US Navy 30-Pounder Parrott Rifle of USS Banshee in Wauseon, Ohio

Oct 7

US Navy 30-Pounder Parrott Rifle Number 323 is displayed on the courthouse lawn in Wauseon, Ohio

US Navy 30-Pounder Parrott Rifle Number 323 is displayed on the Fulton County Courthouse lawn in Wauseon, Ohio. It was manufactured at the West Point Foundry in 1864 and originally weighed 3,492 pounds. US Navy Bureau of Ordnance Records indicate that it served aboard USS Banshee during the American Civil War and aboard the tugboat USS Fortune in the early 1870s. It was loaned to the city of Archbold, Ohio in 1899.

Visually, it appears to be somewhat shorter than a standard US Navy 30-Pounder and the bore does not look as if it is the expected 4.2-inches. There is a seam in the chase - and I wonder if the gun wasn’t damaged at the muzzle at some point and a new muzzle section created for the gun. It was beginning to rain when I made my visit and I didn’t go back to the car for the tape measure. If anyone lives near Wauseon, I’d be interested in knowing the Parrott’s overall length.

USS Banshee was a steel-hulled, sidewheel ship built in 1862 in Liverpool. She was a purpose built blockade runner and made at least six successful trips into Wilmington in 1863 (Rebecca Livingston, “Civil War Cat and Mouse Game: Researching Blockade Runners at the National Archives” Prologue. Fall 1999, Vol. 31, No. 3). She was captured on November 21st, 1863 off Cape Lookout, North Carolina by the US Army Transport Steamer Fulton after having been chased and fired upon by USS Grand Gulf. SS Fulton had also fired upon and hit Banshee with her rifled gun (shown in a photo as a US Army 30-Pounder on a naval carriage). Fulton, a merchant ship, sent a prize crew of sailors and US Army soldiers to take possession of Banshee. When USS Grand Gulf sent a boat to Banshee to take the ship, the Ensign commanding the boat was astonished to be warned off of the prize by a dozen US Army soldiers with fixed bayonets (See Official Records - Navies. Ser. 1. Vol. 9. pp. 318-324). The dispute, of course, was related to prize money. A prize court eventually awarded $59,994 to USS Grand Gulf, $22,470 to the owners of SS Fulton, and $22,470 to the crew of Fulton - whether or not this included the soldiers is not said (Livingston). Taken into US Navy service, Banshee was armed with 30-Pounder Number 323 and two 12-Pounder Dahlgren Boat Howitzers (Heavy). She returned to the waters off of Wilmington in 1864 to enforce the blockade. She was present at but did not participate in the bombardments of Fort Fisher. Following the war she was sold by the US Navy.