The 7-Inch Brooke at White Point Garden
7-inch Brooke Rifle at White Point Garden
"S-76", a 7-Inch Double Banded Brooke Rifle, has been displayed at "the Battery" at White Point Garden in Charleston, South Carolina since around 1900. It was cast at the Selma Naval Gun Foundry in 1864. The list of Selma-cast Brookes in Daniel and Gunter’s Confederate Cannon Foundries states that the Brooke was cast at Selma on June 15th, 1864 and delivered to Charleston on September 19th, 1864.
Many layers of paint currently obscure most of the markings, but Ripley - who was not opposed to scraping off the city's paint in search of markings - recorded S-76 as being found on the cannon in multiple locations. I can still easily see "VII", and I believe I've seen “C. ap. R. J.” on the trunnions.
Two other Selma 7-Inch Brookes, S-70 and S-74, were also sent to Charleston in the autumn of 1864. There is one other known 7-Inch Brooke in Charleston: a highly corroded example at The Citadel said to have been recovered from the wreck of an ironclad in the harbor in the 1920s. It is also thought that the 7-inch Brooke which remained at Castle Pinckney after the war is still buried at the Castle (thus far two of the 10-Inch Columbiads of the Castle have been excavated).
A column on "Work in the Parks" in "The News and Courier", Saturday, April 6th, 1901 states:
"The other gun, at the southern end of the High Battery, is of Confederate make, probably cast, rifled, and double-banded in Richmond at the Tredegar Works. It is a naval gun of 7-inch caliber, of what was known as the "Brooke" pattern, and as good as any rifle gun of that period made at the North. Found and unearthed at Fort Johnson, where it had been mounted during the war, and then covered up for many years, it was brought to the city by your park commission. There is no evidence that it was ever in action."
A plaque mounted in front of the gun incorrectly states that it was used to bombard Federal troops at Fort Sumter in 1861. Given that the gun was not cast for three more years, this is hard to believe!
Around the year 1900, the City of Charleston mounted several Civil War era cannons at White Point Gardens. Photos taken pre-1911 show the Brooke mounted at White Point Garden. The carriage seems to be a US Army Model 1859 wrought iron, front pintle, barbette carriage manufactured for a 6.4-Inch Parrott Rifle. Though it originally was a complete carriage, the lower portion has since been removed (possibly following damaged sustained during a 1911 hurricane.)
7-inch Brooke Rifle at White Point Garden
7-inch Brooke Rifle at White Point Garden
7-inch Brooke Rifle at White Point Garden
7-inch Brooke Rifle at White Point Garden
7-inch Brooke Rifle at White Point Garden
The right trunnion of S-76. I can make out the “VII” marking, but I am not entirely sure I can see the “C. ap. R. J.” through the layers of paint.
Early 20th Century view of the Brooke as originally mounted at White Point Garden. Library of Congress Photo: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/det/item/2016800845/
Detail from above photo. 7-inch Brooke Rifle displayed at White Point Garden circa 1901
Brooke S-76 at White Point Garden. Detail from Library of Congress Photo: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/det/item/2016818664/
Very little on this plaque is correct. There were rifled guns used in the bombardment of Fort Sumter, but a Brooke cast in 1864 is unlikely to have been one of them.
7-Inch Brooke Rifle at Fort Johnson with a 10-Inch Columbiad, Banded and Rifled, in 1865. The Rifled 10-Inch Columbiad may now be seen at Fort Moultrie. (Library of Congress)
Is S-76 the 7-Inch Brooke depicted in the 1865 photos at Fort Johnson? Maybe. The "Dahlgren Map" of 1865 lists two 7-Inch Brookes at Fort Johnson and another in nearby "Sand Battery A." Now, the identification of cannons for that map was not perfect. The 10-Inch Columbiad, Banded and Rifled, of Fort Johnson is identified in the list as a "10-Inch Brooke Rifle" even though it was nothing of the sort. Similarly, Fort Sumter is credited with two 7-Inch Brooke Rifles even though it seems much more likely that what was present were two old 42-Pounders which were banded and rifled - one of which is still at the fort and another in Richmond was taken from the fort.
The 1865 photos, despite their high resolution, offer no help as no markings are visible on the piece in the photos.
In the end, I'd say that there is at least one chance in three that the 7-Inch Brooke, S-76, at White Point Garden is the same cannon seen in the 1865 photos of the Water Battery at Fort Johnson.
