French 36-Pounder of the American Privateer General Armstrong at the National Museum of the United States Navy

A French 36-Pounder is displayed in the National Museum of the United States Navy (photographed August of 2024). This cannon is a relic of a the "Battle of Fayal" between the American Privateer General Armstrong and the boats of a British squadron as well as the brig-sloop HMS Carnation.

The sign mounted on the cannon states:

"A 42-Pounder Gun of 1786: The French seventy-four gun ship "Hoche" originally carried this gun. She was captured by the English who sold the battery to the United Sates. This gun served for a time on a Haitian privateer and then was returned to New York until the War of 1812. It was then mounted on the privateer General Armstrong. While at Fayal, Azores, September 28, 1814 the General Armstrong repulsed a boat attack by the English squadron with severe loss the enemy. Later it was necessary to sink the ship to avoid capture. Some years later this gun was recovered and presented to the United States by the Portuguese government."

A French 36-Pounder should measure about 6.88 inches in bore diameter. An American 42-Pounder measured 7-Inches. Unfortunately, I was not able to measure the cannon’s bore to see if it may have been bored out a bit for American service.

"The General Armstrong Surrounded by the British Fleet at Fayal, the Azores" - a painting by Emanuel Leutze and in the collection of Franklin D. Roosevelt. From the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum: https://fdr.blogs.archives.gov/2020/09/03/fdrs-naval-art-collection-history-captured-on-canvas/

Theodore Roosevelt’s 1882 book The Naval War of 1812 recounts the action thusly:

“On the 26th of September, while the privateer-schooner General Armstrong, of New York, Captain Samuel C. Reid, of one long 24, eight long 9's, and 90 men, was lying at anchor in the road of Fayal, a British squadron, composed of the Plantagenet, 74, Captain Robert Floyd, Rota, 38, Captain Philip Somerville, and Carnation, 18, Captain George Bentham, hove in sight. [Footnote: Letter of Captain S. C. Reid, Oct. 7, 1814; and of John B. Dabney, Consul at Fayal, Oct. 5, 1814.] One or more boats were sent in by the British, to reconnoitre the schooner, as they asserted, or, according to the American accounts, to carry her by a coup de main. At any rate, after repeatedly warning them off, the privateer fired into them, and they withdrew. Captain Reid then anchored, with springs on his cables, nearer shore, to await the expected attack, which was not long deferred. At 8 P.M. four boats from the Plantagenet and three from the Rota, containing in all 180 men, [Footnote: James, vi, 509: Both American accounts say 12 boats, with 400 men, and give the British loss as 250. According to my usual rule, I take each side's statement of its own force and loss.] under the command of Lieutenant William Matterface, first of the Rota, pulled in toward the road, while the Carnation accompanied them to attack the schooner if she got under way. The boats pulled in under cover of a small reef of rocks, where they lay for some time, and about midnight made the attack. The Americans opened with the pivot gun, and immediately afterward with their long 9's, while the boats replied with their carronades, and, pulling spiritedly on amidst a terrific fire of musketry from both sides, laid the schooner aboard on her bow and starboard quarter. The struggle was savage enough, the British hacking at the nettings and trying to clamber up on deck, while the Americans fired their muskets and pistols in the faces of their assailants and thrust the foremost through with their long pikes. The boats on the quarter were driven off; but on the forecastle all three of the American lieutenants were killed or disabled, and the men were giving back when Captain Reid led all the after-division up and drove the British back into their boats. This put an end to the assault. Two boats were sunk, most of the wounded being saved as the shore was so near; two others were captured, and but three of the scattered flotilla returned to the ships. Of the Americans, 2 were killed, including the second lieutenant, Alexander O. Williams, and 7 were wounded, including the first and third lieutenants, Frederick A. Worth and Robert Johnson. Of the British, 34 were killed and 86 were wounded; among the former being the Rota's first and third lieutenants, William Matterface and Charles R. Norman, and among the latter her second lieutenant and first lieutenant of marines, Richard Rawle and Thomas Park. The schooner's long 24 had been knocked off its carriage by a carronade shot, but it was replaced and the deck cleared for another action. Next day the Carnation came in to destroy the privateer, but was driven off by the judicious use the latter made of her "Long Tom." But affairs being now hopeless, the General Armstrong was scuttled and burned, and the Americans retreated to the land. The British squadron was bound for New Orleans, and on account of the delay and loss that it suffered, it was late in arriving, so that this action may be said to have helped in saving the Crescent City. Few regular commanders could have done as well as Captain Reid.”