This cannon, captured by American forces in Cuba during the Soanish American War, was given to the City of Chattanooga by the US Government in 1900. This artifact of war would have been an interesting curiosity for early automobile tourists, who could take a two-block deviation from the Dixie Highway to see it.
The Dixie Highway, whose headquarters were only a few blocks away at the former Patten Hotel, ran through Chattanooga along Market Street, which was later signed as US 27. Market Street in 2017 is also TN state route 8, US 27 having been widened and rerouted as a freeway on the western edge of Chattanooga decades ago.
The cannon is located near the Hamilton County Courthouse and Court Square Fountain, two blocks east of the Dixie Highway Battlefield Rout that passed through downtown Chattanooga.
The mount for this cannon is inscribed as follows:
"[L side]
This cannon was captured by the United States Troops at Santiage de Cuba on the 16th day of July 1898. It was one of the guns which commanded the ay and harbor of Santiago at the time of the sinking od the Merrimac by Lieut. Hobson and his brave party, and was employed by the Spanish Garrison in their effort to destroy them, and is now loaned to the city of Chattanooga by the U.S. Government.
[R side]
Erected under the plans of Maj.or D. C. Kingman U.S.A. and the supervision of the following Committee of the Board of Mayor and Alderman of the City of Chattanooga, and dedicated to American Bravery.
Joseph Wassman, Mayor
E. J. Dillard, Chairman
Jos. C. Forstner, Sam W. Duncan Committee
Robert Hooke, City Engineer"
From the Encyclopedia of Tennessee: (
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"Dixie Highway Association
Home » Entries » Dixie Highway Association
By Leslie N. Sharp , Georgia Institute of Technology
Constructed between 1915 and 1927, the Dixie Highway was part of the new road system built in response to the growing number of motorists in the early decades of the twentieth century. When completed, the highway extended from Ontario, Canada, south 5,706 miles to Miami, Florida. The Dixie Highway Association provided the driving force behind the development of the highway. Motor enthusiasts and/or entrepreneurs formed the Dixie Highway Association and similar groups to promote the construction of roads that would connect cities to each other.
The idea for the Dixie Highway came from Carl G. Fisher, an Indiana entrepreneur and land speculator. By 1914 Fisher and Michigan businessman W. S. Gilbreath had gained enough support for this north-south highway to bring the idea to the annual meeting of the American Road Congress in Atlanta.
Governors Rye of Tennessee and Ralston of Indiana called an organizational meeting of the Dixie Highway Association for April 3, 1915, in Chattanooga. Over five thousand people attended this first meeting, including governors from Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia, and Florida.
The Chattanooga Automobile Club, newly formed in 1914, was an enthusiastic supporter of the project and remained closely allied with the Dixie Highway Association throughout its history. Five local members of the Chattanooga Automobile Club and eight other men pledged one thousand dollars each for the formation of the Dixie Highway Association.
The purpose of the Dixie Highway Association was to build a permanent highway from a point on the Lincoln Highway near Chicago through Chattanooga to Miami, with an eventual extension north to Ontario. Both the eastern and western divisions of the highway passed through Tennessee. The western route headed south from Springfield through Nashville, Murfreesboro, Shelbyville, Tullahoma, Winchester, Cowan, and Monteagle to Chattanooga. The eastern division went south from the Cumberland Gap through Knoxville, Rockwood, and Dayton to Chattanooga.
The Dixie Highway Association headquarters were located in the Patten Hotel in Chattanooga, roughly the halfway point of the highway, and the incorporators who were delegated to create a charter for the association all came from Chattanooga. These prominent businessmen emerged as the biggest proponents of the highway in Tennessee. . . .
Allison remained an extremely active president throughout the life of the Dixie Highway Association until it disbanded in 1927. The Dixie Highway magazine was published in Chattanooga and prominently featured the city and region in articles and advertisements. . . ."