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Journey to the Moon
During
the
War
of
the
Rebellion
,
a
new
and
influential
club
was
established
in
the
city
of
Baltimore
in
the
State
of
Maryland
.
It
is
well
known
with
what
energy
the
taste
for
military
matters
became
developed
among
that
nation
of
ship-owners
,
shopkeepers
,
and
mechanics
.
Simple
tradesmen
jumped
their
counters
to
become
extemporized
captains
,
colonels
,
and
generals
,
without
having
ever
passed
the
School
of
Instruction
at
West
Point
;
nevertheless
;
they
quickly
rivaled
their
compeers
of
the
old
continent
,
and
,
like
them
,
carried
off
victories
by
dint
of
lavish
expenditure
in
ammunition
,
money
,
and
men
.
But
the
point
in
which
the
Americans
singularly
distanced
the
Europeans
was
in
the
science
of
gunnery
.
Not
,
indeed
,
that
their
weapons
retained
a
higher
degree
of
perfection
than
theirs
,
but
that
they
exhibited
unheard-of
dimensions
,
and
consequently
attained
hitherto
unheard-of
ranges
.
In
point
of
grazing
,
plunging
,
oblique
,
or
enfilading
,
or
point-blank
firing
,
the
English
,
French
,
and
Prussians
have
nothing
to
learn
;
but
their
cannon
,
howitzers
,
and
mortars
are
mere
pocket-pistols
compared
with
the
formidable
engines
of
the
American
artillery
.
This
fact
need
surprise
no
one
.
The
Yankees
,
the
first
mechanicians
in
the
world
,
are
engineers
--
just
as
the
Italians
are
musicians
and
the
Germans
metaphysicians
--
by
right
of
birth
.
Nothing
is
more
natural
,
therefore
,
than
to
perceive
them
applying
their
audacious
ingenuity
to
the
science
of
gunnery
.
Witness
the
marvels
of
Parrott
,
Dahlgren
,
and
Rodman
.
The
Armstrong
,
Palliser
,
and
Beaulieu
guns
were
compelled
to
bow
before
their
transatlantic
rivals
.
Now
when
an
American
has
an
idea
,
he
directly
seeks
a
second
American
to
share
it
.
If
there
be
three
,
they
elect
a
president
and
two
secretaries
.
Given
four
,
they
name
a
keeper
of
records
,
and
the
office
is
ready
for
work
;
five
,
they
convene
a
general
meeting
,
and
the
club
is
fully
constituted
.
So
things
were
managed
in
Baltimore
.
The
inventor
of
a
new
cannon
associated
himself
with
the
caster
and
the
borer
.
Thus
was
formed
the
nucleus
of
the
"
Gun
Club
.
"
In
a
single
month
after
its
formation
it
numbered
1,833
effective
members
and
30,565
corresponding
members
.
One
condition
was
imposed
as
a
sine
qua
non
upon
every
candidate
for
admission
into
the
association
,
and
that
was
the
condition
of
having
designed
,
or
(
more
or
less
)
perfected
a
cannon
;
or
,
in
default
of
a
cannon
,
at
least
a
firearm
of
some
description
.
It
may
,
however
,
be
mentioned
that
mere
inventors
of
revolvers
,
fire-shooting
carbines
,
and
similar
small
arms
,
met
with
little
consideration
.
Artillerists
always
commanded
the
chief
place
of
favor
.
The
estimation
in
which
these
gentlemen
were
held
,
according
to
one
of
the
most
scientific
exponents
of
the
Gun
Club
,
was
"
proportional
to
the
masses
of
their
guns
,
and
in
the
direct
ratio
of
the
square
of
the
distances
attained
by
their
projectiles
.
"
The
Gun
Club
once
founded
,
it
is
easy
to
conceive
the
result
of
the
inventive
genius
of
the
Americans
.
Their
military
weapons
attained
colossal
proportions
,
and
their
projectiles
,
exceeding
the
prescribed
limits
,
unfortunately
occasionally
cut
in
two
some
unoffending
pedestrians
.
These
inventions
,
in
fact
,
left
far
in
the
rear
the
timid
instruments
of
European
artillery
.
It
is
but
fair
to
add
that
these
Yankees
,
brave
as
they
have
ever
proved
themselves
to
be
,
did
not
confine
themselves
to
theories
and
formulae
,
but
that
they
paid
heavily
,
in
propria
persona
,
for
their
inventions
.
Among
them
were
to
be
counted
officers
of
all
ranks
,
from
lieutenants
to
generals
;
military
men
of
every
age
,
from
those
who
were
just
making
their
debut
in
the
profession
of
arms
up
to
those
who
had
grown
old
in
the
gun-carriage
.
Many
had
found
their
rest
on
the
field
of
battle
whose
names
figured
in
the
"
Book
of
Honor
"
of
the
Gun
Club
;
and
of
those
who
made
good
their
return
the
greater
proportion
bore
the
marks
of
their
indisputable
valor
.
Crutches
,
wooden
legs
,
artificial
arms
,
steel
hooks
,
caoutchouc
jaws
,
silver
craniums
,
platinum
noses
,
were
all
to
be
found
in
the
collection
;
and
it
was
calculated
by
the
great
statistician
Pitcairn
that
throughout
the
Gun
Club
there
was
not
quite
one
arm
between
four
persons
and
two
legs
between
six
.
