US Army 10-Inch Columbiad, Pattern 1844, at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
Two US Army 10-Inch Columbiads, Pattern 1844, are displayed in front of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Many thanks to friend of the page James Murray for taking these photos! The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, dedicated initially to veterans of the American Civil War, was completed in 1910. Though the two Columbiads seem to have been donated by the Army to a local G.A.R. post in 1897.
The two Columbiads are:
US Army 10-Inch Columbiad, Pattern 1844, Reigstry Number 4 manufactured by Fort Pitt Foundry in 1853.
US Army 10-Inch Columbiad, Pattern 1844, Registry Number 5 manufactured by Fort Pitt Foundry in 1853.
As the photographs show, markings are covered by paint and corrosion. The original weight of each of these two Columbiads would have been around 15,300 pounds. It was designed to fire an explosive shell weighing around 128 pounds with a 15 pound propellant charge. The ratcheted breech allowed the Columbiad to be elevated for long range fire - range tables show at 30 degrees a range of 4,836 yards. As the Pattern 1844 Columbiad had a sub-caliber powder chamber at its breech, it was technically a howitzer by the understandings of the day. It was designed to be fitted to seacoast fortifications and fire upon wooden ships.
The 10-Inch Columbiad, Pattern 1844, was the heaviest US Army artillery piece which was which had been deployed in any numbers by the beginning of the American Civil War, and it was therefore the heaviest piece captured by the Confederates as they took control of seacoast fortifications. For example, three of the type were at Fort Sumter at the beginning of the war.
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, Pittsburg. Photo by James Murray.
