College professor: Chimney Rock reduced in height by artillery. Bullshit?

[Lancia]

@njtt

I really do not know why you think this. It is at most an amusing and/or shocking anecdote, not an event of the least historical significance. It is not likely to have changed the subsequent course of history in any significant way whatsoever, no more, say, than what you had for lunch last Tuesday.

I’m guessing this is a joke. Chimney Rock plays prominently is the history of western conquest, if the story was true historians would know about it.

@chacoguy

I just called the Chimney Rock visitor center and they say BS. The troops referenced by the settler didn’t have artillery. The earliest artillery nearby was at Ft. Robinson in the 1920’s, but they had their own range. The Army Air Corps used it as a navigational aide prior to WWII and that’s it. It’s probably been subjected to rifle fire however. Any shortening in height is just wind, rain and natural erosion.

Many thanks for doing this.

[Colibri]

@njtt

I really do not know why you think this. It is at most an amusing and/or shocking anecdote, not an event of the least historical significance. It is not likely to have changed the subsequent course of history in any significant way whatsoever, no more, say, than what you had for lunch last Tuesday.

One could say the same about the gunfight at the OK Corral, and a hell of a lot has been written about that.

[DougKoch]

I was born and raised near Chimney Rock and I can remember my Dad telling me in the early sixties that the National Guard used it for target practice. So either it’s true or he talked to the same museum curator

[chacoguy]

Welcome to the Straight Dope, DougKoch. See post #19, you can call them yourself for confirmation.

[JRDelirious]

@chacoguy

I just called the Chimney Rock visitor center and they say BS. The troops referenced by the settler didn’t have artillery. The earliest artillery nearby was at Ft. Robinson in the 1920’s, but they had their own range. The Army Air Corps used it as a navigational aide prior to WWII and that’s it. It’s probably been subjected to rifle fire however. Any shortening in height is just wind, rain and natural erosion.

And it does happen that rock formations every so often have large breakoffs or collapses from natural causes (e.g. New Hampshire’s Old Man of the Mountain).

[lance_strongarm]

Reminds me of the myth that Napoleon used the Sphinx in Egypt for artillery practice, explaining why it is worn down. That’s also false.

[Slithy_Tove]

One detail that sounded wrong in the OP was the bit about the Neb. National Guard in WWI. During the war guard units were nationalized: Nebraska’s was lumped in with Colorado’s and some of Missouri’s into the 89th Infantry, under Leonard Wood (who’d been commander of the Rough Riders). They weren’t camped in Nebraska, and the Americans were desperately short of artillery: that had to wait until they got to France and borrowed some French 75’s.

Maybe they shot a line of holes across the top with their 1903 Springfield 30-06’s.