The big gun Union at Fortress Monroe.
A correspondent of the New York Commercial, who witnessed the experiments at Fortress Monroe with the big gun "Union," says:‘ There seems to have been two objections suggested by this experiment. First, that it requires too much time and too many men to load and fire the gun. Second, that the projectile used is defective. The men who handled the gun on this occasion were mostly inexperienced, being nearly all of the "contraband" persuasion. It may be that regularly drilled gunners, with constant practice, can load and fire more rapidly, and without employing so much force. It may be, also, that a projectile of a different and much improved character can be used — ensuring more precision of aim, more directness of motion, and a still longer range.
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