Revolutionary War Cannons, Edenton, NC

“The picturesque cast-iron Revolutionary War-era cannons mounted throughout Edenton were shipped in 1778 on board Captain John Borritz’s vessel Sacre Coeur de Jesus. Commissioned by the provisional governments of Virginia and North Carolina, Captain Borritz loaded the cannons in Marseilles, France, and crossed the Atlantic dodging storms and the British Navy.

Arriving in Edenton the captain discovered that North Carolina could not pay for the cannons. Borritz had them dumped overboard in Edenton Bay, but the pieces were later recovered. In 1861, the NC militia mounted the cannons at the foot of the Courthouse green for the Town’s defense against Union invaders. On February 12, 1862, Federal warships arrived at the Edenton waterfront and began off-loading occupation troops. Upon seeing the abandoned battery, Federal officers ordered the cannons spiked and remarked that there appeared to be “more danger behind them than in front of them.”

During the late 19th century, some of the cannons were placed as memorials on the courthouse green. In 1928 three were mounted in their current location on East Water Street pointing toward Edenton Bay. In the 1960s, another was mounted at Broad Street’s Monument Square.”

Text taken from Metro Magazine May 2004