Hank Williams Jr. is an Outlaw Country legend and the son of one of the most important performers in country music. Additionally, Hank Jr. is a vocal patriot. In recent years, he’s been very outspoken about his political beliefs and his love for the United States of America. So, it should come as no surprise that he is pulling out all of the stops this year for his Fourth of July celebration.
As with any other year, Americans will celebrate with public and private fireworks displays. However, Hank Williams Jr. is taking things a step further. He’s skipping snakes, sparklers, and Roman candles and going straight for the big guns – literally. No, Bocephus isn’t setting up a professional pyrotechnics display in his yard. Instead, he plans to fire an honest-to-God Civil War-era cannon to celebrate America’s independence.
In a recent interview with Taste of Country Nights, Hank Williams Jr. stated that he’ll touch off two pounds of gun powder in a 12-pound Napoleon cannon. When asked if he had a permit for such a display, he had the most Hank Jr. reply possible.
“Sh*t no,” Hank Williams Jr. said when asked if he had a permit to fire off his cannon. “Ain’t no f**kin’ Davidson County, man. I’m in West Tennessee. I got a permit from a United States federal judge. You wanna talk permits – I ain’t no county mounty! Mine is federal.”
Hank Williams Jr. Scoffs at Fireworks
“Firecrackers my a**,” Hank Williams Jr. said while discussing his plans for the Fourth of July. About the cannon, he plans to fire, Bocephus said, “It makes a big noise when it goes off. It makes a big noise – that a real boom when it goes off.”
Luckily, Hank Williams Jr. lives far enough away from his closest neighbors to be safe when firing off his cannon. However, he isn’t shy about inviting folks around for the celebration. “Bring all the kids over,” he told Taste of Country Nights. “They’re pretty special to me.”
The Napoleon Cannon
During the Civil War, both sides used a variety of cannons in their artillery batteries. The most popular of those cannons was the 12-pound Napoleon cannon like the one the Hank Williams Jr. plans to fire on the Fourth.
The Napoleon is a muzzle-loading smoothbore cannon that fires 12-pound projectiles thousands of feet. According to Military Factory, the thing that made these cannons so popular among the Union and Confederacy was that they were both easy to produce in large numbers and devastatingly effective.
Foundries in the United States modeled these cannons after the French Canon Obusier de 12. The guns that ruled Civil War battlefields were named for Emperor Napoleon III and resembled the cannons that he used during the Crimean War between 1853 and 1856.
If you want to see what Hank Williams Jr.’s Fourth of July Celebration will look and sound like check out this video of a group of Civil War reenactors firing off a 12-pounder. It’s an impressive sight to say the least.
