The Salvaging of This Gun
Charleston, Charleston County, South Carolina
Marker Inscription
was accomplished by the heroic efforts of Adolphus W. and James C. Lacoste and others after engineers of both Federal and Confederate Armies had pronounced it impossible.
The Story
In the harbor city of Charleston, where the Civil War's first shots rang out in 1861, the salvaging of a heavy gun from the water was no small matter. This marker honors Adolphus W. and James C. Lacoste, who together with others managed to recover a cannon that trained engineers of both the Federal and Confederate armies had declared impossible to raise. Their feat turned a written-off relic into a lasting piece of the city's wartime memory.
Why it matters
It preserves a small but telling story of Civil War-era ingenuity in Charleston, reminding visitors that ordinary determination sometimes accomplished what the era's professional engineers judged beyond reach.
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Related people
- · Adolphus W. Lacoste
- · James C. Lacoste
Related events
- · American Civil War
Themes & tags
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