US Army 10-Inch Columbiads in Homestead, Pennsylvania
US Army 10-Inch Columbiad, Pattern 1844, displayed in Homestead, Pennsylvania
Two US Army 10-Inch Columbiads, Pattern 1844, are displayed in Homestead, Pennsylvania. They are:
US Army 10-Inch Columbiad, Pattern 1844, Number 7 cast by Fort Pitt Foundry in 1853. It weighs 15,227 pounds.
US Army 10-Inch Columbiad, Pattern 1844, Number 8 cast by Fort Pitt Foundry in 1853. It weighs 15,221 pounds.
Many thanks to friend of the page James Murray for these photos!
The 10-Inch Columbiad, Pattern 1844, was designed for use in seacoast fortifications, and at the time of its introduction, it was the largest and heaviest artillery piece in US Army service. It was designed to fire a 105-pound shell which could deliver devastating blows against wooden ships. Only around 150 were produced, and in 1861 it was still a relatively rare type. For instance, only three were to be found at Fort Sumter at the beginning of the war.
The Pattern 1844 would be superseded by the Rodman guns in US Army service, but given that ten of the fourteen known survivors of the type were donated from US Army inventories toward the end of the 19th Century, the Pattern 1844 seems to have been retained for service in the postwar years despite large numbers of more modern types.
