Daily Advocate
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
June 27, 1861
We could cast our own fieldpieces very successfully if we only had a plenty of metal. The demand for copper and tin, components of bronze, is already considerable, and it will increase. It may be so great that brazen implements, however battered and rusted, will bring more as old brass than they cost when newly made. Those who take pains to collect old brass will be certain to be paid for their trouble, and will have the satisfaction of “making war” in a very acceptable and very effectual manner. If peace turns “swords to ploughshears” and “spears to pruning hooks,” let war turn scythes to bayonets and brass kettles to howitzers.
In this connection, we will suggest that, if the ladies of Baton Rouge will deposit at our office nine hundred pounds of old brass and copper, we will undertake to have it cast into as handsome a six-pounder as can be made, which, inscribed with their names, will be a monument to their patriotism and a most acceptable contribution to the Confederate Government.