24-Pounder Dahlgren Boat Howitzer at the Erie Maritime Museum

Oct 4

24-Pounder Dahlgren Boat Howitzer Number 86 is displayed at the Erie Maritime Museum in Erie, Pennsylvania. It is a standard US Navy Boat Howitzer. However, it is marked “For Treasury Department” on the breech - indicating that it likely served on a US Revenue Service Cutter.

Number 86 was cast by Ames Manufacturing Company in 1864. As manufactured it weighed 1,281 pounds. It is displayed on a recreated slide carriage to represent a portion of the Civil War era armament of USS Michigan. The Erie Maritime Museum, in addition to being the homeport of the US Brig Niagara, has a wonderful exhibit on USS Michigan - an iron sidewheel steamer built for the US Navy in the 1840s. Michigan served actively on the Great Lakes through the rest of the 19th Century. In 1866 Michigan’s crew took members of the Fenian Brotherhood prisoner following their failed attack on Canada. Renamed USS Wolverine in the early 20th Century, attempts to preserve the ship in the late 1940s failed and she was scrapped. However, her prow and a number of other artifacts survive. Visit the Erie Maritime Museum to see quite a number of them!

Nearly 1,000 24-Pounder Boat Howitzers were made for the US Navy during the American Civil War. Originally designed by John Dahlgren to arm the boats of heavy frigates, the 24-Pounder Boat Howitzer saw considerable shipboard use during the Civil War. The type provided a formidable counter to attack by small boats or ambush by infantry or field artillery ashore for vessels operating in confined waters. Some merchant ships taken into US Navy service were armed primarily or exclusively with boat howitzers. Despite the large number produced, few survive with the vast majority being scrapped in the 1880s and 1890s.

Olmstead lists two 24-Pounder Boat Howitzers in Erie: Numbers 86 and 87. However, I only saw Number 86 during my visit to the city. Does anyone know where number 87 is? Also, I’d love to see photos of the 24-Pounders at the Naval War College in Newport or on the grounds of the Solders’ Home in Washington, D.C. (The Soldiers’ Home 24-Pounders include one which served on USS Merrimack and two on Granite City.) If anyone has access to either of those sites, I’d love to see photos!