By Justin Fedich | The Selma Times-Journal

Catesby ap C. Jones spends much of his time sitting in his office at the Morris Agency on Broad Street surrounded by history.

He reaches for a portrait of his great-grandfather Commander Catesby ap R. Jones past his collection of World War II medals and above his mahogany desk, which is more than a century old.

At 90 years himself, Jones doesn’t leave Selma often. However, when two Civil War cannons built by his great-grandfather were discovered at the bottom of the Pee Dee River in South Carolina, Jones needed to take a trip.

The two Brooke rifle cannons discovered last week were two of 17 known surviving Brooke cannons that were manufactured at the Confederate Naval Gun Foundry and Ordnance Works in Selma during the Civil War.

“I’ve seen a lot of other ones, but to see these last two we had never seen was really exciting,” Jones said.

Roughly 200 people gathered Tuesday to see the cannons from the C.S.S. Pee Dee gunboat recovered by a team of archaeologists from the University of South Carolina.

The cannons were thrown overboard to prevent them from falling into Union hands before the ship was set ablaze.

Selma was one of just two cities manufacturing Brooke rifle cannons during the Civil War. Selma historian Benny Austin said the cannons were the most powerful muzzle-loaded cannons of the time.

Austin said the finding serves as a reminder of the crucial role Selma played in the Civil War.

“For Selma’s overall history, we can’t look past that point, 1861 to 1865, in Selma’s history because Selma was such an important player in that war that changed the structure of our nation, and so many people tend to overlook it, but it’s really hard to do that and enjoy and appreciate Selma’s history from its founding,” Austin said.

The Brooke rifle cannons in particular were made to punch holes in ironclad warships. The two cannons found in the Pee Dee River were transported to South Carolina in the 1860s to do just that.

The first Brooke rifle cannon had a serial number of S46, a bore diameter of 7 inches and was shipped to the Marion County courthouse in South Carolina on April 12, 1864.

The second Brook rifle cannon had a serial number of S53, a bore diameter of 6.4 inches and was shipped to the same location on July 13, 1864.

Bill Lockridge, who traveled to South Carolina with Jones, was so happy he kissed the 150-year-old cannons.

“I talked to Bill the day he retrieved them,” Austin said. “I talked to him while they were still there and he told me how ecstatic he was and he told me he had a bad taste in his mouth. He said, ‘I have the taste of river mud from kissing them.”

The other cannons built in Selma are spread around the Southeast. One is at a cemetery in Columbus, Georgia. Another is at a military school in Charleston. One cannon, which was recovered in Mobile, sits in front of the Dallas County courthouse.

As Jones sifted through old portraits and recent news stories written about him and the cannons in his office at The Morris Agency, he couldn’t help but smile. As a war veteran and a history buff, his great-grandfather’s cannons being discovered was much more than a news story to him.

“I’m really excited. As a 90-year-old, you don’t get excited about anything,” Jones said with a laugh.

The cannons are now headed to Clemson University for conservation and are expected to be eventually displayed at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs building in Florence, South Carolina.