Excerpts taken from;
New Boston Artilley Company 50 Years 1938-1988
The old Militia was abandoned by an act of the New Hampshire Legislature in 1851 and no official guardian to the Molly Stark cannon existed until 1938 when New Boston decided to take action.
A meeting was called.
This meeting, “which was largely attended with much lively discussion, proved that the spirit of the Molly Stark defenders prevailed as old.”
The reason for this meeting regarded placing the Molly Stark cannon in the Sesquicentennial Pageant parade, honoring the 150th anniversary of New Hampshire's ratification of the Constitution. This was to be the first time Molly appeared in public after playing hide and seek so often.
During the Civil War, the Government had issued an order for the cannon to be delivered for recasting, but the Molly Stark couldn’t be found! This may have been her first great disappearing act.
During the post Civil War years and until the Artillery Company was organized in 1938, Molly was really guarded. Many stories are told about attempts from neighboring towns to gain her ownership, but New Boston had no plans to give her up, and that pride of ownership is still very much alive today!
In 1956 a request was made to have “old Molly” appear on a state float in the Inaugural Parade in Washington, DC. This was considered to be a great honor, since New Hampshire had just adopted the famous General John Stark quote “Live Free or Die” as the State Motto
However, the Inaugural Parade committee ruled that all floats should originate in Washington, DC. “So the matter was dropped.” and Molly stayed home.
In 1938 the Company decided that they should parade Molly in the 4th of July celebration here in New Boston. Concern was expressed that Molly should not be fired, but the records show that Molly was fired 13 times that morning. The Artillery Company won a prize of $5.00 for their entry in the parade!
As the years passed by, the Company became increasingly concerned about whether it was really safe to keep firing the Molly Stark cannon every 4th of July In 1983, Molly underwent a series of x-rays. She passed with flying colors! No internal crack appeared and she was declared safe to continue firing on the 4th.
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