US Navy 32-Pounder of 4,500 Pounds Number 12 in Blairsville, Pennsylvania - Photo by James Murray
Two US Navy 32-Pounders of 4,500 Pounds are displayed in the cemetery in Blairsville, Pennsylvania. Many thanks to friend of the page James Murray for these photos! The two guns are:
US Navy 32-Pounder of 4,500 Pounds Number 12 manufactured by Seyfert, McManus, and Company in 1865. It weighs 4,580 pounds.
US Navy 32-Pounder of 4,500 Pounds Number 14 manufactured by Seyfert, McManus, and Company in 1865. It weighs 4,606 pounds.
The two 32-Pounders are displayed on the type of mountings used in saluting batteries at Navy Yards following the Civil War. These two were sent to the United States Naval Academy initially but then were mounted in the saluting battery at the Washington Navy Yard in 1868. They were loaned to Post 137, Grand Army of the Republic, in Blairsville in May of 1897.
The 32-Pounder of 4,500 Pounds: This type of cannon was designed by the Bureau of Ordnance in 1864 due to a perceived need for lightweight 32-Pounders. The resulting 32-Pounder of 4,500 Pounds borrowed the general shape from Admiral Dahlgren’s 9-Inch, 10-Inch, and 11-Inch cannons. However, the 32-Pounders, like the similar 8-Inch Shell guns of 6,500 Pounds, had a simplified ring cascabel. Few if any of this type of cannon would have seen service during the Civil War. Postwar, some served ashore in saluting batteries. Others served afloat on training ships and aboard auxiliary vessels. Many never left storage. However, as the smallest of the Navy’s “big guns”, many were loaned to local communities in the 1890s and 1900s. Consequently, a relatively large number - around 90 - survive to the present.
US Navy 32-Pounder of 4,500 Pounds Numbers 12 and 14 in Blairsville, Pennsylvania - Photo by James Murray
US Navy 32-Pounder of 4,500 Pounds Numbers 12 and 14 in Blairsville, Pennsylvania - Photo by James Murray
