MILITARY & VETERANS AFFAIRS
NEWS RELEASE

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT:

Carol Fowler, Assistant Curator for Oral History, National

Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey, at 732-974-5666

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      Last year the volunteer and professional staff at the National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey at Sea Girt considered the possibility of mounting one of the two Model 1857 Napoleon 12 pounder cannon barrels in the museum collection on a reproduction carriage.

      With the 150th anniversary of the Civil War approaching, an exhibit featuring artillery of the period seemed particularly appropriate. The fact that our barrels were among only 23 Napoleons made by the Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts in 1861 with handles on them made the project all the more interesting.

 

      Formerly on display outside the East Orange armory, our cannon barrels were transferred to the museum when the armory building was sold by the state. Encrusted with years of Essex County pollution, the two tubes lay on pallets in the museum's vehicle bay until we began to carefully clean one in the late summer of 2008. On September 22, 2009, we rolled out that barrel atop a historically accurate artillery carriage built in the museum workshop by our skilled and dedicated volunteers.

 

      In days gone by it was common to name an artillery piece, and in keeping with this tradition, we have named our gun “Arabella,” after Arabella Wharton Griffith Barlow, wife of General Francis Barlow, who twice nursed him back to health after he was severely wounded, only to die herself from typhus contracted by tending Union soldiers. Arabella Barlow, born in Somerville and buried there, was a “Jersey Girl” in the finest sense of the word.

 

      This new artillery exhibit, which includes a reproduction limber donated to the museum by Jeff Cohen of the 6th New York Battery, sample inert ammunition from our collection or on loan from Dr. David Martin and Don Troiani's artwork, will highlight the role of New Jersey's artillery batteries in the Civil War and will feature the only mounted Civil War cannon on museum display in the state. It would not have been possible without the assistance provided by the following organizations and individuals. Their encouragement, financial and material assistance and timely advice were vital to the completion of the project.

 

      The museum is indebted to: The National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey Board of Trustees, The New Jersey Civil War Heritage Association, The George A. Custer Camp, Sons of Union Veterans, the Phil Kearny Civil War Round Table, Jeffrey Cohen and the 6th New York Battery, Jeff Stafford, Charles Smithgall, Pete Jorgenson, Don Troiani, The Essex Troop Association, The 112th Field Artillery Association, Robert Dennin, COL (ret.) Leonard Luzky, COL. (ret.) Edward Peterson, COL (ret.) John Promulayko and Dr. David Martin.

 

      Last but by no means least, we honor the “the gun crew” whose dedication, skills and hard work actually made it happen: John Allocca, Wall Township; Fred Burns, Wall Township; Larry Castrovinci, Wall Township; Dominick Ianelli, Lakehurst; Tom Irving, Spring Lake; Bill Paynton, Manasquan; Diana Newman, Long Branch; Bob Silverman, Long Branch and Jerry Travers, Bricktown.