The two brass cannons in front of Padgett-Thomas are nicknamed Pixie and Dixie, after two cartoon mice from the Huckleberry Hound show that was popular on television in the 1960s. Their nemesis was a cat named Mr. Jinx. They were made by Hanna and Barbera, the same people who produced Tom and Jerry, thus the similarity. Contrary to a tradition that calls them Napoleons, they are in fact bronze model 1841 6-lb. guns that were cast by either Cyrus Alger and Co. of Boston, Mass., or the N. P. Ames Foundry of Springfield, M.A. These two manufacturers were the primary producers of this type of cannon for the federal government from 1835 until 1862. (Source: MAJ Steven Smith, "Silent Sentinels," The Brigadier, October 17, 2003, p. 5)
