I thought this was an interesting facet of the Civil War, and am sharing it from the North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial. It is taken from the The North Carolina Booklet, Volume V, No. 1, July 1905, and shows the sacrifice a North Carolina town made in giving up their church bells to be cast into cannons.
“The Edenton Bell Battery was recruited by Capt. Wm. Badham in the winter ’61-’62, and left Edenton soon after the fall of Roanoke Island, then went to Weldon, and on to Raleigh with sixty men, there they were joined by Lieut. Nelson McClees, of Tyrell county, with twenty-two men, and by Lieut. Gaskins with about twenty men. After drilling in Raleigh about two months, they were ordered to Camp Lee near Richmond for instruction.
As gun metal was scarce, Capt. Badham sent Lieut. Jones to Edenton to secure the church bells, and any others he might obtain, to be cast into cannon, in response to Gen. Beauregard’s famous call. He readily secured all the bells except the Baptist (several members objecting), including the town and court-house bells, the Academy bell, and the shipyard bells; these were conveyed to Suffolk across the country in a wagon, and shipped to the Tredegar Iron Works at Richmond, where they were cast into four cannon….
[The cannons were named, respectively], the “St. Paul”; the “Fanny Roulhac,” for a devout and patriotic lady, a staunch member of the Methodist Church; the “Columbia”; and the “Edenton.” [The first named gun was cast from the bells of St. Paul’s Church, the Fanny Roulhac from the Methodist Church, the Columbia from the shipyard bells, and the Edenton from the Academy, Court-house and Hotel bells.]
As the complement of the artillery corps of Gen. Lee’s army was then complete, an order was issued that all other artillery in camps should be transferred, for the time, to the infantry service; this produced great mortification, and disappointment in the company, and Capt. Badham at once dispatched Lieut. Jones to President Jefferson Davis with the following note:
“Sir: The guns of my company were made of the bells of my town, and have tolled to their last resting place a great many of the parents and relatives of my command, and sooner than part with these guns they had rather be taken out and shot.”
Lieut. Jones had not long to wait, the reply came at once that the company would be furnished as soon as possible with both artillery-horses, and harness. The battery was assigned to Moore’s Third North Carolina Battalion. [The battery served in many engagements to include: Winchester, Culpepper Courthouse, Seven Days’, Goldsboro, Kinston, Whitehall Bridge, and Bentonville.]”
Richard Dillard, “Beverly Hall,” Edenton, North Carolina.