US Navy 32-Pounders of 57 Hundredweight in Quincy, Massachusetts
Four US Navy 32-Pounders of 57 Hundredweight surround a monument to those lost in the American Civil War in Mt. Wollaston Cemetery in Quincy, Massachusetts
Many thanks to my sister for taking these photos while on her own travels!
Four US Navy 32-Pounders of 57 Hundredweight surround a monument to those lost in the American Civil War in Mt. Wollaston Cemetery in Quincy, Massachusetts. The 32-Pounder of 57 Hundredweight was the heaviest 32-Pounder of the 1845 System adopted by the US Navy. It would fire its 32-pound shot with up to a 9 pound propellent charge. It was intended for use on ships of the line and heavy frigates of the US Navy.
The four 32-Pounders in Quincy are:
32-Pounder 57cwt Number 469 cast by Cyrus Alger & Co. in 1848. As manufactured it weighed 56-3-22 in hundredweight (6,462 pounds).
32-Pounder 57cwt Number 470 cast by Cyrus Alger & Co. in 1848. As manufactured it weighed 56-3-23 in hundredweight (6,463 pounds).
32-Pounder 57cwt Number 471 cast by Cyrus Alger & Co. in 1848. As manufactured it weighed 57-1-07 in hundredweight (6,419 pounds).
32-Pounder 57cwt Number 474 cast by Cyrus Alger & Co. in 1848. As manufactured it weighed 57-1-02 in hundredweight (6,414 pounds).
According to Olmstead et al., none of these 32-Pounders saw Civil War service aboard ship. I do not yet know whether they had seen prior service aboard ship in the years prior to the American Civil War.
744 of this type were manufactured for the Navy between 1846 and 1852. Although obsolescent by the start of the Civil War, they saw service in large numbers during the war. The South captured large numbers at Norfolk in 1861 and used them throughout the war, often banding and rifling the guns to give them better performance. The US Navy used them to arm merchant ships which could not carry more modern, heavier weapons.
These four 32-Pounders likely came from those kept as mobilization assets at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston after the Civil War.
