Blakely 3.5-Inch Rifle in Warren, Pennsylvania
A 3.5-Inch Blakley Rifle is displayed in Warren, Pennsylvania
A 3.5-Inch Blakely Rifle is displayed in Warren, Pennsylvania. Many thanks to friend of the page James Murray for these photos!
Several different variants of Blakely Rifle exist in the United States - showing the inventor’s attempts to perfect his design. Warren Ripley categorized this model as the “Type 2” - though it was unlikely to be categorized by Blakely as such. According to Olmstead et al., nine of this type are known to exist in the United States - with four of those listed at Shiloh National Battlefield. Most Blakelys now in the United States were imported by the Confederacy through the blockade.
The gun in Warren is marked on the top of the tube “Blakely’s Patent, No. 35, Fawcett Preston, Liverpool, Makers, 1861.” The Number is a “registry number” for Blakelys Rifles. Olmstead lists Number 34 in Greenwood, Mississippi. While Shiloh has Numbers 27, 29, 32, and 33. According to Olmstead, this tube was weighed on a scale at 600 pounds. It is constructed from wrought iron. Fawcett & Preston in Liverpool made a number of different Blakely rifles.
A 2017 article in Warren’s Times Observer states that this Blakely was placed on displayed at different sites in Warren since 1921. It is now located on the lawn of the Warren County Courthouse.
While this is an Army field artillery piece, a number of Blakelys were employed by the Confederacy in light, mobile batteries defending the coast and waterways. Their relatively light construction as well as their range and accuracy made them useful for ambushing marauding US Navy gunboats and then getting away. My guess is also that their non-standard ammunition was less of a logistical dilemma in such small batteries than with the field armies. I’ve no idea of the wartime service of this particular gun, though.
The stampings on top of the tube: “Blakely’s Patent, No. 35, Fawcett Preston, Liverpool, Makers, 1861.”
