US Navy 32-Pounders of 4,500 Pounds in Worcester, Massachusetts
Three US Navy 32-Pounders of 4,500 Pounds are displaced at Hope Cemetery in Worcester, Massachusetts
Three US Navy 32-Pounders of 4,500 Pounds are displaced together in a tripod at Hope Cemetery in Worcester, Massachusetts. As a nearby interpretive sign notes, the display is near a section of graves of Civil War soldiers and sailors. The sign also points out that of a pre-war population of around 25,000, 4,227 men enlisted for service in Worcester. Some of the significant Civil War burials in Hope Cemetery include members of the 25th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment, members of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, and soldiers who died at Andersonville and were reinterred at Hope Cemetery.
Many thanks to friend-of-the-page James Murray for these photos!
The three 32-Pounders are:
32-Pounder of 4,500 Pounds Number 180 manufactured by Cyrus Alger and Company in 1866. Weight as originally manufactured was 4,523 pounds.
32-Pounder of 4,500 Pounds Number 181 manufactured by Cyrus Alger and Company in 1866. Weight as originally manufactured was 4,523 pounds.
32-Pounder of 4,500 Pounds Number 182 manufactured by Cyrus Alger and Company in 1866. Weight as originally manufactured was 4,513 pounds.
All three were sent after manufacture to the Charlestown Navy Yard (Boston). None is recorded as having served on a ship. In May of 1891 they were donated to the George H. Ward Post Number 10 of the Grand Army of the Republic in Worcester, Massachusetts.
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.
The interpretive sign notes the display is near a section of graves of Civil War soldiers and sailors. The sign also points out that of a pre-war population of around 25,000, 4,227 men enlisted for service in Worcester. Some of the significant Civil War burials in Hope Cemetery include members of the 25th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment, members of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, and soldiers who died at Andersonville and were reinterred at Hope Cemetery.
