US Navy 32-Pounder of 42 Hundredweight Number 244 at Vicksburg
A 32-Pounder of 42 Hundredweight, US Navy Registry Number 244, is displayed on “Cannon Row” at Vicksburg National Military Park. This cannon was manufactured at Fort Pitt Foundry in 1845. It is marked as weighing 42-2-20 (or 4,780 pounds). Six similar cannons can be seen mounted on USS Cairo, also at Vicksburg. Together, the seven examples at Vicksburg form a majority of the known examples of the type.
The 32-Pounders of 41 Hundredweight of USS Saratoga and CSS Chattahoochee
Two US Navy 32-Pounders of 41 Hundredweight are displayed at the National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus, Georgia. These two chambered cannon were cast at Cyrus Alger and Company in 1842 for use aboard the sloop of war USS Saratoga. They were subsequently used aboard CSS Chattahoochee.
US Navy 32-Pounder of 42 Hundredweight Number 230 of USS Cairo
A US Navy 32-Pounder of 42 Hundredweight, Number 230, is displayed aboard USS Cairo at Vicksburg National Military Park. This cannon was cast in 1845 at the Fort Pitt Foundry. It is marked as weighing 42-1-18 Hundredweight (4,750 pounds). It was recovered with the sunken USS Cairo in 1964.
The Dahlgren Boat Howitzers of the National Civil War Naval Museum
Two US Navy Dahlgren Boat Howitzers, a 12-Pounder Smoothbore and as 12-Pounder Rifle, are displayed near the entrance of the National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus, Georgia. The display allows visitors to note the differences between these two types.
US Navy 8-Inch Chambered Shell Gun Number 348 on USS Cairo
US Navy 8-Inch Chambered Shell Gun of 63 Hundredweight Number 348 is displayed aboard USS Cairo at Vicksburg National Military Park. Number 348 is one of three of the 8-Inch shell guns aboard. Number 348 was cast at the Fort Pitt Foundry in 1845. It is marked as weighed in hundredweight "64-0-8" (7,176 pounds).
US Navy 9-Inch Dahlgren in Downtown Vicksburg
A US Navy 9-Inch Dahlgren is displayed in downtown Vicksburg, Mississippi. I was not able to read the registry number or the weight on the breech of the cannon. I have been told by a friend of the Facebook page that it is one of the two in Vicksburg which was originally carried aboard USS Tuscumbia and later used by the US Army’s 17th Corps.
US Navy 100-Pounder Parrott Rifles of Buffalo, New York
Two US Navy 100-Pounder Parrott Rifles, Numbers 346 and 352, are displayed in Front Park in Buffalo, New York. Both are marked "Water Core" on the muzzle signifying that they were cast according to Rodman's technique. The Parrotts are mounted on a ornamental iron pedestal which is in the shape of a stylized carriage.
USS Seneca’s 11-Inch Dahlgren in Holgate, Ohio
US Navy 11-Inch Dahlgren Number 313 was cast by Hinkley, Williams, and Company in 1863. In 1864 it was mounted aboard the "90 Day Gunboat" USS Seneca after that ship's 1864 refit. This Dahlgren would fire over 300 shells at Fort Fisher during the First and Second Battles in December 1864 and January 1865. It is displayed in Holgate, Ohio in front of the historic firehouse.
US Navy 9-Inch Dahlgren 703 at Vicksburg
US Navy 9-Inch Dahlgren Number 703 was cast at Fort Pitt Foundry in 1863. It is currently displayed at Vicksburg National Military Park, but in 1864 it was one of twenty 9-Inch Dahlgrens sent to the Navy Yard at Sackets Harbor, New York. It weighs 9,265 pounds.
12-Pounder Boat Howitzer of USS Pittsburg at Vicksburg
US Navy 12-Pounder Dahlgren Boat Howitzer, Heavy, Number 96 is displayed in the museum beside USS Cairo at Vicksburg. As the sign attests, the boat howitzer served aboard USS Cairo’s sister ship USS Pittsburgh. The markings on the tube show a weight of 759 pounds with 65 pounds preponderance (the howitzer is breech-heavy by this amount when placed on its carriage). It was manufactured at the Washington Navy Yard in 1862, and it was inspected and approved for service by John A. Dahlgren himself.
US Navy 100-Pounder Parrott Rifles of Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania
Two US Navy 100-Pounder (6.4-Inch) Parrott Rifles are displayed at Veterans Memorial Park in Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania. The two cannons are displayed on iron display stands. One or perhaps both of these Parrotts may have been used in action by the US Navy against the ironclad ram CSS Albemarle during the Battle of Albemarle Sound on May 5th, 1864.
USS Canadaigua’s 11-Inch Dahlgren in La Moille, Illinois
An 11-Inch Dahlgren carried aboard USS Canandaigua is displayed in La Moille, Illinois. The Dahlgren, US Navy registry Number 216, was dedicated on Memorial Day, 1897 by the local Grand Army of the Republic Post Number 66.
The 32-Pounder of 57 Hundredweight at Fort Branch
A rifled and banded 32-Pounder of 57 Hundredweight is displayed at Fort Branch near Hamilton, North Carolina. The fort, which overlooks the Roanoke River and was built to counter any attempt by US Navy gunboats to press up river, was evacuated in April of 1865. The seven cannons recovered there (plus a fragment of a burst gun), remains of original carriages, projectiles, and other artifacts represent a truly remarkable collection of artillery connected with a single site and displayed there.
The 8-Inch Rifles at the University of Maine
Two US Navy 8-Inch (180-Pounder) Muzzle Loading Rifles have been displayed at the University of Maine in Orono since Llewellyn N. Edwards, Class of 1898, facilitated their donation by the Navy in 1932. The cannons, originally cast as 11-Inch Dahlgrens, would serve aboard US Navy ships including USS Pensacola, USS Juniata, and USS Galena in the 1870s and 1880s.
The Whitworth Rifles of the Naval Battery on Morris Island
Four 5-Inch Whitworth Muzzle Loading Rifles were captured by the US Navy when the Blockade Runner S.S. Princess Royal was captured by USS Unadilla off of Charleston. Two of the four survive. One at West Point bearing a plaque stating that it was used on Morris Island. The other is at the Washington Navy Yard where it may have been tested in the experimental battery there.
24-Pounder of 32 Hundredweight at Fort Pulaski
A Medium 24-Pounder of 32 Hundredweight cast in 1826 at Bellona Foundry may be seen on the parapet of Fort Pulaski. This type of cannon was designed for the Boston-class sloops of the US Navy in the 1820s. This cannon is recorded as serving aboard USS Fairfield.
24-Pounder Dahlgren Boat Howitzer at Petersburg, Virginia
24-Pounder Dahlgren Boat Howitzer Number 388 is displayed at the Petersburg National Battlefield. According to the research reflected in Olmstead et al., this particular boat howitzer was aboard USS Granite City when that ship was captured by Confederate infantry and artillery at Calcasieu Pass, Louisiana. I do not know what subsequent Confederate service the howitzer saw nor what brought it to Petersburg.
The 32-Pounder of 32 Hundredweight at Petersburg
A 32-Pounder of 32 Hundredweight of the type manufactured for the US Navy beginning in 1846 for use as the main battery aboard smaller sloops is displayed at Petersburg National Battlefield. The 32-Pounder of 32 Hundredweight is a chambered cannon - meaning the chamber in the barrel where the propellant charge is placed is of smaller diameter than the 6.4-Inch diameter of the main portion of the barrel.
The 8-Inch Siege Howitzer of USS Pawnee
Two 8-Inch Siege Howitzers, Model 1841 (Olmstead et. al say "Pattern 1840") at the Washington Navy Yard.
Both were used in an attempted ambush of USS Marblehead on the Stono River on Christmas Day, 1863. One was subsequently carried as a pet aboard USS Pawnee.
The Cannons of the North Carolina State Capitol
A number of statues and monuments dot the grounds of the historic North Carolina State Capitol (built 1833-1840) in Raleigh, North Carolina. This post looks at the cannons which flank those statues.
The monuments cannons covered in this post are:
The Statue of George Washington and the Edenton Cannons
The US Army 8-Inch Siege Mortars and the Statue of North Carolina Presidents
The 4-Inch Fawcett and Preston Rifle
The 32-Pounders of 57 Hundredweight now at Fort Fisher