US Army 32-Pounder, Pattern 1829, at Columbus-Belmont State Park
US Army 32-Pounder Pattern 1829 Number 209 at Columbus-Belmont State Park in Columbus, Kentucky
Many thanks to friend of the page James Murray for sharing these photos!
US Army 32-Pounder, Pattern 1829, Number 209 cast by Fort Pitt Foundry in 1839 is displayed at Columbus-Belmont State Park in Columbus, Kentucky. As manufactured it weighed 7,545 pounds. The State Park is the site of the Confederate Fort De Russey which was commanded by General Leonidas Polk who called the works the “Gibraltar of the West.”
Directly across the Mississippi River is Belmont, Missouri and the site of the Battle of Belmont - Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant’s first Battle of the American Civil War. The batteries at Fort De Russey bombarded US Army troops during the battle and exchanged fire with US Navy gunboats.
Signs in the park tell the story of 32-Pounder Number 209. It may or may not have been in the wartime fort. It remained at the fort after the war. In the 1930s it was placed on a replica carriage, but in 1943 the section of the bluff it was mounted upon collapsed towards the river. Located in 1998 by magnetometer, it was excavated from below 42 feet of earth and returned to display.
Also in the park are other artifacts such as the giant anchor and chain used to create a barrier on the river at the wartime fort.
Sign at the park about the fort’s cannons and Number 209
Sign describing the recovery of Number 209
Photos of 32-Pounder Number 209
The anchor and chain at Columbus-Belmont State Park
The Mississippi River viewed from the State Park
