US Navy 9-Inch Dahlgren of USS Hartford in Petosky, Michigan
US Navy 9-Inch Dahlgren Number 249 is displayed in Petosky, Michigan
US Navy 9-Inch Dahlgren Number 249 is displayed in Petosky, Michigan. US Navy Bureau of Ordnance records show that Number 249 served aboard USS Hartford from her commissioning in 1859 through the 1880s. Number 249 was cast at Cyrus Alger & Co. in 1859 and weighed 9,085 pounds. It is displayed on an original, post-war iron carriage.
Number 249 is one of three identical guns in Northern Michigan which all bear the following plaque: “This gun is one of twenty-six nine inch guns composing the battery of Admiral Farragut’s historic flagship Hartford during the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865, at the Battles of New Orleans, Vicksburg, Port Hudson, Mobile. Forevermore a silent reminder to the rising generations of the glorious deeds of our navy during that fierce conflict which the God of Battles watched over our nation and in which this gun effectively spoke for liberty and a united country. Mounted July 4th, 1905.”
Hartford was kept in service by the Navy into the 20th Century. She was intended by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to be preserved in perpetuity alongside Constitution and Constellation. However, with FDR’s death, she was allowed to further deteriorate until she sank at her moorings at Norfolk in 1956. She was subsequently broken up.
A very nice local history look at Number 249 can be found here: https://charlevoixemmethistory.weebly.com/civil-war.html
Plaque describing Harford's service
