The 32-Pounders at Fredericksburg National Cemetery
Four 32-Pounders, Pattern 1829, surround a monument to General Andrew Humphrey’s Division of the V Corps, Army of the Potomac.
Many thanks to friend-of-the-page Nathan Smith for sharing these photos from Fredericksburg National Cemetery and information about the cannons there.
Four US Army 32-Pounders, Pattern 1829, surround a monument at Fredericksburg National Cemetery to the Division of General Andrew Humphreys, V Corps, Army of the Potomac. Humphrey’s division participated in the attack on Confederate positions on Marye's Heights on December 13th, 1862, suffering heavy casualties in the engagement.
The four cannons were emplaced at the cemetery in 1868. The cannon in the southeast corner bears a bronze plaque installed by the US Army Quartermaster Department in 1874 which reads:
UNITED STATES
NATIONAL MILITARY CEMETERY
FREDERICKSBURG
ESTABLISHED JULY 15TH 1865
INTERMENTS 15243
KNOWN 2473
UNKNOWN 12770
The cannon bearing the plaque giving the numbers interred at Fredericksburg National Cemetery.
The four cannons are US Army 32-Pounders, Pattern 1829. The type was intended for use in seacoast fortifications. Unusually for an Army gun, it has a loop for a breeching rope on the cascabel. (The cascabels are, of course, not visible on these cannons as the breeches are buried to allow the cannons to stand upright.)
According to the registry, the four cannons are:
32-Pounder, Pattern 1829, cast in 1830 at the Bellona Foundry, Registry Number 127, 7,468 pounds
32-Pounder, Pattern 1829, cast in 1830 at the Bellona Foundry, Registry Number 143, 7,470 pounds
32-Pounder, Pattern 1829, cast in 1830 at the Bellona Foundry, Registry Number 149, 7,496 pounds
32-Pounder, Pattern 1829, cast in 1832 at the Bellona Foundry, Registry Number 216, 7,516 pounds
Of the twenty-three surviving Bellona Foundry-cast 32-Pounders of this type, thirteen are displayed upright like this. (Two more, those now at Fort Moultrie, were previously upright at Yorktown.) In the late 1860s, the Pattern 1829 32-Pounder would have been a thoroughly obsolete type in the US Army inventory.
At least some of the 32-Pounders at Fredericksburg show “test scars” on the trunnions were metal was removed for strength testing in the late 1840s.
Two US Army 32-Pounders, Pattern 1829 - Bellona Foundry Numbers 124 and 163, at Fort Moultrie. Additional photos of these cannons may be seen here: https://www.santee1821.net/preserved-artillery/cannons-of-fort-moultrie
