An American Revolutionary War-era cannon has been housed at the Chautauqua County Historical Society’s McClurg Museum in Westfield since 1951. Submitted photo

WESTFIELD — As the nation celebrates Independence Day, a relic dating from the 18th-century conflict that awarded American independence sits in its Chautauqua County home as a poignant reminder of the price of freedom.

For over six decades, the Chautauqua County Historical Society’s McClurg Museum in Westfield has housed a cannon taken from a British warship by American revolutionary forces following a sea battle off the coast of England during the American Revolutionary War.

ORIGINS AND CAPTURE

The cannon initially belonged to England’s HMS Serapis, a Royal Navy two-decked, Roebuck-class fifth rate warship built in 1778, and commissioned and launched the following year. Named after the god Serapis, of Greek and Egyptian mythology, the ship was outfitted with 44 guns in total.

On Sept. 23, 1779, Serapis, under Capt. Richard Pearson, engaged in battle with the American warship USS Bonhomme Richard — under command of Capt. John Paul Jones — in the North Sea during the Battle of Flamborough Head off the coast of England. At the time of the battle the ship carried 50 guns, having acquired six additional six-pounders.

During the battle, Bonhomme Richard and Serapis exchanged heavy fire, with the former expending much of its firepower. However, Capt. Jones was able to attach the two ships together and overwhelm the crew of Serapis with superior manpower over the course of a three-hour skirmish.

Eventually, USS Alliance, a frigate in Jones’s squadron, began firing at both the attached ships indiscriminately. Bonhomme Richard began to sink, but Captain Pearson, unable to aim his guns at the frigate because he was tied to Jones’s ship, surrendered, handing Serapis over to the Americans.

Serapis was renamed USS Serapis and later commissioned as a French privateer, with plans to be used against the British in the Indian Ocean. However, in July 1781, the ship was lost off the coast of Madagascar when a sailor accidentally dropped a lantern into a tub of brandy. The crew fought the fire for two-and-a-half hours, but the flames eventually burned through the spirit locker walls and reached a powder magazine.

The resulting explosion ripped the stern off the ship, sinking her and killing eight crew members. The remains of Serapis were discovered in 1999.

COMING TO AMERICA

The journey of the Serapis’ cannon to its current resting place in Westfield is a long and decorated one that begins with the great-grandfather of celebrated World War II Lt. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr.

Buckner Jr.’s great-grandfather was a participant in the Battle of Flamborough Head on the American side. When Serapis was captured by American forces, Capt. Jones had the British ship stripped of its cargo and booty by his crew members. Buckner Jr.’s great-grandfather selected the small, swivel-round top cannon and brought it home to the United States. The possession of the cannon trickled directly down Buckner’s lineage before the cannon and its history were presented to James King of King’s Landing, Ind., decades later.

King, in turn, presented the cannon to Nathan Brown of Jamestown, who worked for decades as a master of flatboating on the Allegheny, Ohio and Mississippi rivers carrying Jamestown-manufactured products in the 19th century. Nathan Brown came to know and befriend several individuals on his routes, including King, who gifted the cannon to Nathan Brown in the summer of 1853. The cannon now bears the imprint of Nathan Brown’s name and that of Jamestown, NY.

At the death of Nathan Brown, his son, Henri, came into possession of the cannon. At the death of Henri Brown, his wife kept the cannon for a time but later sold it to A. Wellington Anderson, former Jamestown city historian. Upon Anderson’s death, the cannon was found among his effects in a storage room at the Jamestown YMCA.

The cannon officially came into possession of the Chautauqua County Historical Society in April 1951, during a meeting at the Unitarian Church in Jamestown.

The McClurg Museum is located at 15 E. Main St. in Westfield. Its operating hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, call 326-2977 or visit mcclurgmuseum.org.