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A
Burning Passion for History
by Parker Hills
When Friends of Raymond accepted the gift of
century-old cannon carriages from Vicksburg National Military Park to mark
the artillery positions on the Raymond battlefield, the first task was to
haul the tons of cast iron from Vicksburg to Raymond, and the second was
to restore the rusted, damaged carriages to their original appearance.
 After Raymond volunteers laboriously
moved the disassembled gun carriages from Vicksburg to Raymond in a
two-weekend "heavy metal adventure," a welder was sought who could tackle
the difficult task of repairing the dilapidated old relics. Obligingly,
Mississippi Farm Country Magazine ran an article about the Friends of
Raymond and the efforts to preserve the Raymond battlefield. Soon
afterwards, a phone call came from a Richland welder, Jim Dansby, who said
he could repair in weeks the damage that Mother Nature and generations of
tourists had taken 105 years to inflict upon the cast iron guns.
Dansby, a native Jacksonian, in his early
years had roamed far from Mississippi and spent much of his life in
Colorado. But, like so many Mississippians who wander from home, Jim
returned to the Magnolia State. A few weeks after Hurricane Camille tore
through the state in 1969, Dansby returned home to stay. Now he works full
time as a welder for Great Southern Tractor in Richland, and runs his
after-hours business, M&M Welding, whenever time permits. While wearing
the M&M hat, Dansby works on the old cast-iron cannon.
"There's very few people who will mess with
dirty cast iron,"  explained
Dansby, who said that the iron carriages are loaded with small, unexpected
hollow pockets. Those pockets are filled with sand, a remnant of the
casting process, hence the name dirty cast iron. Dansby continued:
"In fact, my brother-in-law said he would work with me on the cannon
project until I told him what kind of casting it was, and he told me I was
crazy." Undiscouraged, Jim pulled out his welding and grinding equipment
and went to work on Raymond's antique battlefield guns.
Welding was more than a motivating factor for
Dansby, who was a Civil War re-enactor for many years. He served as a
gunner in the historically-storied Warren Light Artillery, often
called Swett's Battery, an artillery unit that stood its ground
despite suffering incredible casualties on Tunnel Hill at Chattanooga on
November 25, 1863. On that fateful Wednesday, Swett's men stubbornly
repulsed the determined attacks of the blue-clad soldiers of General
William T. Sherman, even though all of the battery officers and sergeants
were shot down. So, with his reenactment background, Dansby possesses a
special affinity for preserving the guns for history. "When I was
re-enacting, I did not carry a rifle, a pistol, or a sword when I went to
the field. I was a cannoneer. That was my weapon," asserted Dansby.
As to the hot, grimy work of welding and
grinding cast iron, he simply noted: "Most people don't understand how
re-enactors live in the field. We didn't dare smoke a cigarette or sneak
away for a shower because the Civil War soldier didn't have either. We
bathed in the mud holes in the field, and only if they were available. If
we were lucky we had lye soap, and if not, we used sand. Otherwise, we
could face a court-martial. So, I'm used to dirty work."
After weeks of "dirty work" the first of Dansby's cannon carriage
restorations has been delivered - repaired with new metal welds and
dressed with a fresh coat of paint. When the carriage was delivered,
another old, broken carriage was taken back to Dansby's shop for
restoration. Thus, the process will continue.
Friends of Raymond has been researching the
type of cannon and the position of the guns on the battlefield, and will
now work to acquire the appropriate cannon barrels to crown the welder's
work. When finished the cannons will be placed on the Raymond battlefield,
some of them adjacent to the Raymond battlefield walking trail. These old
cannon will remain silent, but not forgotten. Serving quietly in a retired
status, they will assist in the interpretation of our battlefield. By
majestically adorning the hallowed ground of Raymond, their story will be
told.
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