The Story Behind the Cannon

“Old Ben” is one of 4 six-pound brass cannons given to Sutton in the 1870’s by Congress in tribute to the over two hundred and twenty Sutton men who served in the Civil War. Two of the other guns cur­rently stand at the entrance of the Sutton mu­nicipal building, and the fourth cannon was placed on the Matychek Triangle in Man­chaug. “Old Ben” supposedly was placed in Wilkinsonville and stolen from that spot. It was later recovered from a scrap yard before being placed in the old hearse house on Bos­ton Road.

Left alone there for many years, the weight of the cannon pulled it down be­low the ground, where it was hidden. The floor was later paved over, further obscuring the location of the historic cannon.

Due to the tireless efforts of the late Benjamin F. MacLaren, the cannon was res­cued from its underground fate. MacLaren chopped through the blacktop floor to un­cover the brass tube. Wallace F. Johnson volunteered his tractor to pick it out of the ground, and from there, the cannon was moved to the Sutton Historical Society’s Mu­seum in the General Rufus Putnam Hall.

During a Civil War Living History demonstration in Sutton in 1998, the 25th Massachusetts Volunteer re-enactors saw the cannon, damaged from its time underground and still bearing traces of asphalt. The group decided to help raise funds to restore and carriage mount the cannon. MacLaren, then serving as President of the Historical Society, pledged the support of the Historical Society to the project.

The Board of Selectmen agreed to turn over custody of the gun, which is Town property, to the Historical Society, and ap­proved the proposal to restore and mount it. To help pay for the cost of restoration, a more elaborate Civil War reenactment was planned for August of 1999. Tragically, MacLaren passed away in June 1 999. The August Civil War encampment, complete with choreographed battles, netted some $8,000 for the restoration effort. In Novem­ber the gun was transported to Ashland, Ken­tucky, where Steen Cannons examined, cleaned, repaired and mounted it on a brand new carriage, complete with a set of tools for firing.

The cannon returned to Sutton in June 2000. On Independence Day, the town held a ceremony on the common, dedicating the cannon’s restoration to Benjamin F. MacLaren. The Board of Selectmen, the Sut­ton Historical Society, and MacLaren’s fam­ily and friends paid a much deserved tribute to the man who had such a passion for his­tory, especially the history of Sutton. It is from this ceremony that the cannon acquired the nickname “Old Ben,” in memory of its rescuer.

Steve LeClaire and Carl Hutchinson both contributed to this story.  For more information click here.

For more information, click here.