Col. Devere D. Woods, USAF-Ret., and Dave Erway, manager of Bay Monument Co., guide cannon. Civil War Cannon at Pine Ridge Cemetery Gets New Base
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One last Civil War cannon remains in Bay City.
That cannon is a 2,548 pound seige gun at Pine Ridge Cemetery, Tuscola and Ridge Roads.
Recently veterans groups under leadership of Col. Devere D. Woods, USAF-Ret.,of Essexville-Hampton VFW Post 7053, and Scott DeVeau and Ken Martin of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Post 67, constructed a new base for the old cannon.
The new base was dedicated Oct. 18 when the cannon was placed back on the base with the assistance ofManager Dave Erway and staff of Bay Monument Co., 131 Ridge Road.Bay Monument provided the services of a lift truck to remove the cannon from the old base last spring and replace it this fall.
Ceremonies involved the veterans and local public officials including Supervisor Bill Tacey and Trustee Terry Spegel of Hampton Township, Post Commander Hubert Newman of the VFW and Dave Rogers, president, Friends of Historic Pine Ridge Cemetery.
The cannon base contains a time capsule containing documents such as a prose poem entitled "The First Casualty of War," by Col. Woods, and a list of volunteers on the project.
"We hope that the people who may open this time capsule in 2102 may derive some inspiration and benefit from the words inside," said Col. Woods..
The cannon is a smooth bore seige gun, one of several heavy weapons obtained for display in Bay City by Congressman George Loud in the 1880s. At least two of the cannon were from Fort Sumter off Charleston, South Carolina, site of the first shots fired in the Civil War. The other cannon have either been stolen or were returned to the government for recycling as armament in World Wars I and II. Two cannon were on the City Hall lawn and two were in Battery Park, Center Avenue and Jefferson Street..
Pine Ridge Cemetery is the final resting place or memorial of more than 200 Civil War veterans including the great-grandfather of Col. Woods, Mortimore Huntley, who served in the 10th Michigan Infantry..
Centerpiece of the historic cemetery is an obelisk monument erected by the Grand Army of the Republic, U.S. Grant Post 67, in 1885, "to honor the soldiers and sailors of the Rebellion.".
Col. Woods is retired from the Bay County Sheriff's Department where he served as Director of Emergency Services and previously was an executive of the Bay City Steel Casting Division of American Hoist and Derrick Co. He served in the U.S. Army Air Force and its successor the U.S. Air Force and took part in the U.S. Occupation forces in Japan in counter-intelligence and later was deputy commander of the Great Lakes Region for the Civil Air Patrol.
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