In July 1897, two 10-inch columbiads that had been stored at Fort Sumter after the American Civil War, were given by the federal government to a park in Kokomo, Indiana, for use as ornamentation. It was unknown whether the particular guns had actually been in service during the Civil War. On July 30, 1897, an opinion piece appeared in the "Charleston Evening Post" in response to the news of the giveaway to Kokomo that suggested that the remaining guns at Fort Sumter (perhaps twenty) be secured for use in Charleston's own parks. Later that year, Charleston's City Council voted in favor (with one vote in opposition) to request the balance of the guns from the United States War Department. The War Department eventually loaned ten guns to Charleston. Some were put on display at the then-Thomson Auditorium temporarily, while two of the guns from USS "Keokuk" were installed at White Point Garden in 1900. "Keokuk" was sunk by Charleston's forts in April 1863; the Confederates later salvaged and used these guns.