Recovered Relic: how a missing 10-ton Civil War seacoast mortar was found
Can a rare artifact weighing 10-tons simply vanish? It literally happened.
Our national investigative correspondent brought you the story two years ago of how a 20,000-pound Civil War artillery piece disappeared from public display 25 years ago before the community realized it had gone missing. And now it’s been found. Mark Hyman has this remarkable story for Inside Your World Investigates.
"In your wildest dreams, did you think that somebody would find that?" asked correspondent Mark Hyman.
"No. No," was the immediate response from retired admiral Sam Cox. He is the Director of Navy History. We met with him more than two years ago when we were trying to locate a 10-ton naval mortar identical to one used during the Civil War. The mere existence of this rare artifact was a shock to him.
Admiral Cox was surprised when we first spoke with him because he didn't know this mortar still existed, let alone it had disappeared.
"It had never come to my attention until you brought it to my attention, so I thank you for that," Cox told us.
We first learned of this artillery piece, known as a seacoast mortar, from several caretakers who volunteer at Dayton, Ohio’s Old Greencastle Cemetery, a resting place for approximately 300 veterans dating all the way back to the American Revolution. The mortar sat in the cemetery for nearly a century.
Air Force veteran Fred Lynch was passionate about the mortar’s disappearance. Lynch observed, "The Seacoast Mortar was a grave marker honoring all of the veterans here. ... And, it was meant to stay here."
The Navy loaned the mortar to the Dayton community more than a century ago. In 1998, cemetery officials sold it to a private collector from Allentown, Pennsylvania. Years later, it was sold again. And no one wanted to spill the beans on where it went.
Using Google Earth, we examined a suspected location and found where the mortar was in 2016. It was gone three years later after it was sold the second time.
We called public museums, private collectors, experts, and an auctioneer who specializes in cannon sales looking for the mortar. One private collector we spoke with was Charlie Smithgall. He founded what may be the nation’s largest private collection of artillery pieces in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Smithgall denied possessing the mortar or having any knowledge of its whereabouts. We hit a dead-end.
Then, Admiral Cox gave us great news. The mortar was found by a member of the public.
Mark sat down with that member of the public. "You were visiting a museum and something caught your attention. What was that?" Mark asked. "It was a piece of civil war ordnance, what's known as a 13-inch seacoast mortar. ... [I]t was a piece of ordnance of interest because it had gone missing."
Todd Creekman is a retired Navy captain. He’s also a Civil War history buff. But that alone doesn't explain how he knew the mortar had been missing. It turns out he became aware of this missing artifact because he watched our original news story two years earlier. "I knew because of the piece that you did in late 2021. On TV, I saw it on one of our local stations here in the DC area," he told us.
Months after watching our news story, Captain Creekman visited a private artillery museum. Tucked into the back was a seacoast mortar. And he wondered: was it the missing one? Upon closer inspection he learned the answer.
"Cast into this huge piece of iron when it was made 150-plus years ago, was the serial number that, in the records that you had uncovered, showed that had been the one loaned by the Navy to Dayton all those years ago," answered the question.
Todd Creekman discovered the missing artifact in Smithgall’s private museum. He possessed the mortar despite his denials to us. Sadly, he passed away about a year ago. His daughter declined several requests to speak with us about how Smithgall acquired this rare piece of history.
Mark asked Navy history director Sam Cox, "Does this story have a happy ending?"
Cox replied without hesitation. "I think it does," he said. "Yeah. You know, we found it. It's in a place where people can see it. If we want it, it's ours. We will get it whenever we need it. In the meantime, it's in a good place where it is. Everybody's happy."
It was our national investigative team that did the exhaustive research to follow the more than 150-year history of the missing mortar. And it was a viewer who watched our news story and did his own detective work that brought closure to this 25-year old mystery.
