across the barrel and tied a string to the trigger. We got off behind a rock about 20 feet away and pulled the string.

The cannon went off just fine and sounded good, but we couldn't see where the cannon ball landed. We spent about an hour down in the creek bed looking for the ball when Whipperwill Green, an old hermit, came walking along carrying our cannon ball and wanted to know what we thought we were doing. He said he'd been doing his morning chores in his cabin on the other side of the valley about a mile and a quarter away when this cannon ball smashed into his wheelbarrow in his garden. We couldn't understand how it got clear over there, but he had it and was so insistent that we pay for his wheelbarrow that we figured somehow, it did.

Anyway, we moved the cannon a little so it wouldn't shoot into Whipperwill's garden patch and loaded her up again. Since Whipperwill had already seen what we were doing, we couldn't very well make him leave, so he stayed to watch.

We fired her again and watched on the opposite ridge and sure enough, about a second after we shot her off, we saw the cannon ball smash against a pile of stones over there.

By the time we'd fired all the cannon balls that would fit the barrel, it was getting dark. We were pretty good at aiming it and could pick out a bush on the far ridge about a mile away and hit it almost every time. That cannon sure does make those cannon balls go straight.

We told Whipperwill not to mention what he'd seen to anybody, and he agreed to. He said that he hadn't seen anyone for over two years, so he didn't figure to have too much trouble in keeping our secret.

We pulled the cannon back into town during the night, and the next day was Sunday and your letter came the next day.

Professor Miller, who teaches the children here in Wilfred Corners, heard about what happened when we fired the cannon. He said that surely the gouged-out marks in the bore of the cannon had something to do with the way the cannon works and he was intending to do some experimenting with that the very same day. He was surprised that we had happened onto his invention.

I'm sorry we didn't wait for your inspection team, but since it didn't seem to hurt the cannon by shooting it, they'll still be able to look it over all right.

Copy to: Captain Hawkins

Farnsworth & Cooper

Cannon and Carriage Company

08 December 1779 Wilfred Corners, Massachusetts

Dear Major Corby:

Your inspection team arrived a week ago to check over our cannon. They left last night. We had a cold snap and they didn't think we should go out in the country to fire the cannon so they just inspected it and talked to Whipperwill Green, the hermit, about the tests we had last fall. They thought everything seemed all right and they said they would send a report to you.

Captain Hawkins was very helpful during the inspection team visit. He took them around town and entertained them for us in the evening. Leonard and I couldn't be with them much as we've been clerking at the grocery store at nights to get some money to pay interest on our loans. Then, of course, we had to pay boarding down at the hotel for the inspection team and that took some extra money, too.

We had trouble arranging for the inspection team to see Whipperwill. He never comes to town and they said it was too cold to go out to his place, but they had to interview him as an unbiased witness to our tests. I rode out to get him on Tuesday, but he wouldn't come back to town with me. I had to get him, so when I went back in town, I made up a story about him shooting at me and Sheriff Larson, here in Wilfred Corners, went out and arrested him and brought him in. He charged me with false arrest and I'm in jail for 30 days, so I'm not able to do anymore work on our cannon for a while. Leonard is working at the store full time to pay for food for his family and mine while I'm in jail so he can't work on the cannon either.

While I'm here in jail, I'm working on the design of the cannon sight so we should be able to get back to work next month.

Let us know what we should do next, as I think we're about to deliver our cannon to the Army. Where should we send it?

Copy to: Captain Hawkins

You are advised that T2C-3 Weapons Systems Evaluation Tests at the Salem Ordnance Plant, Weapons Range #4, will be conducted from 08 through 15 June. Tests to determine compliance with contract specifications will be conducted from dawn to dusk daily. Evaluations will be accomplished by personnel of the 13th Army Ordnance Division, Monmouth Artillery, Company "B". Weapons systems of four Colonial Army contractors will be tested at this time.

You are directed to deliver your T2C-3 Weapons System and have it in place ready for transportation testing by sunrise, 08 June.

Two Field Representatives of your company are to be provided for maintenance supervision and training. Twenty-four sets of the appropriate operating manuals and maintenance handbooks are to be furnished by the contractor.

You are advised that the highest level of security now in effect on the T2C-3 Weapons System must be maintained during transit to ther evaluation site.

HC:jb

Copies to:
Captain Earl Hawkins
Plant Representatives
T2C-3 Contracts